an eclectic, "anthropologie-inspired" baby shower - with owls!

okay....please forgive me for this exceptionally long post...but i COULD.NOT.HELP.IT...it's detail city and i don't care who knows it! :)

when my sweet friends carlie and gabriel told me they were having a baby shower for their baby-in-waiting, lincoln roe, i jumped at the chance to be involved...especially with my other sweet friends jesi haack and melody of my sweet and saucy on board...i knew this baby shower was going to be ridic...

let's start with this adorable, hand made invite designed and created by the mommy-to-be, carlie...when i got mine in the mail, i couldn't bring myself to untie the twine, it was THAT cute! in fact, it's still assembled perfectly on my dining room table and i can't bare the thought of throwing it away...

a cute little sign-in station was created out of a wood table and chair set belonging to carlie and gabriel, where guests were asked to write "love notes" to lincoln...

and omg the lemonade station! jesi made the most insanely cute stir sticks out of cardboard and can you tell they are imprinted with an owl stamp?! i could not get over these...

the table and chairs here were provided by the lovely megan over at classic party rentals...the "part thrifted, part anthropologie" mixture of vases were on loan from one of carlie's past brides...

brian and i hung long panels of white fabric over the grassy area to create some shade...pops of rustic burlap were added for a layered effect and to "manly" it up :)

and clothesline held lincoln's name made out of newspaper, along with photos of carlie and gabriel as children...

carlie made these fans, which i would not go home without...in fact i had to scour gabriel's car at the end of the party to find an extra one because i HAD to have one :) made from cardboard and covered in raw-edged fabric, i am sure they took forever to make but they were worth it!

the florals i used were a mix of flowers i thought looked "vintage, hippie and happy"...white china mums, white/yellow aster, white lisianthus, yellow billy balls and ivory dahlias...the vases had so much color already, we stuck to mainly white florals with tiny touches of yellow for an added pop!

okay...so let's talk about the most adorable dessert display ever shall we?! the turquoise dresser is actually carlie and gabriel's tv stand...the tissue poms were created out of yellow pages (genius jesi!) and cream colored tissue with burned edges (made by a friend of carlie's)...

why yes...yes i did eat about 4 of these that day...

the ceramic owl cookie jar and brass twig cupcake holder were two of my favorite finds that jesi brought...

melody from sweet and saucy created all of the desserts, along with these bright, happy owl printed sugar cookies!

one last shot from the day...and one of my favorites!

all photos and furniture schlepping by the super talented gabriel ryan :)

jesi haack, you are SOOO creative and fun and i LOVE working with you! you got mad style!

melody, your sweets are the highlight of every event i do with you...especially when i come back to strike and there's leftovers - YES!

carlie, are you sure you are in the right profession? cause i swear you would make an amazing event designer! and i KNOW you are going to make an amazing momma! CONGRATS! lots of love to you, gabriel and baby lincoln...can't wait to meet him!