Fun & Famous

Carolien’s Fast Lane Life

Yes, another fresh weekday diary from our Carolien. Because you know: she never sits still…

As if we hadn't celebrated enough in Italy, Jon and I decided to throw a ‘small’ party in the Netherlands for a larger group of friends and family. But since we can never do anything halfway, you could safely leave out that ‘small’... While Jon was busy with all the technical stuff (there was a stage and a light show that would make Beyoncé jealous), I was frantically working on the decorations. I had already looked at weddingdeco.nl a few times for Italy: I went completely crazy seeing all the beautiful decorations! They have divided their collections into themes, so I could easily find decorations that matched our “Flowery Touch” theme. Before I knew it, my shopping cart was full of colorful lanterns, helium balloons, and flower plates plus napkins. My oh my, this is going to be a wedding party 2.0: at least the decorations won't be lacking.

You understand that I wouldn't let this occasion pass without going all out with an XXL dessert buffet. Now, I had already had my dream macaron pyramid from Ladurée in Italy, but there was still one ultimate wish on my list: a wedding table from Life of Pie. For those who don't know these girls yet: rush to their Instagram page and you'll never order your cakes anywhere else. In no time, we had put together a ‘5 layered wedding cake’ with all the flavors you can think of (including red velvet, vanilla/salty caramel, and chocolate/Oreo). And as if that wasn't enough, this was complemented with macarons, cupcakes, and brigadeiros. The latter sounds like a Spanish police officer, but it's a traditional Brazilian dessert: a chocolate-covered ball filled with the tastiest caramel you'll ever taste! If you happen to walk by Brouwersgracht soon, make sure to pop into Sweet Bob Amsterdam for one of those brigadeiros.

A week in advance, I started to sweat a little at the thought of having to set everything up by myself. We had found a beautiful hay barn in Amsterdam North as a location: Boergondineren. But in such a barn, you can't easily stand on a step ladder to hang up 50 lanterns. Luckily, I got in touch with wedding planner Wedding Eve through a contact, and she turned out to be my savior in need! All tasks were taken off my hands, which felt quite panicky at first for a control freak like me. But fortunately, she quickly eased that panic and we made a campaign plan together about how the end result should look. When Jon and I arrived at the venue in the evening, everything was decorated down to the last detail and exactly as I wanted it. I wish I had her phone number when we were preparing in Italy... Note to self: sometimes letting go of some work can be a lifesaver!

Because our photobooth was such a huge success in Italy, I had to have one again for this party. But this time there were a lot more guests, so our own photobooth setup with an iPad and a small printer wouldn't be enough...

Now I saw this awesome ‘photo box’ on the site at Weddingdeco.nl and that was exactly what I was looking for. Not a big, closed booth, but a wooden stand with a beautiful box on top that is easy to operate. Together with Fotokist, I created a beautiful design for the frame, of course in the theme, with burgundy and flowers. All guests took a copy home and had to stick the other print in a nice photo book. I can tell you that such a book is the best remedy for a bad mood: as soon as I flip through that book again, a big smile appears on my face!

After sending out the invites, the first messages started coming in: ‘Thank you so much for the invite, but what does the dress code “tenue de ville with a flowery touch” mean?!’ I could kick myself, why did I have to come up with something special again? I found Tenue de Ville just too boring, so I imagined that all the ladies had a nice boho floral print or headband in their closet and the men could simply wear a flower as a pocket square... But that thought apparently didn't come to everyone (or rather: to anyone) right away. Let it go, Carolien, just make sure the venue is beautifully decorated with your theme colors and vases with beautiful flowers. Fortunately, my wedding planner came up with Edénique Floral Design and they placed beautiful floral arrangements on all the tables. So that whole ‘with a flowery touch’ theme turned out just fine...