Recently, Plum Polka Dot had the incredible honor of providing party favors for a 50th Anniversary Party. It’s not every day you see a couple reach such a milestone, and the party host - Kelli Hiser of Kelli Hiser Photography (@simplylifebykelli) - wanted to be sure that this “golden” anniversary was extra special. Through some careful planning and creative touches, she was able to design an elegant anniversary bash, right inside the family home!
Have you been tasked with planning an anniversary celebration of your own? Let us show you what Kelli did to create such a magical evening for the special couple:
Pick Your Colors
Picking a color scheme for your anniversary celebration can actually quite simple. In this case, she stuck to the traditional 50th anniversary gift – gold – and built her pallet around it.
Of course, if you’d rather not use the traditional gift as your inspiration (I mean, do you really want to plan a 3rd anniversary party around leather?), you can always deviate from this plan and pick a color scheme that you feel best reflects the couple, location, and time of year.
Use Place Settings to Accentuate Your Theme
While we tend to think of décor as balloons, lighting, centerpieces, and other more prominent items, the role your plating and silverware play in the overall look and feel of a party is equally important. Thankfully nowadays there is absolutely no shortage of wonderful plate and silverware options that can add a beautiful touch to your celebration.
For this 50th Anniversary Party, Kelli opted for a simple white base plate, a brilliant gold salad/appetizer plate, a striped gold napkin and gold silverware. These were all disposable, making it super easy to clean up. After all, time spent at an anniversary party should be with the guests of honor, not with a sink full of dishes!
Best of all, the gold plates and silverware provided the perfect pops of color against the white tablecloth!
Dress Your Table
Depending on the size of your table, you may have some gaps to fill once places are set. Thankfully, there are a lot of easy, elegant ways to round out your look.
In this case, Kelli chose to keep it simple, laying in some gold party strands and some white candles placed in gold jars throughout the table. Throw in a few subtle touches of green courtesy of some foliage, and the table was ready to shine at this golden celebration!
Bring the (Wine) Charm
To add a final piece of golden sparkle to the table setting, Kelli asked Plum Polka Dot to equip each wine glass with a special Swarovski gold crystal wine charm. These really finished out the look, and were a hit with all of the guests. And little did they know, but they’d all be leaving with a customized 50th Anniversary wine charm as a party favor, so that they could remember this special celebration for years to come!
Add in Personal Touches
Of course, no anniversary party would be complete without some personal touches to highlight the happy couple!
For this party, Kelli collected a series of photographs from the couple’s wedding 50 years earlier and put them on display throughout the space. Not only did guests love seeing how these two lovebirds looked on their big day (since most in attendance had not even been born when these two got married), but the couple themselves were overwhelmed to stare back at these photographs and think of the magical 50 years they had spent together.
Whomever you’re toasting at the celebration you’re planning, be sure to collect as many photographs as you can. They’ll be the highlight of the event for sure!
Incorporate a Guest Book
In addition to the photographs, Kelli wanted to incorporate one extra special sentimental item for the happy couple. With guest books being all the rage at weddings these days, she decided to give this couple a new guestbook, so that party goers could leave their well wishes and advice for another 50 wonderful years of marriage!
While this particular couple did not have an original guestbook from their wedding, if the couple you are celebrating still has theirs, it’d be a great idea to place the new book right alongside the old one. That way guests who attended the wedding can look back at the advice they gave years before and see if it still applies today! A fun trip down memory lane for everyone…
Plum Polka Dot was honored to have our wine glass charms incorporated into such a magical 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. According to Kelli, the event was a total success, and everyone there was able to reminisce wonderful old memories, and make some great new ones too.
Next time you’re tasked with creating a tasteful wedding anniversary celebration, rest assured this guide will be here to help you get the job done. From picking a color and décor, to incorporating mementos of the couple and special, customized party favors, your perfect celebration is just a few key steps away.
So, here’s to the happy couple…cheers!