My Birthday, Featured on Style Me Pretty
One month ago, we were all gathered in the beautiful backyard garden at my office in San Francisco, dining under the string lights and kicking off my 30s in style. My party is now featured on Style Me Pretty, which is usually known as a wedding blog, but showcases lifestyle posts too.
You can view full post and gallery here: A Beautiful and Moody 30th Birthday Party
My party dreaming and scheming started with the location, and from there, we came up with a feminine-but-not-too-girly color palette. Deep purples mixed with dusty grays and mauves, plus gold accents. I had wedding vendor friends helping me with almost every aspect of the party. The biggest contributor was my friend Amanda of One True Love Vintage Rentals & Amanda O’Shannessy Creative. She took the helm for party design and coordination, including picking up and dropping off all the rentals. My friend Becky of Beautiful One Makeup and Hair dolled me up for the party.
This whole lounge area comprises vintage pieces from One True Love Vintage. Amanda even DIY’d some great votives and candlesticks for the party.
Of course all the flowers were done by Natalie Bowen, (from whom I rent my office space). The awesome rugs were borrowed from Frances Lane, who also contributed all of the dinnerware.
My friend Alley did all of the calligraphy for the beautiful menus and place cards. Speaking of menu, we catered the food from Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission. On the right below, another great One True Love Vintage piece serving as the dessert table.
I love the full effect of the tablescape. It’s just a tad moody, but beautiful, organic, and the perfect blend of elegant/casual.
Some of the gold glasses I had spent a little while collecting from flea markets and online. The rest of the tableware is from Frances Lane. The linens were from La Tavola, and I especially loved the decision to go with black tablecloths. They looked a bit navy, but the dark color was still what anchored the whole look.
On the dessert table, honey-lavender macarons that I made (yes! from scratch!), plus a custom cake from Pretty Please Bakeshop.
Instead of blowing out candles, I just performed a cake cutting like I was at a wedding for myself. (What can I say? I’m a wedding photographer).
And of course, thank you to all my lovely friends who were able to come and celebrate (and those who wanted to be there but couldn’t make it too)! This was taken via self timer, seeing as to how the one big piece I was missing was a photographer to photograph my own party. Oh well, you do what you can!
Cheers to 30!
See the full feature on Style Me Pretty: A Beautiful and Moody 30th Birthday Party.
Vendors:
Photography: Anna Wu Photography
Event Design: Amanda O’Shannessy Creative
Floral Design:Natalie Bowen
Hair & Makeup: Beautiful One Makeup & Hair
Calligraphy: Alley & Co.
Dinnerware Rentals: Frances Lane
Linens: La Tavola
Vintage Rentals: One True Love Vintage Rentals
Cake: Pretty Please Bakeshop
Catering: Pizzeria Delfina
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco but often jetsetting and eating her way around the world. Follow her @annawuphoto on facebook or instagram for more of her daily adventures.
