Surprise Party Details & Pictures!

My cousins approached me back in July to say they wanted to plan a surprise 50th anniversary party for my aunt and uncle — and needed my help.

Let me preface this by saying I am not an event planner. What I am, however, is an event industry girl (that’s what I call myself rather than just an industry writer because I do wear many hats with AllSeated) who has the knowledge and ability to coordinate the floorplan, vendors, and details to assist in creating a beautiful party. And when I need help, I enlist my best pals Heather and Dina who know far more than I ever will when it comes to planning a fabulous event. I just facilitate what they teach me.

Most people do not realize what goes into planning an event, especially when selecting an event space which requires you to bring in furniture and lighting, in addition to selecting your decor and menu. And there are always the extra little details which aren’t so little (like custom dance floor and matching the chairs to the decor!) which quickly become planning focal points even though most event hosts don’t realize they need to be a focal point until they are deep in the process.

We weighed the options of finding a venue in Manhattan that had almost everything we needed vs. selecting a space where we would customize the room and bring everything in. We ultimately went with the latter.

Since this blog isn’t an event planning blog, I won’t get too far into detail here and will just share a whole bunch of pictures instead!

I didn’t do that great of a job on getting pictures of the food because I was too busy running around (in heels no less) during set up and the party. Like when I saw the hors devours being passed with white napkins when I wanted them to use the pink! I had to run to get them the pink!

The surprise party was a cocktail party for 100 family and friends with hors devours and stations followed by a dessert buffet which was super elaborate! Cakes, fruit skewers, Crepes station, fondue, mini mason jars, and a variety of rice crispy treats cut to order.

The party also featuring dancing, a fantastic photo montage, and very funny speeches. My aunt and uncle were beyond honored and happy. My biggest concern (aside from getting the right chairs) was centered around the flowers. If you read this blog long enough, you know my aunt always sets a beautiful table and was the main person in charge of working with my florist for the flowers at my wedding many moons ago. I needed to make sure the flowers for her party would be just what she would pick herself.