Katie and Morgan
I’m so excited today! I have Katie of A Little Bird Told Me. So. sharing her gorgeous engagement party photos with us! Katie and Morgan decided to have their engagement party in their backyard in Sydney and the details were so much fun, so thought out and so beautifully crafted I asked Katie if we could share them on Polka Dot Bride today!
There are so many fun details of this party, so let’s start at the beginning! Katie and Morgan made their invitations to fit with the relaxed and fun style they wanted.
Their words for their style?
“simple
a little country
picnic style
a red & orange colour theme
and a M+K= <3 theme (which many of our guests cleverly used too!)”
Katie and Morgan set up games around the yard with chalkboard signs.
Katie designed and made her own Twister game using fun and bright fabrics. The playing mat was actually a quilt- backed in squares of the same fabrics, Katie’s intention is to use the mat in the future for picnics together!
Amongst the other games were boules, a relationship quiz (written by Morgan) and hopscotch.
Instead of a traditional guest book, Katie and Morgan setup a guestbook display. Guests wrote messages on brightly coloured squares of paper and pegged them to string hung between two palm trees. Already pegged to the string were some of Katie and Morgan’s favourite shots from their engagement shoot.
Deciding to get in on the fun DIY guestbook trend, Katie headed to Spotlight and found some cheap and cheerful fabric. The fabric was hung and pinned between two tees and Katie made moustaches on sticks for guests to pose with.
The food! Katie and Morgan served chicken Caesar salad and lamb salad in paper noodle boxes. Guests were treated to homemade red punch, champagne, homemade lemonade and a tea & coffee bar. Jars tied with ribbon and a paper label were filled with lollies and strategically placed around the garden for guests to feast on.
Guests were invited to write their name on a paper flag to keep track of their drinks.
Clean jam jars made great glasses for the bride and groom!
Katie made over 200 cupcakes with her family in the days leading up to the party, Each was iced and decorated with red or yellow sprinkles. Homemade paper tokens with m+k+E> (In keeping with the rest of the stationery). Guests also enjoyed homemade peach and berry pies made by Morgan’s mother and fresh rockmelon and watermelon cut into stars and love hearts by Katie’s aunt.
Katie made the thank you notes with paper left over paper from the guestbook.
Visit Katie at A Little Bird Told Me. So to find out more of her plans as she goes along!
OMG!!!! 🙂 Nice work Katie and Morgan!!! Beautiful details, yummy cupcakes, and all around awesomeness! 🙂 SO excited for our engagement shoot soon – these pics are making me even more stoked for your wedding!!! 🙂 xoxo
Thankyou for this lovely writeup. Our engagement party was so much fun and it left me in awe to see all Katie’s ideas come to life.
Christine, we too, are so excited for our engagement shoot! Woo hoo!
Wow, seriously cute! Looks like it was a fun, happy day.
Such a lovely picnic party! If only all of her US friends could have made it! We all <3 KT + M! 🙂
What a wonderful idea for an engagement party! Looks like everyone had a great time, and every detail is adorable!
Do you mind sharing where you purchased the cheerful fabric for your photo backdrop?
Houa,
The fabric was purchased from Spotlight. Not sure if you’re familiar with the store but it is a big sweing/crafting shop here in Aus.
It was found in the clearance box too 🙂
Hi,
Just wondering where you got the big jar for the lemonade from? I’d love to do the same for my wedding but can’t seem to track down really big jars suitable.
Thanks!
Hi Emma,
The lemonade jar is just a big cookie jar. Not sure where from as we use it everyday for biscuits and its been around for a long time now!
:(Thanks for getting back to me.
Will have to keep searching!
hi guys. gorgeous shoot. just wondering where you got your chalkboard from?
thanks
anna
Its a homemade one.
They sell chalkboard paint stuff from the hardware and that is what we used.
Absolutely love these photos! So many great ideas. Well done!
Hi – this is wonderful and very unique. I would like to know where did you guys find the flags on the straws? I would love to use this for parties/get togethers at my apt!
Kewain Scott, the flags are just cut out pieces of card/paper. Katie folded them around the straw and double-sided taped them together 🙂
Love this! Just wondering how you assembled the messages from your guests? Did you glue them into a blank book with photos taken from the day?
Hi Keren,
We haven’t done anything with them yet! They are nice to read occasionally though 🙂