I am so delighted to finally be sharing this rooftop school themed graduation brunch with you. A dear friend recently graduated from the design program at Pratt. She is a designer and passionate about color my co-host and I knew her celebration needed to reflect her personality in a thoughtful, creative, classy and stylish way. Our friend did not attend nor celebrate her high school or college graduations, so this was extra incentive to make this memorable!

My creative partner, Gabrielle Aronas, and I decided to create a subtle school concept. This was inspired BY office items we found on our recent trip to IKEA.
Shop early to avoid horrendous crowds and have a meet up place, if you lose your shopping companion as cell service is nil.

This single piece launched the entire tablescape. This three tier desk accessory has rounded groves in each tier that screamed for deviled eggs. We listened.

The event was a surprise, we didn’t have the correct spelling of each guests’ name, so in lieu of traditional place cards we opted to take a fun and whimsical approach to marking each guests’ place.

Each places cards was a different school themed title. We used Foreign Exchange Student because we had a guest from Russia, Lithuania and the guest of honor is from Israel, which made this a popular seat) Lunch Room Lady which was a special ode to my time in Scotland as that’s what the students used to fondly refer to me as.

The others were:
Most likely to succeed
Class President
Cheerleader
Jock
Rebel
Nerd
Dreamer
Party Animal
Player
Prom Queen
Outcast
Most Popular

Gabrielle had the genius (pun intended) idea to divide the menu into Pre Requisites, Electives and Extra Credit, instead of first course, entree and dessert. Ana Dolan designed the menus using the font named: learning curve. I heart clever!

The craft brown paper offered a perfect foundation for the orange runner. We had purchased a variety of patterned napkins so we could see what would compliment the other elements.

Three vases in ascending heights were placed in magazine holders. When planning service, think about investing in pieces that can be given as a gift to the guest of honor or used at events in the future. The guest of honor actually asked if she could have the office accessories. Victory!

The retro bottles of orange and ginger ale soda were placed at alternating place settings. Each glasses had a colorful straw, guests were encouraged to sample both the flavors, assuming their neighbors’ were willing to share. The black bean salsa and guacamole served in ramekins was also done so for this intent. The choice to go with orange was two fold. The modern design of the items at IKEA offered us great inspiration and orange is the color of the guest of honor’s website and blog. Were were thrilled to coordinate the party to her brand, especially since successful branding played a part of her post graduate degree.

To be continued tomorrow….

Meanwhile: Thanks to the incredibly talented women I worked with on this event: Gabrielle Aronas, Ana Dolan and Sofia Negron. I’d collaborate with all of you again, in a heartbeat.