Simply Rosie Photography

Some of you have been waiting a long time for this post. The time has finally arrived to blog it! Ok, here is the story. I have a close friend, her name is Rosella. She is extremely creative and talented when it comes to sewing, crafts, food, setups… basically anything! So throughout the summer we started planning and gathering flea market finds, antique stores, and thrift stores for a rustic fall themed Thankful for Friends Party! It is a bit risky planning something outdoors here in October but we really really wanted it outside. So we set the date and hoped for the best. Well we were blessed with a gorgeous fall day. Actually it felt more like summer. We were drenched in sweat by the time we were done setting up and prepping! hehe. We did it in my own backyard, crunchy leaves on the ground, and pretty colours on the trees. We set up the table under a large over hanging branch. We invited some of our closest friends and had a wonderful time! I also invited Bethy from Eden Photography to come join us and bring her camera along!

We set up the party in 3 sections; welcome area, table, and a photo booth. Here is the welcome area! Rosella sewed a gorgeous ruffle table cloth for the round table! We put a bird cage on the table, in it were little favors for our guests! Lavender scented rice sachets with names of all the guests attached! We propped up an old ladder, threw a quilt over it and set up a few candles on an old suitcase!

Let’s move on to the table! Believe it or not the table is crafted out of an old barn door by my sweet husband! It was perfection! We arranged an assortment of rustic and shabby chic chairs and a few old benches around the table for our guests to sit on. Added some charm by draping some worn quilts and a few throw pillows on the benches! Our colour scheme was based on reds, yellows and greys and burlap accents. The banner was created by Rosella with burlap. Then she made these amazing fabric rosettes to sew onto the banner and some of the pillows! We also had a burlap table runner. I picked up most of the flowers at our local farmers market then we also gathered fall foliage and berries from the woods in our yard. We made the red and yellow poms poms from tissue paper and hung them from the branches!

For the place settings. I found a bunch of beautiful assorted plates and saucers at our local thrift store! I also found assorted red, yellow, and cream coffee mugs! We found vintage napkins and fabrics, fall berries and cinnamon sticks and tied them together with twine for each place setting. We served coffee, a pina colada fruit punch in large stem glasses and milk in antique 1/2 pint glass jars which I found at a local antique store! I loved how the leaves randomly fell from the trees above and scattered on the table, adding a perfect accent! How awesome is that table top?

The menu was all home baked goodies!! It consisted of my husband’s famous chocolate chip cookies, brownies, apple pies, butter pecan tarts, raspberry ribbon cookies, and pumpkin tarts! We served coffee fresh out of a french press, cold milk in antique milk jars, and a delish tropical punch! Rosella printed cute vintage stamped labels on paper we antiqued ourselves! I labelled them all with my handwriting! Then we attached them with twine. Most of the serving platters were also found at local antique stores! Except for the amazing crackled Tuscan platter and candle holders I picked up at Pottery Barn! We also made matching little flags for the brownies and tarts! So fun! Also as part of the decor I found cute picture frames and sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint! Randomly placed them throughout with Bethy’s cute writing! Bethy brought along a fun pair of nerd glasses that were being passed and sport among the friends throughout the party!

The photo booth was super fun and cozy! I found this crusty iron daybed online a few summers back, it was perfect for the set up! We threw on a mattress, tons of pillows (most of the covers sewn by Rosella) and a few old quilts and of course the romantic sheer canopy! The backdrop is also from the same barn as the table! We propped it against my berry tree, hung an old frame on it and it really just tied it all together! The set up was so cozy my 3 yo wanted to nap in it! hehe. The coffee table was a $3 find at an antique shop. We added old books, cameras and a box of candies for the girls to enjoy while lounging on the day bed. We had the girls use my instax mini to snap self portraits or group shots, providing them with mustaches on sticks! Beside the bed, we placed a picture tree with mini clothes pins so they all pinned their pictures on the tree! I also tied cute little messages on antiqued tags onto the tree using twine! Needless to say, the girls all loved it!

And finally here are just a few fun ones of the guests! We had a great time! Thanks for coming out girls!

And the hosts!

Take some time to visit Rosella’s website: Rosella’s Lane

Also Bethy’s post: Eden Photography

Thanks to Love & Lavender for featuring our party! Check it out HERE!! Thanks girls!

Also a HUGE thank you to our dear husbands, Mark and Eddy for scaling trees, climbing ladders, and heaving heavy furniture as they cheerfully helped their “crazy” wives set up for this party!

I will be posting a full gallery to my facebook fan page shortly.