party perfect: REAL party (shower by Gen)

Last October, my dear sweet friends threw a baby shower for me. The majority of them are out-of-towners, so Gen, one of my fellow Nashvillians, took it upon herself to organize the party. I think the other hostesses were thrilled to delegate the task, and Gen got to show just how well she can pull together a shindig!

It was a small lunch held at an apartment in East Nashville. Everything was amazing-- from the setting to the way the food was presented to the perfect 'Martha' (as Gen would call it) gift basket. I also loved the pig invitations (it was a southern-style shower), given that my babe, Gram, was born during the year of the Golden Pig (and also because I designed the invitations!).

Gen likes to focus on the décor and 'marketing' aspects of the party (gift wrap, invitations, etc), and leaves the food to the professionals. She just repackages it to suit her style. In this case she picked up food from Bread & Company (a local restaurant), and presented it beautifully on trays. 

Gen is no stranger to kudos for her design sense- her homes have been featured in Domino, Better Homes & Gardens, Elle Décoration/Britain, Budget Living and Lucky. I feel fortunate to not only have her as a friend, but as a style guru! I am doing my best to convince her to give PARTY PERFECT bi-weekly 'Gen tips'...we'll see if she can make time for it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the party! I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the party.

From top: the gift basket, set out on the dining table; the food spread (food by Bread & Co, styling by Gen)...red trays are from Target; the drink set-up...white tub is from Target; the hostesses that could attend (and me), from left: Miller Callen, Sara Hicks Malone, Julie Harlan, Genifer Goodman Sohr...also a closer look at the gift basket, which includes stuffed monkey from Bla Bla; a view of the living room, on the table is a bottle of wine I gave as hostess gifts...I copied the pig from the invitation and personalized it with their name; lastly, the pig invitation that was used (but not with this type). Available at Polka Dot Design.