When you’re an event planner by trade, you know that all of your personal celebrations must be executed with a bang. And when all your major life celebrations line up on milestone years, this is even more essential.
This year, my husband and I celebrated 10 years together, five years married, and both of our 30th birthdays. Aside from what I do for a career, in general we like to show off and ESPECIALLY like to dress up. We’re talking closets full of costumes that are ready to go at a moments notice. Due to all of the reasons listed above, we decided long ago that a themed celebration every five years would be a must.
Why pirates? The costume options are amazing and endless. Since this was our first themed party, we wanted to pick something easy for guests as we slowly trained them into how these sorts of things were hopefully going to go over the rest of our lives. 🙂
My mother-in-law is an amazing seamstress and the crafter behind both our costumes. I’ve always been drawn to a darker, bolder look, so the red, black, and gold ensemble was a natural fit. Everything was sewn by her, with the exception of my headscarf, tights, and coat, and my husband’s coat.
We weren’t stopping at costumes either. I worked with a local vintage rental company to bring in warmer furniture to tie together the room instead of just plain tables and chairs. Lots of wood, lots of leather, lots of bottles, and of course whiskey barrels. We provided plenty of treats inspired by pirate treasures and no pirate party would be complete without a rum punch.
At our wedding, we had done a choreographed first dance (back to that showing off thing!) and it was an easy decision to do another this time around. A powerful way to start the night!
Vendors
Event Planning and Design: Harmonious Union Events • Photography: Abby Park Photography • Videography: Henk Prinsloo Productions • Venue, Bar and Catering: The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club • Rentals: A La Crate Vintage Rentals • Hair and Makeup: Arch Apothecary • Costumes: Regency Fiber ArtsGallery
OMG! Is there any way I can go back in time and attend this? Please??
Your faces during the dancing are FIRE.
I know OBH has published a couple articles on this in the past, but would love some comments on how you organize your closets full of costumes? Especially the “on a moment’s notice”? I always find that when there’s an event I dig through my costume room and create a huge explosion that I then have to clean when I get back from said event. Ugh!
Anyway, love everything about this. Congrats, happy birthdayS, huzzah!
Thanks Morgan, we had so much fun!
We actually JUST put a costume system into place at our home. Each family member has 1-2 large totes that the costumes are stored in and a sheet taped to the lid listing out what costumes are all stored inside. We put the larger clothing pieces in these ones and then also each have a small box that contains all accessories (jewelry, glasses, wands, etc) since we’ve noticed these are these pieces which tend to be easiest to transfer between looks. Good luck!