Before we went to Ireland for our wedding we threw the bash before the bash, a thank you dinner for all of our guest.  It was our first party in our new home and I enjoyed planning and throwing it.  Since we did not have a rehearsal dinner in Ireland nor could we possibly carry all these gifts over there we wanted to throw a special night to get the party started!  I was going for a travel theme with a clear destination of Ireland.   😉

You may remember the paper airplane invitation

Good news and bad news about the photos….lol.  The good news is the party started at 4 and I got done about 3:55, 😉  just in time to snap some great before shots of all my details.  The bad news is I really didn’t take any photos while our guest were there….not even during gift opening. But I did get a few at the end and I’ll never forget gift opening!

I got a ton of colored paper from AC Moore, under $10 and made paper airplains and bunting. Simple yet fabolous. Just used a little fising line for the airplane and twine for the bunting.

My girl Melissa was my right hand gal for this party.  thank you thank you thank you for  all of your help pal!  Melissa even picked up all the flowers and arranged all of these flower arrangements.  Her flower skills are serious!  The flowers set the whole tone and we’re stunning.

I love green glass and have been collecting for my wedding FOREVER!  😉  Not sure what I will do with all of it after the wedding but if you need a rental just let me know.  😉

I found this Irish blessing on Pinterest and made my own graphic.  It says:

“May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.”

Also on Pinterest I found this awesome postcard chandelier.  This is my version.  I found this stack of postcards at ebay for $8 (with shipping).  They were real postcards and really nice to read.  A family had traveled all over Ireland one summer and sent letters to family back home.  I can only guess they were once some beloved grandmother’s tresures sold by her grandson on ebay…haha…just kidding…but you never know!   After reading them I am sure that Grandma lives with Aunt Cindy and someone’s son named James was away at summer camp.  good reads!

Naturally I had to jazz up the bathroom.

I also displayed the wedding pictures of all the couples on the trip that were married as an ode to marriage 😉

The longest couple, Mom & Dad 40 years

The shortest couple, Melissa & Tom 3 months

and everyone else in between

We also had our engagement photos from Judie Anne Photography on display.  I love that black and white!

BRING ON THE GIFTS!!  You know I love me some gift giving!!  Honestly it was the best part of the night, I have been dreaming of what we were going to give our bridal party and parents for a long time.  Like I said above I didn’t take pictures but I will remember it forever.

What Ireland kick off party would be complete without a Jameson station?

For my ladies I got Coach bags and rain coats.  this was one of the only shots I have with people in it…LOL

love these ladies!!! xoxo