An American Baby in Paris, Part I

Planning a first birthday party turned out to be an absolute delight.  I love weddings – and always will – but my daugther’s first birthday party was so much fun.  I don’t really do themes for weddings so it was fun to get really cutesy and into children’s parties.

Cake: TipsyCake
Food: Le Creperie 
Rentals: RevelLeft Bank

All Photos By: TK Photography.


A Welcome to Paris sign (in French) greeted guests as they arrived to Little Beans Cafe.

Since the venue has a sock only policy, I made a sign notifying guests.
It was near the name tags that said “Je m’appelle”. I had name tags for the children because there were a lot of people meeting for the first time at the party!

Complimentary socks were available for the guests –  both children and adults- that happened to be sock-less that day!

The main room of Little Beans is huge and has these with gorgeous skylights.   To bring your eyes up, I tied balloons ties to each chair.  I also rented pink satin linen for the tables for more color!

Each table was decorated with giant Eiffel towers and bird cages.

The sweets table was a true labor of love.  The table was covered in pink linen and had a banner that said “Let them eat cake”.  I used cake stands of varying height to display all of the treats.  The cake was a 3D Eiffel tower designed by Naomi from TipsyCake.  In the background, I hung pastel pink streamers.


Some of the pink treats for the guests.


Outside of the main room, is a little nook for a buffet.  I decorated the room with cards of the French alphabet.  There was also a dress form with a strand of pearls.

We served two different types of savory crepes for our hungry guests!




Who doesn’t love a dress form?  I borrowed this lovely from my good friend Sonia Roselli.

The drinks table: punch and custom water bottles.   For the punch, we had sheer pink glasses with cute straws and straw flags.










The main room had long tables.  Since it was a children’s party, I didn’t want to use anything too delicate.  The Left Bank sells these lovely Eiffel Towers that I coupled with bird cages.



Never underestimate the power of balloons!


In the lounge area, I displayed Francesca’s baby book.

The framed invitation was displayed on the coffee table.




Above the favors, I made a sign that translates to “Thank You, Kisses, Francesca”.

The favors were a custom CD with French nursery songs.

For the older children, I bought individual favors that were more suitable to their age range.

A family photo in the playhouse.


I’ll be posting more about the party tomorrow!

Francesca’s Baby Announcements




























I love paper so baby announcements were on my must-do list! After seeing all of the great photos that Laurie Peacock took, we decided that we had to use as many as possible on the baby announcement. (It’s funny how things change; before these photos, I had planned to do letterpress announcements via a friend.)

Francesca’s New Born Photos


We had the fabulous Laurie Peacock take newborn photos of Francesca Elise. These are the photos that we used for the birth announcements. Laurie blogged about taking Francesca’s photos. Click here to read her blog post.


Laurie is primarily a wedding photographer. I was her wedding planner so it was only fitting that she was the first person to shoot Francesca.



I’ll post a copy of her baby announcements tomorrow.

Sporadic Posts…

UPDATE — Honey Bee Weddings is still taking clients! I am just not blogging as much as I have in years past. If you are interested in our services, email me!

… because this is how I am working about 50% of my day.
I’m not getting nearly as much done, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Let me introduce my daughter…


I am proud to announce the arrival of my adorable daughter
Francesca Elise
first of October, two thousand and ten
twenty-seven past one o’clock in the afternoon
eight pounds seven ounces
twenty inches

Baby and Mama are doing great.

Reading List

Once I found out that a baby was on the way, I found myself spending less time on wedding websites and more time on baby sites. Here are a list of a few of my favorites:

  • Babble – cute site with information from pregnancy to being a parent. Marketed as “for a new generation of parents”, I thought the website was fun.
  • Baby Gizmo – comprehensive website with lots of reviews on products. And let me tell you, as a parent-to-be, reviews on products is going to become very important! They also have pretty cool contests.
  • Celebrity Baby Scoop – totally fun website filled with the latest celeb/ baby news. Snark-free, it makes perusing a totally guilt-less pleasure.
  • Fit Pregnancy – I subscribed to the magazine almost immediately. I didn’t go to the website unless I was following up on an article or using their Tools section. I did sign up for their weekly newsletter, which had links back to the website.
  • Hot Moms Club – Tied to Pregnancy magazine, I went here a few times. They seem to have information on trendy items… but the title does require an eyeroll.
  • Momfinds – I love the way this site is organized. It’s great for product review information. I know this sounds crazy, but you will need to learn a whole new language once you have a baby! I’ve been a fan of Shefinds for a long time!
  • My First Baby – The site is filled with videos… and I don’t watch a lot of videos. However, I think it could be pretty useful and I did get a free T-shirt.
  • Pregnancy & Newborn – Related to Pregnancy’s magazine, I only really went on here to register for their contests.
  • Stroller Traffic – One of my favorite websites! Aimed at urban Moms, the website had a really informative baby list.
  • Vital Juice – It’s a great website with lots of wellness information.

I did visit but never understood the hype of go to Baby Center. The message boards on the Bump scared me. And WebMD was a bit too medical but good if you had a Q and didn’t want to bother your doctor.

Building the Baby’s Wardrobe


I was reading the latest issue of New York magazine last night and fell in love with this onesie from Brooklyn Junior. It’s a little overpriced $22 but both Denton and I love it. Plus, D wears headphones like this in the winter in lieu of ear muffs.
Our baby now owns three items: a Burberry onesie, an A/C tee shirt, and an ear-muff onesie. It’s the start to a fabulous wardrobe.
16 days until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl!