Hello Everyone - happy Monday. I know that I am a day early but I just could not wait to share the details of our Titanic Party with you.... Well that and I was too tired on Sunday to complete my Bitten by the Bug 2 project - Sorry Donna and Carole!
Our Titanic Party was a huge success! We had 17 friends who shared in our Titanic garden party. We had three dinner tables, two tables of six and one table of five. I would have preferred it if we could have had one long table that held everyone, but my stash of garden furniture was not quite that extensive!
Above, my friend Marcie, my daughter Bethany and my friend Kimberly model some perfect period looks! Marcie and Andrea (pictured later in this post) truly stole the show with their historic costumes. I should have had prizes for the best period look costume!!
Now for the party details:
I completed all of my shopping on Friday and devoted Saturday to cooking and decorating. I had previously completed my Cricut Projects - the invitations went out weeks ago, the cones were fill and wrapped, the menus were ready and I finished the place cards on Friday. My daughter was a Godsend and helped me with the cooking and decorating details all day long!
I used linen cut work table clothes and hem stitched dinner napkins. I used black and gold chargers - alternating at every-other place setting. I used white dinner plates that looked great on the chargers.
I used glass beaded napkin rings and along with the napkin I placed a menu on each charger. As discussed in a previous post, the menu cards were created with the Cricut machine and two cartridges:
Straight from the Nest and
New England Shore. We did not use salad forks as I had decided against a salad course. I used the salad forks inside for appetizers.... And speaking of the appetizers, they were to die for!!! I was sooo pleased with how they turned out. My daughter Bethany made the sausage stuffed mushrooms and the guests RAVED!
All of the place cards matched - I used Cricut's
Straight from the Nest cartridge along with an oval punch and
New England Shore to craft the place cards. The red circle behind the ship's wheel were throw away negative areas from another cut! Can you say RECYCLE???
My crystal matched on all tables as I am fortunate enough to have 18 of each stem type. I also have 18+ place settings of silver.
For centerpieces I used black lanterns (keeping with my black, gold, white and a touch of red colors) filled with red candles and white baby's breath. I also used two silver mint julep cups at each table, filled with white roses, red alstroemeria, and white baby breaths.
Our dinner was plated and served by our two waitresses - Bethany and her friend Britney. They were fabulous and I cannot say enough about how much help they were to me. They plated and served the food, filled drinks, removed plates, and served dessert. Between courses they cleaned dishes, loaded the dishwasher, hand washed the silver and crystal, and then they returned to collect dessert dishes! They were amazing!!!
Following appetizers and cocktail hour inside, dinner was served outside. I named our dinner menu "TITANIC SOUTHERN FUSION". We had three items from the original Titanic menus and some fun southern traditional food. Our dinner course consisted of Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Shrimp and Grits, Roasted Rosemary potatoes, Green Beans and bread & butter.
I forgot to photograph dessert but our Eton Mess with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream was a HUGE hit!
Our sweet, sweet next door neighbors, Tom and Penny.
There I am carrying my own dinner plate as Bethany signals to Britney on where to place the second to last dinner.
Guests chatting as dinner was served.
Our wonderful neighbors Paul and Andrea. They rocked the historic look!
Paul chatting with Bill, the engine room worker!!! How cute is that?
Courtney, who lives across the street, chatting with Tom and Penny.
Bethany, Doug, and I - getting ready for dinner.
Kathy, Marcie - who by far had the best costume, Beth, Suzanne - who also looked adorable, and Pat.
Kimberly had a fabulous costume. She dined with Doug (not pictured), Wendell & Kim (who later in the evening confessed that they wished that they
had dressed in period clothing), and Bill and Ruth, who said they were representing the steerage passengers.
Our neighbor table - Thanks Paul and Andrea for sharing your photographs with us!! Oh and there is Britney standing in the background ready to assist!!
We had one fun photo opportunity for our party guests. I found the 1997 Titanic movie poster and purchased it at six feet tall! I mounted the poster to foam board and cut out the faces. Below Beth and Kim pose as Jack and Rose!
As we dined the sun set and we had a lovely South Carolina spring evening with temperatures in the mid sixties. Doug lit the fire pit and we were all comfortable.
Center pieces!
The girly table after dark. The star field behind them is our ten foot umbrella covered with white lights!
Back indoors - lanterns and flowers.
Our beverages consisted of punch, mixed drinks, sodas, beer, dinner wine and water.
And as I stated in a previous post, every guest went home with a treat cone - filled with dark chocolates, caramel filled chocolates and white chocolates. I had intended to make divinity to fill the cones - small icebergs! - but the weather leading up to the party was too damp. So we switched gears and went with wonderful chocolates!
Our evening wrapped up five hours after the first guest arrived. Doug and I had a wonderful time and we hope that our guests did also. I have received two calls and a lovely email message from some of those who wanted to thank us and let us know that they enjoyed the party and amount of detail and work we put into the effort.
I would truly love to do a party like this again. My only disappointment was with a friend who did not grasp how much I enjoyed the preparations, how much I enjoy entertaining, nor did she appreciate the concept of a period party. There were a few snarky comments that were a bit hurtful. However others were so lovely and so supportive that the entire experience was truly rewarding.
My friends Marcie and Andrea were spot on with their costumes as were Kimberly, Paul and Bill & Ruth. I loved Tom and Penny's look as well. Suzanne was adorable and I was so thrilled that she made such an effort especially as she had been away all week before the party. Our invitation did read "cruise casual" (or period costume) and Pat, Beth, and Courtney were the picture of Cruise Casual - Fab job ladies! - as were others who attended and chose not to dress in period clothing. I hope that those who did not grasp "period costume" as opposed to "a costume" enjoyed themselves also. Doug and I had a wonderful time and feel like we were right to suggest period clothing and details, especially as they mixed so well with our southern spring time charm.
Thanks for making your way through this lengthy post and for following along on the Titanic Tuesday posts!
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