Retro-ish Anniversary Party for My In-Laws

My in-laws celebrated their 40^th Wedding Anniversary in May. The family celebrated with a dinner at one of my and Andy’s favorite restaurants, Chicago Cut.

Andy’s family tends to tell me “Don’t go crazy” on pretty much everything, so I kept almost everything a secret until the week before the party so I wouldn’t have any naysayers. Luckily, Aunt Ruth and my sister-in-law, April , unearthed some excellent photos for me. The night was a success and one of the most fun times I’ve ever enjoyed with my in-laws.

I dropped the goods and directions off at Chicago Cut early in the day:

Can you tell that I am an instructional designer and technical writer? When we arrived, the hostess whispered, “I hope that everything is set up to your liking.” She seemed frightened. And she should have been, as they messed up the napkins assignments. The night was ruined! (Kidding.)

The cake was from Sarah’s Candies and Pastries. I was a little hesitant to use them, but I give them a resounding two thumbs up. The cake stand is Martha Stewart from Macy's.

Each guest was greeted by a photo place card highlighting a “moment” from the past 40 years. I blew the scanned photos up to about 4” X 4”, so they were all grainy and old-school looking. Very Hisptamatic.

I hand-cut the photos, mounted them on circle cards from Paper Source, and then applied a brown border made with my Silhouette SD machine. I also used the Silhouette SD to cut everyone’s names. To get the photos to stand, I mounted them onto place cards and pasted little accordions inside the place cards for stability.

They were a hit! Everyone seemed to enjoy them.

The décor and color scheme were inspired by Alexander Henry fabric that I found on etsy in two complimentary patterns, which I used to make napkins.

I had no idea what size table we’d have, so I couldn’t plan for floral arrangements. I was planning to not have flowers, and then panicked the morning of the party. I ran over to the flower shop in my office building that morning and grabbed these ruby red peonies. They provided great contrast from the teals and grays and were the perfect accent for a Ruby Anniversary Celebration.

I almost forgot! We also brought in two bottles of Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, which is the champ they enjoyed on their wedding day.

Cheers!

(Look at my brother-in-law making eye contact through the wine glass in this photo.)

And, of course, Chicago Cut provided the perfect backdrop. Love that place!