We are so excited to be styling this year’s Operation Shower event here at the Phoenix Open! I promised myself that I would share last year’s event before this year’s event happens, which is on 1/28. (just in the nick of time!) I can’t believe it took me a year to get it posted here on the blog, especially because I am so proud of the work we did at this event for deserving military moms! We have been honored to work with Operation Shower for the last few years and we couldn’t be more excited! Operation Shower is an amazing  organization that travels across the country each year to throw huge baby showers for military moms/moms-to-be. We were thrilled when we were asked to come up with a theme and style the event here in Phoenix last year. Lucky for us, two of our favorite photographers, Jessica Downey and Rennai Hoefer donated their time to capture the beautiful event and special moments it created!

The theme we came up with was, Love is in the Air inspired by this vintage hot air balloon illustration. We used a neutral brown and white color palette, along with the illustration throughout all of the paper designs. Brown and white lanterns in various sizes were hung throughout the space, which transformed it into a gorgeous setting for a an afternoon luncheon!

When it came to décor for the shower, this one was easy. With my home decor being pretty neutral, I was able to pull so much from my house, including art and decor pieces that we used for centerpieces. With the help of the TomKat team and photographers scouring their own homes for more items, we were set! Each table’s centerpiece was unique featuring globes, old books, vintage cameras and trunks, but they all tied together with the vintage-inspired neutral design.

For every other table, we created hot air balloon centerpieces! They turned out so adorable! Using brown and white lanterns, white boxes from Blumebox and a few basic craft supplies, we created unique centerpieces perfect for our theme. Tutorial coming soon! We added baby’s breath to each table to mimic the feeling of clouds throughout the space and we love the way it all came together!

To add interest to the chair backs, we used coffee filters to make a white poof for each seat. Secured with a wide brown satin ribbon, these were just what we needed to complete the look for the tables!

We were thrilled to have our sweet friend, Lisa Leonard partner with us and donate a gorgeous necklace for each of our moms-to-be!

These chocolates, donated by Anna Shea Chocolates were not only beautiful but delicious! We added ribbon and a cute tag to the adorable little chocolate box and placed one at each place setting.

Our desserts were provided by the amazing ladies at Inspired Sugar and Simply Sweets, both local companies who have been amazing to work with! The lovely ladies of Inspired Sugar provided us with the gorgeous cake, as well as cupcakes, cake pops and cookies! The details were perfect and made the dessert table absolutely gorgeous! Simply Sweets donated delicious chocolate-covered pretzels and dipped Oreos….yum! Once again, we used coffee filters (this time brown) to create fun poofs to use as a garland for our dessert table, the color of the filters matched our vintage theme perfectly.

The hot air balloon and cloud cookies were almost too perfect to eat!

Some of our lovely guests had already given birth and it was so fun to have these tiny, perfect angels join us for such a fun celebration!

All of these deserving moms were showered with amazing gifts. Gifts included adorable Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags, sweet stuffed animals, blankets, clothes, diapers, jewelry and the list goes on. We were so lucky to be able to witness the looks on the women’s  faces as they opened all of the incredible gifts donated by so many wonderful companies!

Our friend, local news anchor Andrea Robinson from Fox 10 Arizona Morning served as the MC for the day and she did a fabulous job!

We have been so grateful for the opportunity to work with the ladies who started Operation Shower and have been so impressed with the amazing things they have done for so many deserving moms! We have loved working with and getting to know Amy Belle Isle over the last few years. She serves as Chief Event Planner for Operation Shower and oversees the entire production of each of the showers. Bravo, Amy!

We are in the final preparation stages for the next Operation Shower at The Phoenix Open and we can’t wait to share all of the details with you! We promise, it won’t take a year this time!

To learn more about Operation Shower or to make a donation, please click here.

:: sources :: 

paper designs, event design and styling :: the tomkat studio
photography :: jessica downey photography + rennai hoefer, ten22 studio
lanterns, candy cups, cake stands, jute twine :: the tomkat studio shop
white centerpiece boxes :: blumebox
necklace :: lisa leonard designs
cake, cupcakes, cake pops and cookies :: inspired sugar
chocolate dipped oreos and pretzels :: simply sweets
boxed chocolates :: anna shea chocolates
hot air balloon graphic :: the graphics fairy