Something happens to your holidays when you have a kid. You go from being a normal person, someone who might book a brunch with friends at a joint with unlimited mimosas, to the person who is at Target WEEKS in advance who gets all ‘Black Friday’ over the last copper leaf egg decorating kit. All of a sudden the holiday turns into this excuse to create important precious memories for you and your child. Memories that you are sure will shape their future, solidify their love for you and most importantly manipulate them into constantly coming home for said holiday when they are grown.
So Easter is on my brain right now. And a couple weeks ago I hosted a spring blogger brunch with Camila Alves to highlight all the new Spring and Easter Target products. It was such a good excuse to hang out with some bloggers I rarely see and meet some new ladies who have been on my radar.
That’s Camila who was extremely personable and easy to talk to, not to mention beautiful. You might wonder why she is hosting the brunch with me (I did) and it’s because she has a new lifestyle brand where she throws fun, clever, affordable parties. As a mother of 3 and a wife to Matthew McConaughey, she entertains a lot and is now making a business out of throwing such soirees.
This brunch was at Fig and Olive, which was terribly delicious and pretty.
The color palette was just a smattering of pretty pastels, obviously. Caravents was in charge of executing our vision and man did they do it well. Those flowers (by Chaparral Studio) were so pretty. I especially loved how they put moss on those huge bowls to look like grass and then had little bunnies sitting in them. Ridiculously cute.
We drank mimosas. Because all bloggers love to day drink on Mondays.
A man showed up. We all gasped as his masculine testosterone flooded through the doors. It was one Orlando Soria, obviously. His main reason for being there was to make fun of my shirt looking like someone cut off the bottom half of it. He’s not wrong, certainly but I’d hate to find out how much the whole shirt was if I only bought the top half. For the record that shirt has saved my life like 5 times so far. Two press events, 1 video and like 4 social occasions. It was wasn’t cheap but I love it layered over this shirt with these jeans very much.
Everyone arrived at 12:30 and Camila and I greeted them and I got to catch up with each of them individually before we sat down. Also, every single attendee looked absolutely adorable.
The tablescape was pretty darn beautiful. The color palette was pulled back and just bright and colorful, and all the vessels that we used for flowers you see on the table are all from Target. Most of them are basics, with some of the new pastel glasses (find them in the store, we couldn’t seem to find them online, sorry!) and the white porcelain and gold eared bunnies.
Again, please note those huge white bowls. They are so great because they are low and you can see over them, but they are big and scale-wise work on a big table like this. I wouldn’t have thought to do the moss/bunny/weed/flower-dripping-out-of-them idea but it just looks so cute. I guess they used chicken wire to create a form underneath then placed simple moss that you can get at Lowes on top. I have so many beautiful bowls, WAYY too many to actually use for food, so this is such a good idea for a tablescape.
Those placecard holders are little bunnies – you can only see the tail side in that photo, but how adorable are those. And yes, they have gold ears, too.
Like most get-togethers its always fun to have some sort of activity so we created a flower arrangement bar so people could leave with a collection of spring flowers of their own. As you can imagine, lifestyle bloggers know flowers. There aren’t a lot of crafts or projects that I would do at a party, but making a simple arrangement for me to take home is something I will always get my hands into.
We provided beautiful spring flowers, paper and twine. And they all got busy.
Thanks Justina, Leanne and Jen for modeling these flower shots just perfectly.
The adorable Ashley from The Style Editrix killed with the her flower arranging skills, too.
Naturally Justina and Jihan took the flowers to the next level and made crowns out of them, while Kelly and Devon went the more traditional route.
Camila gave a lovely little intro into her background and why she is doing what she does. She was pretty humble because she knew that she was just getting into this social media world and that she could learn a lot from these ladies.
By the way, the one place where it’s not rude to be working on your phone at a meal is a blogger lunch. Everyone was busy filtering their instagram, retweeting, etc.
Another man showed up, we gasped and sighed in delight, and to make sure that his maleness was obvious he wore a gentleman’s hat. That’s Mat Sanders, the editorial director of Domaine Home and a new friend of mine.
At the end there were a lot of bunnies that were going to be wasted so they invited me to adopt them and so I did. I’m not one to say no to swag. Ever.
1. bunny candy/flower holder | 2. bunny cookie jar | 3. egg topiary | 4. egg wreath | 5. cake stand | 6. bunny tealight holder | 7. silverware | 8. small bowls | 9. table runner | 10. gravy boat | 11. blue glasses | 12. easter bunting | 13. easter basket | 14. bunny placecard holder | 15. white ceramic egg holder | 16. flower garland
Thanks to all the ladies (and Orlando and Mat) who came to make the brunch extra successful. We all know that your events are only as successful as the people who come to party. In case you are looking for new blogs to follow here were the attendees:
Justina Blakeney, Geronimo Balloons, The Style Editrix, Leanne Barlow, Kelly Golightly, Orlando Soria, Anne Sage, The effortless chic, MLovesMblog, Devon Rachel
The whole event was covered over on Domaine Home, where you can find lots of additional styling tips from Camila and I. Thanks, Mat for covering this brunch.
*Event design by Caravents, flowers executed by Chaparral Studio, Photos by the lovely Tessa Neustadt
Love the big bowls with moss and bunnies as I too have tons of big white bowls. Best part was inviting guests to make & take their own bouquets! Fun idea for other occasions like bridal and baby showers. Must have gold-eared bunnies!
Emily,
Where did the Turkish towel (or placemats or napkins – can’t tell what they are) come from? The ones that are rolls up in the basket and that you are holding.
Thanks!
Love your blog. Love your ideas.
Cindy – looks like they are “Threshold Throws” From Target SWOON #amirighttt?
The colors and details are gorgeous! Not to mention the lovely guests. I’ve literally been day dreaming about those paper flower garlands since I saw them in Target last week, and might have to see if they’re still in stock today!
It was such a fun brunch and lovely meeting you Emily! Hope we get to see each other again soon! Have a great week! xo, Ashley
http://thestyleeditrix.com
This made me feel like spring today. I too love the little bunnies in the moss and I also love the idea of stacking those 3 small bowls with the flowers in the top.
Now – I’m always a huge fan of brunch, but brunch with Emily Henderson? I don’t think it could get much better. SO next time this comes around, feel free to swing an invite my way. I won’t complain – one bit, promise.
Best,
Josh – The Kentucky Gent
http://thekentuckygent.com
can we talk about how awesome/hilarious the name ‘Mat Finish’ is for a few seconds? I can’t the be only person chuckling at work right now…
Ha. His name is actually Mat Sanders, but his instagram is The Mat Finish. So I think that he must be being funny. Honestly I didn’t get it until you just wrote that 🙂
Ugh sooo prettyyy. I want to buy EVERYTHING if not to merely pull myself out of East Coast winter daze. Bring it ON spring. Allergies and everything. I’m about to make it rain anti-histamines, tulips and gold eared bunnies and pretend its 70 degrees, not 40! Loved this post!
just a heads up that the link to Caravents at the very bottom actually links to The Jungalow. Love the post!
Whoops. Thank you. Will fix now!
I love the white tubs at the flower arrangement bar, do you happen to know where I could score the same or similar? Easter is so early this year, thanks for getting us in the mood!
Target man. They should be in their outdoor/entertaining section. Let me see if I can find!
You Rock! Thanks Bella
Best brunch ever! Thanks for having me, lady XX!
If I were at that party, I’d start eating all the flowers, like Joan Chen in “The Last Emperor.” Just kidding.
Such a pretty tablescape. Now I want to host a fabulous brunch!
Beautiful! Can we come up with a word other than ‘tablescape’? I was first exposed to the word on Sandra Lee’s Food Network show where they were TERRIFYING and just cannot get past it …
YES. Spell check doesn’t like the word ‘tablescape’ either. 🙂
ridicute. it’s my word for ridiculous + cute. as in, “this brunch is totally ridicute.”
you’re welcome.
Wow. Target in the states is so much cooler than target in Australia. Totally jealous!
HA. Totally different Target. So weird, right?
I like how the tablescape read Easter without being to twee. Looks like a great event! Invite me next time!
What a beautiful collection! I love all of the happy colors and coordinated patterns. Lovely!
Love the floral s, tablescapes. Dreamy spring day! Yeah, Target. Bet it was a blast.
Hi Emily,
looks like you had a lovely brunch. Since posting about the refuge for homeless families I have waded back to get the link to check how the total is going. Its getting there, but has slowed, are you able to put an “in your face button” on your blog page, with the total changing, just might help keep it front of mind, and get you to your goal faster, congratulations on your commitment to this, and as always loving your work, Lynnie
AH, thank yo so much for thinking about it. We are doing another post this week with the design plan, etc, to help give it a big push. But a button on the site is a GREAT idea. Will do. THANK YOU. xx
So so so cute! Love the bunnies so much! Gorgeous party 🙂
xo
Christa
http://www.gardeniasandmint.com
Whoa! Just one photo makes me giggle. I love the decoration! Emily, you got it right, let’s get weird! Thanks for sharing, gorgeous! ^^
Emily, Can you let me know where your jeans are from…brand???
Thank you for sharing your style details. I would never know what to wear to a blogger brunch 🙂 Any notes about Camila’s pink skirt & blouse?
Those flowers!
What a beautiful brunch! It made spring rush into my brain full throttle. That’s a good thing living in the Seattle greyness.
Girl, those jeans are HOT! I saw today’s post about skinny jeans but ever since yesterday, I’ve been wondering what you were wearing, because the top is totally adorable as well! Do tell what you are wearing!
xo-z
I’m a big dork! I didn’t see the links above! ☺