Thursday evening one of my best friends, Mel, got engaged. Since I’ve known Mel she’s always dreamed of getting engaged at Disney {yes, she knows this proposal isn’t for everyone}. On the last day of her annual week long Disney vacation with her sister and a few friends she walked into Cinderella’s Castle to find her Prince Charming down on one knee with a gorgeous rock in hand. Of course she said yes through a flood of happy tears!
So when Mel’s fiance, Travis, filled me in on is plan to propose 5 months ago I knew I wanted to do something really special for them when they returned from Orlando. Knowing Mel, I knew it would be absolutely impossible to keep the party a secret so I decided to tell her all about it. And since she loves party planning as much as I do she even agreed to help make the “small fiesta dinner party” with our friends happen. For weeks leading up to her trip we ran party errands together, sent each other pins from Pinterest, grocery shopped and were so excited for the fiesta. What Mel didn’t know is that this dinner party would be her surprise engagement fiesta!!
To say she was surprised was a huge understatement.
I asked her a million times if she had it figured out and she said it never crossed her mind that this party could be for her, even after Travis proposed! She even said she thought it was such perfect timing that we had planned the dinner so she could show off her ring and fill us all in on the proposal details together – HA!
Mel was so overwhelmed to see 16 of her friends and family all in one room! Immediately after they arrived we popped some champagne and toasted to the happy couple.
{Banner designed by Tweet Events}
After several glasses of bubbly, it was time to snap some photos, snack on some delicious appetizers and chow down on tacos.
Remember my first sewing project I mentioned {here}? Well that was the fiesta garland for the party! Cutting hundreds of little squares out was truly a labor of love and I can’t get over how adorable the garlands turned out!
Along the mantel I printed some of my favorite pictures of the couple including their proposal pictures from Disney.
The bar…
I found a cute fiesta banner printable {here} for the table, used a roll of {$1 Target Aisle} wrapping paper for the runner, picked up the flowers from the Farmer’s Market, and had the water bottle labels and tent cards created by Tweet Events.
Cherry Margarita recipe found {here}.
Salsa Station: Chips, Salsa, Guacamole & Queso
{Cake Table}
{Gift Table}
{the back deck}
Time for tacos!!
After dinner Mel and Travis cut the cake for some practice for their big day.
I knew the days leading up to the party would be too crazy so I decided against making the cake and had Harris Teeter custom bake this delicious raspberry filled vanilla cake.
Next up, pinata time!!!
Tailoring the pinata filling to the occasion the donkey was stuffed with mini bottles of liquor and ring pops!
The pinata smash was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever watched. Using an old broom stick handle we made both Mel and Travis spin around 10 times then try and hit the pinata. Meanwhile everyone laughed as we pulled the string up each time they went to hit it. Finally after numerous misses Travis demolished the pinata. Thank goodness we used plastic mini bottles.
Since the proposal was caught on tape, we all gathered around and watched the video. Then Mel and Travis opened their gifts.
Mary gave Mel an adorable countdown until the wedding sign and Travis volunteered to fill in the number of days until their wedding. Clearly Mel was not amused.
Afterwards we took 247 pictures in the photo booth…
Photo Booth printables can be found {here}.
{Mel’s Family}
Congratulations!! We are all so happy for you two!
What a cute, fun party! You did great!
What a fun party!! So awesome!
All the details are so cute! And I just love that taco bar.
Great ideas 🙂
With every party you throw, you continue to blow me away with how incredible you are at it! It looks like y'all had a great night, and how lucky Mel is to have a friend like you do this all for her! :)(P.S. – my husband proposed in Disney World, too, right in front of Cinderella's Castle, so tell Mel I totally get it!)
THis is adorable! It all looks so good. And the picture of the dog with the mustache is my absolute favorite.
What a great friend you are! Love this and makes me want to fiesta;) I esp love the piñata and fillings! Congrats to your friends….can't wait to hear if they have Disney details on their big day;) We actually had a Disney photo booth for our Charleston wedding…had to encorporate it somehow;)
This looks great – like all your events! Your pinata fillings are genius….and I totally cracked up at what he wrote on their countdown!
You truly should be a party planner. This is amazing!
Adorable party! You always have the cutest party decor. Do you hit up a florist or a farmer's market for your parties?
OMG you need to be a party planner! Everytime I see the stuff you do, it amazes me how talented you are!
This party is adorable! I love all of the little details!
This is way too cute! I've learned that surprise parties are REALLY hard for me to keep a secret, so I love that you told her all about it. This post is just full of great party ideas – love it!Natalieoystersandpearls.net
OMG. Can we be friends, you throw the best parties!!! So adorable!! 🙂
Love all the details of the party!! Love Mexican food, ha! You're such a great friend!
So absolutely adorable, I love surprises! And I'm sorry but Matt can ROCK a 'stache! HAHA!
This is so stinkin adorable and such a fun idea!! Everything looks perfectly planned and coordinated, love it!P.s. Target has been knocking it out of the park with their $1 spot wrapping paper lately!
Once again, your party planning skills are fantastic!! This is such a cute party and I'm so glad you were able to surprise your best friend!
Did you ever pull this off!!!!! Great job, girl! I love every single detail —– looks like everyone had an absolute blast. You are too good and so kind — I'm certain Mel and her hubby to be will never forget this party!!And helllooooooo, how awesome does your console table look??? Don't you love it with the hardware and labels?!
I was waiting for Mel to show up today in her Minnie ears. Such a fun party!! She was beaming talking about it this AM so good job!!!
This is so darn cute!! You did such an amazing job, you're so thoughtful!! I especially love the Fiesta garland! Your back deck is adorable too, love the furniture and rug! 🙂
I use to want to get married at Disney! LOL!!
You really outdid yourself! What a sweet, sweet surprise for the couple!!!! The party decorations look amazing and I hope you had an amazing time celebrating this weekend! 🙂
Such a fantastic party! I love all the details — even the fact that you used color coordinated forks and knives, not just plain white. I also adore the mini pinatas pn your mantel! So adorbs!!
I have been admiring your IG photos of this darling fiesta and just LOVE all of the details seeing it here in this post. You really outdid yourself…your friend is sure lucky to have you in her life!! Awesome job!
What a wonderful party! You are truly such a talented party planner – your details are incredible and really make events like that so special for your guests. And I love that Mel helped plan her own surprise engagement party without knowing it was for her!
Your party planning skills are amazing!! You are a Martha Stewart in the making! 🙂
What a FANTASTIC fiesta!! You killed it on the details and it looks like everyone had such a great time. Mexican themed parties are my absolute favorite!!
This is such a sweet surprise!! We never had an engagement party (just seemed like another thing to plan!) But this looks awesome!!
You sure do know how to plan a party! I love the décor!
i LOVE LOVE LOVE this!! so fun keeping her in on what she thought would be a small fiesta…HILARIOUS!!! and p.s. i TOTALLY love the idea of getting engaged at Disney…how amazing is that :)your friends are lucky to have you my dear!! OXOX
Love everything about the party!
What an amazing party!!!
Just like everyone said – "We're SO LUCKY" to have such awesome friends. Love evrything about this entire post. You're amazing friend. Love you!
I love every little detail of this party!!! Soooo sweet you turned it around on her as surprise engagement party…love surprising friends like that 😉
Looks like SO much fun. You truly know how to throw a party. And what I small world, I see Meghan, one of my sorority sisters in your pictures! Crazy!
You always have the BEST parties!!! I wish I lived down the street from you (:
You did an amazing job!
You are the bestest friend EVER!!! Everything is perfect and adorable. Great idea to make the pinata fillings be liquor! Lol (And good thinking on the plastic bottles!) 🙂
Wow…that party looks fabulous. What an amazing celebration. Everything looks incredible, and all the smiles show it was the perfect night. So fun!!
What a cute idea! I love the decorations.
Lovely! You can plan an event for me any day!
Get out that is a great surprise.. Hilarious and very helpful seeing as how you had a partner to help in the preparation of the party!
You did such a awesome job! Love love the decorations! I am sure she was over the moon!
That is amazing. She is lucky to have a friend like you. You are a great party planner, congrats! 🙂
Such a fabulous party! I love that she was helping plan her own party and didn't even know it! So cute!!!!
What a sweet and fun thing to do!! And so special to have shared those moments of celebration together!Melanie♥www.athistage.blogspot.com