That's a Wrap!

Finally, as promised, a quick re-view of my first party - Cloud 9. Also are a few ;-) more pictures taken by MY official photographers... my awesome brother and his fabulous wife.

Overall I would have to say I am pretty damn proud of myself for the way this party turned out. My best successes are:
- Finding all the necessary decorations, serving ware and equipment. (It takes time, it took me at least 4 months, numerous hours on ebay, trawling second hand shops, asking friends to borrow things, and going to every swap meet, garage sale and flea market this side of Mars!)
- The pavlova for the Eton Mess and the dessert as a whole.
- Budgeting - I think I was quite creative in finding and using materials that were cost effective and re-usable.

On the flip side are the things I would improve upon if I was ever crazy enough to do the same party again:
- Setting up time. I allowed a whole day to do a quick clean of the house, decorate the lounge room, and cook the roast, apples and pumpkin. I had already cooked the truffles, dessert and mousse the day before. And when I say a full day, I mean a full day, I got up a little after six and my guests were not arriving until 7pm, so altogether, 13hours. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, time still managed to get away from me and not all elements were completed. Very few of the stars got put on the wall, and the white painted clouds didn't get done. I would allow one day for the decorating and set-up alone, with 2 people.
- Cooking - I didn't do a dry run of the roasts first (as I was not sure who to feed all the pork to!) but in hindsight, I should have. It would have meant less smoke alarms going off, and not so starving guests.

So here are the final costs:
Plates: Average cost of a plate $1, number of plates - 20, total $20
Dessert bowls: Average cost $2, number of bowls - 20, total $40
Side plates: Average cost $1, number of plates 30 (extra for decorations) total $30
Swans: Total cost for 15ish swans $230
Gold candles: Number of candles, 9, total cost, $35
Serving plates and trays: Total cost $35
Gold Cutlery Set $150
Fabric for both sets of chair covers $150
Angel wings $120
Food: $200 (including $90 worth of meat)
Alcohol: $100
Invitations: $40
Carnations: $45
Cd's: $60
Stuffing: $60 (plus a lot more I had for free)
Black tablecloth satin: $35
Misc (blu tac, heart shaped tin, white napkins, star paper etc) $50


So, total cost of party? = Expensive!

But at the end of the day (or night as it was) it was most definitely worth it, I had a fabulous time researching, organizing, planning and hosting the party. I had a wonderful night with brilliant friends and family and I have my own happy memories to keep from that night. So now that the party is just a memory, my lounge room back to normal and my ebay account now idle, I find myself thinking...which one next? ;-)