Words can’t describe the magic that exists within seeing your child’s first birthday come to life. Truth be told, I’ve been dreaming about the day when I could plan the first big event to celebrate our little girl since she was in my belly. From the moment she was born, I’ve always told her she enchants me. There is something so magical about her empathy, compassion, and curiousness, and I love seeing life through her eyes. As soon as I started my Pinterest browsing for party themes, a whimsical wonderland just felt so very Ella. So much time and work went into planning every single detail of this outdoor event and we were blessed to partner with some incredible vendors to pull it all off. I have gotten so many messages on Instagram asking who did what and I am here to break it all down! Some of them you need to be in Nashville for, others you can order and have things shipped to where you are, so there is truly something for everyone. My hope is that this can be a one-stop guide for other mamas planning away right now because I know how much easier that would have made things for me! Let’s go to Ella’s ONEderland…

Photography for our special day was all thanks to Aurora of Dahlia Orchid! Her Instagram truly speaks for itself. From beautiful details to sweeping landscapes she knows just how to capture the true essence of a special day. She arrived promptly, was so professional, made sure to capture every last detail, and captured so many special moments from the day that I didn’t even remember until looking back at her gallery. When you’re a parent hosting a birthday party for your little one, I highly recommend getting a photographer to capture the day. Just like a wedding, you are highly stressed trying to make sure everything goes smoothly for your little one that it’s hard to remember every detail. The last thing you want to do is be on your phone trying to capture moments and realize after that you aren’t in any of them! Aurora made sure to capture every special interaction for our baby girl. From moments in our arms to giggles with her grandparents and everything in between. We will cherish these memories forever and I hope you love her work throughout the rest of this post as much as we do!

The entire ambiance of the day wouldn’t have been possible without Marena and The Social Picnic! Marena and I spoke for about five months leading up to Ella’s special day (that is definitely not a timeline that she needs because she is such a quick and effective planner, but I am nuts and started planning Ella’s party over the Summer and I figured, who wouldn’t love more time… ha!) Marena and I got so close over the course of chatting through details and figuring out what would be right for the big day. She completely had creative freedom to run with the theme of the party and I am so glad she did! The tablescapes she put together were more than I could have dreamed of. We did a standard setting for all of the adults and then a kid’s table with all paper products to keep things safe and unbreakable. From grass bunnies that matched the cake (you’ll get there soon enough) to little clocks, custom centerpieces with plastic domes instead of glass (keeping the kids in mine), a bar with ONEderland decor and florals that incorporated vintage playing cards, The Social Picnic completely outdid themselves with this one and our party guests were over the moon about it!

I cannot stress enough how onderful (see what I did there) having picnic-style seating was with all of the little ones! It’s perfect for your little ones to crawl up to and be right at the height of everything they need, but also great for everyone to be on the same level as your little one, which felt so special on her big day! Marena and her team have so many preset picnics to choose from, but she is also willing to talk through all of your ideas and come up with the perfect plan! Look through her picnic options HERE. While we tag-teamed a lot of the planning/ set-up for Ella’s special day, Marena is also a full-service event planner and can really take the reigns with an idea to make it truly come to life in ways you couldn’t even dream up in your prettiest of mood boards. I cannot recommend her enough! She came to clean up on time, packed everything up seamlessly, and truly made for such a stress-free end to the most special day.

The day wouldn’t have been anything without the culinary expertise of Tyler and Tastify Foods! This name may sound familiar to you if you’ve been around for some time here as we’ve partnered together before. Having tasted Tyler’s food previously, I had no doubts about the deliciousness, but I was so incredibly impressed by his attention to detail to the theme of the event and making sure every platter of food helped to tell that story!

From blue pasta like the “drink me” drinks in Alice in Wonderland to mini “mushroom” caprese salads, hearts and spades chicken sliders, and playing card puff pastries, the spread was so incredible and had something for everyone! I loved that the food was kid-friendly and accessible while still being leveled up through flavors, seasoning, and sauces. The mini pasta jars were plastic as well (always keeping the kiddos in front of mine)! There was plenty of food to go around and Tyler arrived prior to the party, kept the food heating in our oven, and told us just how to plate and keep refilling things as needed, so the entire day was even less stressful thanks to that. Tyler and Marena work together all the time for catering spreads/ decor, so she knew just what to bring to spruce up the spread and blend it in with the rest of the event. Check out Tyler’s offerings HERE.

Quite possibly the biggest hit of the day for Ella was the balloon installation from Amy and Pop Art Creations! Amy and her daughter had to arrive earlier than all of the other vendors to make sure the balloon arch and accents were up before the rest of the set-up! Forget on time, they were EARLY and so professional about setting up in a timely and quiet way since our little one was still sleeping. I was truly amazed at just how quickly they got everything up and they continued to go above and beyond, even making a smaller arrangement for me to go around a #1 I got for our mailbox.

When I was planning Ella’s party I created a mood board of the kind of ONEderland I wanted to see. I wanted lots of fall and boho colors with the theme, unlike the usual spring palette that is associated with Alice in Wonderland. I sent Amy that same mood board and she completely blew it out of the water! I could never imagined an installation so perfect. It truly took everything I had dreamed up and brought it to life, really setting the tone for the special day and all of the other vendors when it came to colors and decor items. AND CAN WE LOOK AT THE MUSHROOMS?! Are they not the cutest part of the entire thing?! They added the perfect amount of wonderland into a specially crafted theme just for our girl. I did a special little guest book where people had to write notes to Ella for her to open when she’s 18 and it was just serendipitous how it all went together –

Visit Pop Art Creations’ website to learn more about booking them today and have them completely set the tone for your special event and blow up your expectations in the best way (pun intended)!

A big part of the balloon install was the custom sign by Abbey Lanigan! Abbey is another one where if you’ve been on our page for a while, then you remember she was the genius behind designing our wedding invites with us! I trust her creativity so much and can’t even believe her talent for lettering, calligraphy, and bringing elements together for beautiful custom pieces you can cherish forever! In addition to the sign you see hanging under the balloon arch, Abbey also made the sign we used above the gift table:

Abbey has an incredible way of sensing what you’re talking about before you can even put it into words or sketch it. I literally came to her with “I want special signs for Ella’s birthday” and we somehow got here! She is truly the most incredible person and gets so much joy out of taking on projects she’s excited about and making people happy. You can send her a message on Instagram if you’re interested in chatting more with her!

Let’s talk about Jords’ Cricut Creations! She was one of the first people I reached out to in wanting to find a way to partner for the party and she had the great idea of doing these cups that could also become the party favor for guests to leave with! I previously shared them on my stories when I was unboxing them and got so many people who loved the design. We went back and forth a few times. to nail it down and then decided to do a matte mauve and shimmery rose gold print to match the balloons! The cups had the date of Ella’s birthday on the back and were perfect for the drink station. We did put a sharpie with them so people could write their names on the cups, but we also made sure to have more than enough in case they forgot or wanted to switch up what they were drinking! Jord also has an Etsy shop where you can order the cutest items from anywhere!

Ella’s handmade, custom dress was truly a highlight and wouldn’t have been possible without Jasmine of Black Cat Creations! You’ll notice that I love working with repeat small business owners when I can and Jasmine and I actually collaborated on an outfit for Ella before she was even born! It was even more special that now we were working together to ideated this beautiful dress we’ll cherish forever! I sent Jasmine some examples of dress designs I really liked that pulled on the Alice in Wonderland theme so she could come up with the pattern for the shape of the dress. I then sent her some Wonderland patterns that also matched the colors of our theme and she got to work! From the detail of the eyelet trim to the soft and flowy pattern, this dress was perfect and fit Ella like a glove! Not to mention it was comfortable enough for her to wear all day! Jasmine also included some soft blue bummies for Ella to wear over her diaper that really pulled everything together and made the outfit that much more practical! You can DM her on Instagram to talk about custom orders, or check out her Etsy for some items you can order RIGHT NOW!

Let’s talk about the sweet treats from none other than Nashville Sweets! Yes, we’ve worked with them before too on our WEDDING DAY. This was really so full circle and we wound up doing the same flavor as our wedding cake (raspberry chocolate chip). I kid you not that people actually cheered out loud when we said it was the same flavor as our wedding! I worked with their special events planner, Brooke, who helped me design absolutely every element into the most perfect cumulation of the entire theme! I will save the original sketch compared to the cake itself in my ONEderland highlight on my Instagram! The cake topper was custom-made by The Sparkling Sugar Studio!

Nashville Sweets also made the most incredible smash cake for our baby girl and I think it may be the biggest cake to baby ration (still waiting on the Guinness Book to weigh in!) Ella absolutely LOVED getting sung to and diving into the vanilla, vanilla naked cake with a white chocolate #1 on top! Nashville Sweets always has incredible same-day items to pick up and excel at custom orders, so give their website a browse now (sweet tooth guaranteed)!

We had the most incredible day in Ella’s ONEderland and couldn’t have asked for a more special celebration surrounding our girl with so much love! These vendors are more like friends and without them, none of this would have been possible. Singing their praises is SO easy and I hope you all will be able to use them soon and see exactly what I mean. For now, head on over to my Instagram and check out my pinned reel of the party so you can see it all unfold! “You’re late, for a very important date… “