Today, the ever-so-fabulous Mary Straton from Olive You, Darling is here to talk about an awesome party that she recently hosted at her house for some friends of ours! It was a complete blast, as you’re about to see!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver and
The other’s gold
(But I bet they all like to talk about fancy dresses)
One of the things I love about being in my thirties is having multiple circles of good friends – childhood and high school friends, college friends, couple friends, friends with kids the same age as my little one…
I’m incredibly fortunate to be a part of a great life group at our church. I know it shouldn’t matter, and it’s what’s on the inside that counts, yada yada yada, but these women are just really CUTE. And fun. And stylish. I mean when the Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” who’s to say one friend can’t sharpen another’s style and inspire cuteness? Can I get an “amen?!”
My husband dug our wedding album out the other night, and he must have sensed the internal cartwheel I was doing (I love to reminisce) when I asked if he wanted to look at it together. He shot me down with a simple “no” and flew threw the pages with the speed I have when I’m trying to pretend to care about the football media guide.
That got me thinking – surely some of my friends would like to wax nostalgic about their weddings, too? But I went to the weddings of my childhood friends and college friends? Eureka! I hadn’t attended any of the weddings of the ladies in my life group. Oh, it’s ON now.
I asked the group if they were interested, but truthfully, in my head I was pretty much demanding that we have this party and if I got shot down, I just wouldn’t invite them. Humph. And so the “Knot at Your Wedding” party was born!
Let me first say that I LOVE a theme. In fact, it’s kind of hard for me to not establish one when I’m having friends over. Fajitas on the menu? It’s Cinco de Smith night! “What will our honey bee?” gender reveal? Local bees are working overtime for those recipes. Your birthday boy like Harry Potter? Get outta my way.
I got to work on Smith Wedding: Part Deux (well not really). I embraced the tacky and decorated my house with paper wedding bells, white silk “rose petals” from the dollar store and an armful of white daisies from Walmart. And you gotta have a getaway car! Enter cozy coupe. That redneck wedding reception we’ve all been to just threw up all over my house.
Heaven forbid I miss a chance to use my china and silver, though!
I baked a “wedding” cake, complete with almond-flavored frosting and served little white sweets – Jordan almonds (a Greek tradition!), white chocolate pretzels, white M&Ms, and powdered donut “diamond rings.” And what’s a reception without champagne (and Baptist punch for the buns in the oven)?
My friends arrived heavily laden with huge albums and wearing their veils, shoes and jewelry from their weddings. In between bites of cake and sips of champagne, we oohed and aahed and giggled and blushed at the parts of our wedding we still love and now love to hate. And because we were already thinking it, we voted and awarded prizes for things like “hottest groomsmen” and “best shoes.”
We could have talked and gossiped for hours, but since we’re all grownups now, we had to end the party at a decent hour, but not before everyone left with a Ring Pop. After all, just because I wasn’t there, it doesn’t mean he didn’t put a ring on it!
I hope this inspires you to share an important day with some of your new friends. Get together, serve some snacks, pop some corks and make it happen!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Mary Straton, thanks again for hosting! It was seriously a blast! And I still can’t get over the fact that I didn’t know who MS’s brother-in-law was until flipping through her wedding album… I’ve known both of them for years and never put 2 and 2 together! Oh, the things you can learn at a Knot At Your Wedding Party…. 🙂
Have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for dropping by! XO!
