Those were the words on my good friend Nicole's cake (from http://www.margaretsfrenchbakery.com/) for her surprise 30th birthday party. I guess she had two surprises!
Nicole is not only a wonderful friend, but a collegue, as my lead assistant for Nicole D'Ambra Wedding Consulting she serves as part of the backbone of our company. Another amazing friend, whom I met through Nicole, is Melissa, Melissa is a dear sweet person, and also, one of my assitants, I couldn't do what I do without them! Nicole's birthday is on Christmas, and this year she turned 30! (sorry Nicole, the cat is out of the bag) So Melissa and I thought it would be nice to throw her a surprise 30th birthday party. We contacted her boyfriend (now fiancee!) Lee, and we told him our idea. Lee also had been wanting to plan a surprise 30th birthday party for her, so we joined forces! For about 3 months the three of us planned and planned. Nicole had no idea what was going on! It was so hard to not tell her! The catch is, Melissa and I had no idea about the proposal!!! We did make a guess that it might happen based on a few things Lee had said to us through e-mail...("i have something being custom made for her", "i'll take care of the cake")...
Well, to make a long story short, we planned a funky and hip surprise 30th birthday party for Nicole at Nola's in Palo Alto http://www.nolas.com/ (a Mardi Gra themed restaurant). This all made a lot of sense to us since Nicole is a native of New Orleans. Melissa and I chose Popcorn Pink linens for the tables, Topaz Iris napkins, and Organza Wisteria for a runner (all linens from http://www.classicpartyrentals.com/ thanks Mindy!). The napkins were folded into triangles (loved it) and Melissa found authentic Mardi Gra masks, black, white, and blue for the boys, purple, red and pink for the girls, they were magnificent! Marivic of Marizette Paperie http://www.marizette.com/ made the most beautiful hand crafted custom menu/placecards for each place setting, each had a little metal Mardi Gra mask on it and feathers coming out the top! Melissa and I found cracked glass vases in silver glass for the centerpieces, we used three different heights and alternated them down the middle of the table. They were filled with monocromatic purple arrangements fashioned my mwa, they included blooms of Purple Misty Emille, Purple Fancy Carnation, Tree Fern Tented Silver, Extra Fancy Purple Roses, and Redish/Purplish Hanging Amaranthus. We also had found little silver tealight candles with glitter votives inside, they were the perfect finishing touch! Melissa made the most spectacular and spikey little pink and purple cup cakes (hey, we may be in the biz, but we still love good boxed cake!) with sprinkles on top=) She bought a cute little stand, and situated them lovingly on a table covered in Dazzle Purple linen. Since Nicole loves photos, we figured a polaroid guest book in lavender would fit the bill (from http://www.adessoalbums.com/) throughout the night we made sure each guest took a photo, slipped it into the guest book, and signed their birthday wishes to Nicole in the book=) What a keepsake! The table with the lavender guest book on it was covered in Lavish Silver linen. We also had enough Popcorn Pink Linen to cover an extra table for purses, and favors, and such that guests didn't want at their seat with them during dinner.
The food was amazing! We started with appetizers such as Crispy Calamari & Delta Blue Lakes, N.O.La ‘Frites’, Chicken & Steak Satays, and Crawfish Andouille Dumplings. Next we got to choose from French Quarter Caesar or ‘7’ Steak and Crab Gumbo. Then our entree choices were Southern Style Fried Chicken, Spicy Seafood Jambalaya, Flier’s Famous Skirt Steak, and King Creole Salmon. Nola's staff rocked! I'm a vegan and they totally took care of me with a
Vegetarian Portobello Mushroom Tostada, minus the cheese pls. Yummy! Their service was outstanding! I really never knew Nola's rocked so much, but it really really did and do!
Vegetarian Portobello Mushroom Tostada, minus the cheese pls. Yummy! Their service was outstanding! I really never knew Nola's rocked so much, but it really really did and do!
You might be wondering how we got Nicole to her own party without her knowing... Well, thank goodness she's also my assistant because I secured her to assist me on a fake wedding! That's right! We wrote up a fake timeline, site layout, the whole nine yards! She took it hook, line, and sinker! So, I picked her up that day like I normally do before a wedding, and I went over the timeline with her in the car on the way over like I normally do. Melissa called me from her cell phone a few times and I pretended she was the bride=) Nicole didn't suspect a thing! I even pretended that the Bride needed us to stop by Target and get more polaroid film, which we did to stall and give guests more time to get there=) While we were at Target, one of her friends who didn't know it was a SURPRISE party text messaged her "happy birthday girl! have fun tonight!", I wanted to DIE! I was like "Oh you know one time I got a text message a month later, and it made no sense! They probably sent it on your Birthday and it's just now sending." I felt sick...hehe.
We got to Nola's and needed to park, now, I know there is a parking garage right next door to it, but if we parked there we would've had to walk right by the window of the room for the party to get in, and I was afraid she'd see and it would spoil the surprise. So, I tried to find parking on the other side of the street, and didn't have any luck. Nicole being "helpful" told me "you know there is a parking garage right next to the restaurant?!" I was like "oh great! thanks! you're awesome...(i was freaking out inside)." We parked in the parking garage, and I called the "Bride" to tell her we were coming in very very soon. (My hubby Matt told me that he yelled out "Put on your masks people! She's comin' in!") I stood at the top of the garage with Nicole and before we walked by the room, I pointed at an art gallery and said "have you been to that art gallery before?" she said "no", then I had to think of something else, I said "have you been to that nail place before?" she said "no, why?" I said "oh they have great specials on Tuesdays, only $10 a mani pedi...bs...bs...bs..." We were at the door! I ran inside and hid, and she walked in after me, digital watch and clipboard in hand, her face dropped when she saw a room full of people in Mardi Gra masks yelling "SURPRISEEEE"!!!!
Well, long story short again, she LOVED her party! But it didn't end there! Melissa and I were still unsure of whether or not Lee was really going to propose, and it didn't seem like anyone else knew anything about it either. Until it was time for cake, Lee came up to me and said "c-c-can, you get everyone together? I'm going to go get the cake." I said "Sure!" and then grabbed Melissa by the arm and told her to help me. We got everyone situated around Nicole, and it was super quite, people were probably wondering why we had decided to gather everyone around her for the "cake" when they would have been fine in their seats, but they didn't know! Two guests even tried to leave early, and we stopped them "you CAN'T go" I said "I can't tell you why, but you CAN'T go!"Lee came walking in the room with the "birthday cake" and we all started singing "Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you, Happy...." we stopped, all of us in the room noticed that the cake said "Will You Marry Me?" and on a pink pillow of frosting was a beautiful diamond engagement ring. We were all shocked and excited, but didn't make a peep. Nicole looked at the cake and said "Awww how cute", "wait a minute!" "will you..." "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" Nicole let out a scream that any girl should when being so surprised, she jumped up into Lee's arms and started crying, she was so happy, she then said "it's all too much, too much!" between crying tears of joy=) Lee got down on his knee and proposed to her, but she was in so much shock thank goodness we have photos, because she totally doesn't remember. We told her "you need to say yes!" and she did=) Lee slipped the ring on her finger and the rest will be history=)))
CONGRATULATIONS NICOLE AND LEE! LET THE PLANNING BEGIN!!!
Nothing makes me happier than making others happy, and to see these two together and in love is the best thing on earth!
*Check back later this year for photos of their wedding=)))
Love you guys,
Nicole
***Photos courtesy of Sam owner and photographer of http://www.fontejon.com/
