July | 2017 | Las Vegas Wedding Planners

I can’t believe it has already been a year since our gorgeous baby girl was born. She has taught me so much not only about parenting but also about myself in such a short time here. I wanted to share a little bit of Stoli’s first birthday party and her photo shoot.

The theme we chose for her birthday was a Garden Theme. There are so many different ideas for this theme that I drove myself crazy in the beginning wanting to do everything. We chose to have the party at our house since it is the end of May in Las Vegas, our pool was perfect to cool off in. Below are the ideas we used for this perfect little party:

Welcome Sign: I found a super cute floral poster board from Hobby Lobby and added gold lettering also from there to welcome guests. I made my husband hunt down a wood pallet for the sign to go on.
Guest book: We used the ever so popular fuji film mini polaroids for our guests to take pictures of themselves and write Stoli a note for her 18th birthday. I’m collecting so many things for her future that I believe will be a nice surprise to her. I made a floral backdrop out of tissue paper and twine for guests to stand in front of. I also purchased adorable photo props through zulily and amazon.
Outfits: Stoli wore an adorable tutu dress by Grace and Lucille throughout her party. For the cake smash, she wore a birthday girl diaper cover from Hobby Lobby. To clean the cake off of Stoli, she jumped in the pool in her rose floral swimsuit with attached swim diaper from Zulily.
Flowers: These are obviously a must for a Garden party and although they are beautiful, they can be extremely expensive. I went back and forth a lot about this finally deciding to go with mixed summer bouquets from Sam’s Club that come in a bulk of 10 bouquets (10-12 stems per bouquet). We used the flowers all over the party. I bought watering cans to create centerpieces that were used throughout the space. We have a pergola that I wanted to hang flowers from. We couldn’t use glass though to hang so for the weeks leading up, I had a bright idea about using the Ice drink bottles to hang. I loved the way this turned out and wanted to keep it all summer (but the flowers won’t hold up in this Vegas heat).
Flower Crown: Along with the floral, we had to have an adorable fresh flower crown for Stoli which was provided by the amazing Naakiti Floral. My go to florist in town for everything!
Gift Table: Going with the theme, I added one of the centerpieces to the table so it wasn’t empty as guests arrived. I also found an adorable letter S from Hobby Lobby and a birthday chalk sign through zulily to adorn the table. Throughout the party I had banners and decor by Kathy Davis. For a card box, I just turned over a wood crate and added some loose flowers.
Banners: As mentioned before the banners by Kathy Davis, I added a personalized touch by using wood bunting letters from Hobby Lobby spelling Stoli Vela. I also made a high chair banner with a wood number 1.
The Menu: I decided to hire a personal chef to cook for the birthday so we could relax and enjoy the event. I chose Fed by Dawn and she did such an amazing job putting everything together. The menu consisted of all kid friendly but adult happy items.
Dessert Table: I decided to do a dessert table instead of a birthday cake for guests. I ordered rice krispies, pretzels, and cake pops from Party Time Chocolates. Three different macaroons flavors of champagne, raspberry, and coconut. We had garden themed cupcakes made from Sam’s Club and also purchased cotton candy there. The centerpiece and most important part was Stoli’s naked smash cake that was adorned with flowers and a wood “one” cake topper. Her amazing sitter Theresa made the smash cake for both our photo shoot and her party. The dessert table doubled as favors.
Favors: In addition to the desserts, there were favors for the kids and the adults. The kids were all around 1 year olds so they received a goody bag of a ball, a flower pot duck squirter, gold fish crackers, bubbles (for parents to use). The girls also received mini watering cans with shovel and racks to stick to the theme. The boys received boats. The kids favors were from Oriental trading, Amazon, and Target. The adults went home with a flower pot to watch their own flowers grow which I also found at Target.
Activities: Since they are babies, I set up an area with all of Stoli’s toys for them to play in. I realized at many 1 year old parties there isn’t an area for the kids to crawl around in so this was number 1 on my list. We also bought a bounce house which Stoli absolutely loved playing in. As I previously mentioned, we had the pool open as well and the daddies enjoyed cooling off with the little ones.

Please check out more photos from the party below:

Stoli had her First Birthday photo shoot that took place at the Dry Lake Bed. We had a gorgeous but windy day although our amazing photographer Susie captured Stoli perfectly. Please check out her amazing work below and visit their website http://www.susieandwill.com to book your next photo shoot or event.

I just want to thank everyone for your help on throwing this gorgeous party for our baby especially the vendors:

Planner: Desirable Events by Desi

Catering: Fed by Dawn

Floral Crown: Naakiti Floral

Tutu Dress: Grace and Lucille (on Etsy)

Photo shoot: Susie and Will

Party photos: My husband RJ & friend Erika

Cake: Theresa (our babysitter)

Desserts: Party Time Chocolates (on Etsy)

Set up and clean up crew: My amazing Mother in Law, best friend Erika & Josh, and everyone else who helped.

Courtney & Josh’s wedding was the perfect mix of Hollywood Glam with a fun dose of Vegas Casino. By this, I mean throughout the cocktail hour and entire reception, they had gaming tables open for their guests to feel the Vegas vibe throughout the night. Courtney and Josh were such an awesome couple in every way! They are both super detailed oriented that I received full maps of the event space on how they wanted each item they rented to be displayed. Every detail they wanted we made sure came to life on their wedding day. I met with them in person for the first time a few weeks before their wedding and I instantly felt like they were my best friends. They are both so sweet and compliment each other so perfect that it makes anyone feel so comfortable to be around.

Their big day began with hair and makeup by the amazing glam team from Rouge Skin Hair and Makeup. The ladies in adorable rompers left the best impression on me as I entered the room to all their fun, laughter, and the BEST thing every… Chambong! For those of you champagne lovers also and do not know about these, google and purchase one asap! The guys were definitely a little more relaxed and played Heads Up on their phones. The ceremony took place inside one of my favorite venues Sayers Club at SLS. The room itself that I mentioned before is so simply gorgeous that we added minimal decor of candles along the aisle for a little more romantic vibe. The ceremony was officiated by a friend of the couple and they had wrote their own vows which were so perfect for each other. The cocktail hour and reception took place inside of Bazaar Casino. Courtney and Josh are foodies and they love Jose Andres which is a huge part of the venue selection since Bazaar Meats catered. During cocktail hour the guests served croquetas de pollo, Chef’s selection of cured eats with Pà Amb Tomàquet, and tray passed cotton candy foie gras. They also had the opportunity to enjoy amazing specialty cocktails which included their famous Liquid Nitrogen cart. The had the opportunity to actually play their choice of three 6 deck Blackjack tables or 1 craps table. This was so much fun and instead of having their guests lose money, they chose to have fake money so even those that don’t gamble could join in. The gaming tables were a huge hit throughout the evening. The beautiful flowers were created by The Palette who brought all of Courtney’s visions to life. The actual vases Courtney and Josh provided so that a local hospice could enjoy the flowers after the wedding. Each table had their own Polaroid cameras so guests could capture fun moments throughout the night and drop in the photo box. Every place setting had the guest name in 3D printing. The reception family style menu consisted of super-giant pork-skin chicharron, cauliflower steak, brussel sprout petals, buttered potato puree, and the couples absolute favorite, Suckling Pig! The suckling pig was first presented to the room before being served to the guests. It was quite the experience for their wedding guests. For dessert Bazaar Meats served little tarts to go with the four cakes and three dozen truffles the couple ordered through another favorite place Milk Bar. The cake flavors were dulce de leche, birthday, salted pretzel, and chocolate malt which my mouth is watering just thinking of how tasty they were. (Check out the dessert table below which are all milk bar’s product and the plated dessert was from Bazaar Meats). Gambling wasn’t their own source of entertainment as they also had a fabulous DJ Mike Fox spinning the night away. All of the photography in this blog and from their wedding day was shot by the incredible photographers R2 Studio from Flagstaff, Arizona. They also had cinema created by the Simply Cinema team who traveled from Arizona as well. Courtney and Josh, I could not thank you enough for having RJ and I as part of your out of the box wedding. It was a true pleasure meeting you both and being part of this milestone in your lives. I look forward to seeing what the future brings you both!

Please enjoy their wedding photos below and thank you Robyn and Renee for capturing such awesome details in every element: