A Red and Blue Picnic for Laya

The celebration of a kid’s first birthday is kinda of a big deal here in Manila. We planned a Safari-themed birthday bash for DW and my review of the caterer we booked and the lechon we served now has over 6,000 views! However, this first birthday I’m featuring now is  pretty special because one it’s not a party! I’ll let mom Benz Rana (she and Abet Rana is the powerhouse couple behind www.weddingsatwork.com) explain.

The level of detail of this event is just amazing and brilliant. If you know someone who’s planning a wedding, send them right over to this post too haha! The red and green english tea party for Laya is a great alternative to cartoon-themed parties. Primary colors rock!

Manilamommy: What made you decide to do this in lieu of the traditional 1st birthday party?

Benz: Early on we have already decided not to have a 1st bday for Laya since she had a big baptism party (read: magastos) and then we planned to go on a family holiday this summer pa so no party na lang. The Stork Studio, where we have a quarterly package, has been urging us to have an outdoor shoot since January during Laya’s 9th month shoot. But it didn’t push thru coz of tight schedule. So outdoors was pushed to the next shoot instead. Abet then said to have a one table party-look for the shoot. The more we thought about it the more it made sense. We wanted her to have party pictures and yet we didn’t want to have a big party with all the planning and gastos, so this is one of the bestest idea ever. That one table party turned into a grand one table party with the help of wedding supplier friends.

And with that, allow me to share the prettiness that is Laya’s first birthday photoshoot/garden party 🙂

a canopy of pompoms cover the family’s picnic table 🙂 the backdrop are laya’s and the family’s pics from the stork studio

the birthday girl, laya. GIGIIIIL.

a candy buffet!

pinwheels, pompoms and a vintage luggage full of treats

the happy family 🙂

A couple more Q&As with Benz:

What’s the theme of the pictorial?

ETSY – homemade backyard party look. Abet calls it an English afternoon tea party-look in his blog: http://whoridesavespa.com/2011/03/29/dear-laya-rana/

How did you decide on that theme?

I have always wanted the homemade ETSY feel but am not such kind kaya my parties are never like that. since this is a photo shoot and we asked help from teddy Manuel and I gave him the site of my fav ETSY mom Kelle Hampton. Now I got the party of my dream with help nga lang. Abet wanted a picnic look as well so we asked Teddy Manuel to do that for us as well.

What were your favorite details in the shoot?

I love the pictures of Laya happily enjoying whatever she is holding coz they weren’t directed those are really her having fun. Abet likes trash-the-dress at the end especially the one where Laya was sitting/balancing on top of the cake. He calls that the “cutest caketopper”.

Who were your suppliers?

venue: Blue Leaf
styling & set up: Teddy Manuel
cake: SugarBox
mini-catering: Josiah’s Catering (for us and all the people who were there working behind the scenes)
Laya’s gown: Veluz
balloons: Jhoanne of Polka Dot Events
cookies: Joy San Gabriel
paper boutonnière: Vatel Manila
video: Threelogy & Phoeben Teocson
photo shoot by: Stan Ong of Stork Studio
details shoot by: Chuck of Cherryblock
links to the website of these suppliers in the W@W: http://www.weddingsatwork.com/wawnewsblog/2011/03/29/layas-trash-the-dress-1st-birthday-edition/

Any tips for fellow parents planning their kids’ special day?

Hmm we thoroughly enjoyed this photo shoot. And because it is a shoot we are assured of really pretty birthday party pictures! I highly suggest having one of this. Whenever we throw parties, we barely get to have family pictures as we are all busy entertaining the guests and taking care of things. With a birthday shoot, we are assured of having each detail captured and we can do all the shots we wish to have. And details are easy to furnish since you just need to make a few not for each and every guest. Kite, our eldest, only remembers her 1st birthday party from what she saw in photo albums lang. Actually I myself dont remember too much about her party outside her bday pictures so it is really the pictures that is important. We don’t think Laya is missing out on anything by not having a party since we will still celebrate her 1st year by having a family dinner on her actual birthday and a small family party on weekend to celebrate her turning one. And maybe another one when we see the family of Abet’s sister when we get to Australia next month. 🙂

Laya with her cake before she got on with her cake smashing session! 😀 Belated happy birthday dear Laya!

Read more about the party at the weddingsatwork blog HERE