A Fiesta Engagement - Carolina Charm

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.