Party Time

There’s something so enchanted about a good garden party. For one, they can really only be successful on those perfect days of the year that are neither too hot nor too cold. They also require a beautiful outdoor space, which can be quite hard to come by in the city, and there’s the bug issue to contend with…

But then sometimes, as if by magic, it just all comes together.

Sophie, my dear friend from Kitten and the Bear, and I have been talking about styling a pastel garden party shoot in her secret Parkdale garden for what seems like years. The ideas constantly morphed, but the general feel always stayed the same: there would be treats, there would be tea, and there would be flowers in every corner.

When we finally settled upon a date, all the details just fell into place from there. After much discussion we decided on brunch as our meal time of choice, and quickly joined forces with Chambord to craft some jam-infused breakfast cocktails (recipe here). Sophie got to work dreaming up simple yet decadent tea sandwiches (recipe here), and Delysees offered to provide the dreamiest sweet treats in the land for our spread. Last but not least, Amira (aka one of our favourite local flower queens) from Coriander Girl offered her green thumb, filling the space with blooms and plants on every possible surface.

The final result was full tilt Marie-Antoinette garden party perfection. There were sparkling golden eclairs, there were tiny “jam window” and lavender cucumber sandwiches, and there were endless sparkling Chambord cocktails. We hung had dyed baby blue muslin over the table to help with sunburns and melting desserts, and draped the same fabric over our dessert table to pull the scene together. By the time the models finally poured in, dressed to the nines in lace and flower crowns, the whole space had filled with a glittering energy – warm, bright, and so quintessentially summer.

What are you waiting for? Come celebrate with us!

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Brown-Forman Corporation, Louisville, KY, Black Raspberry 16.5%, 21+

Styling and concept by Alyssa Garrison of RAOP
Photos by Bobbyand Johanna
Savoury creations by Sophie of Kitten and the Bear
Sweet treats by Delysees
Florals and greenery by Amira of Coriander Girl
A special thanks to our models Meghan, Sasha, Amanda, Aneta, & Mari

Originally posted by Hooray Magazine

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Party Time

For the first time ever, Toronto decided to make their pride celebration last not only a week, but the entire month of June. That’s right: more rainbows, more sparkle, and a full month filled with love and support for one another.

We’re always looking for new ways to bring more colour to our lives, so the updated schedule gave us that much more reason to make pride-related magic. To welcome the final week of festivities (which includes most of the parties and the famous parade), we decided to throw our own little Pride kickoff party with all of our friends in a borrowed yard. We called it the #RAOPrainnbowparty!

A lot of different factors went into making this particular styled event a success. First off, we needed colour- lots of it! To brighten up the space we decided to build a balloon wall. Consider yourself warned- balloon wall building is not a relaxing weekend activity. The end result (shown in these photos) took two days of planning, about 15 packs of balloons (10x what we has estimated), and 7 volunteers blowing up balloons nonstop for hours in the sun to create!

After the amount of work we put into the balloon wall, we wanted to make sure that our drink selection matched the theme. We had a chance to try out Raspberry Starfruit Iced Tea and Frozen Strawberry Pineapple Pouches (YUM!) from Palm Bay. We also had a super cute cooler, pastel Turkish blankets, a record player for tunes, cookie dough ice cream, “Palm Bae” sweatshirts by Shop Nopal, and so many different kinds of sprinkles!!!
Palm Bay was an amazing complement to our pre-pride party. It was a total success, and the ultimate way to kick off the fun coming this week!

Hope to see you at Pride this year!

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Photos by Josh Mitchinson and Johanna Martin
Styling and Direction by Alyssa Garrison
Assistance from Mikayla Kuehn
Cotton Candy via Fancy Pufs
Party Plates and extra decor via Confetti and Bows
XOXO Balloons via Northstar Balloons

Jewels via Cherry Pick
Hottiewood

A special thanks to all our magical rainbow models (aka our friends) too!

This post was sponsored by Palm Bay, but all opinions are my own. To inquire about sponsored posts, please email jess@shineinfluencers.com