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October 5, 2017 by Ashley Leave a Comment

wedding trends: catch the top three trends of 2017!

Check out my top three favourite wedding trends of 2017!

Are you looking for some wedding trends to make your wedding planning a bit smoother? You’re in luck because today I’m sharing some of my favourite wedding trends from this year! AND I’m so so excited, because as an added bonus it is ALMOST time to share the project I’ve been dying to tell you all about, so make sure you’re following me on social media @bythepartygirl because I promise you don’t want to miss this!

I’ve spent some time thinking about planning my dream wedding using some inspiration picked from the top wedding trends of this year – and pairing it with pieces from The Black Tux’s amazing collection! As many of you know weddings are a bit of an obsession of mine, and I’ve always felt the groom doesn’t get quite enough love! Today I’m breaking down three of the top colour trends of the year to help get you inspired, and, with the help of The Black Tux, giving you a leg up on the “what to wear” for the love of your life featuring my faves from their suit and tux collection!

Trend #1: Greenery

Since wedding trends often follow design and fashion patterns, it’s no surprise that the first wedding trend we’re sharing today features greenery! Even though it looks clean and eco-chic, this colour palette is anything but simple. While pops of greenery add a natural element that sets a romantic and soft tone, offsetting with touches of blush and cream make for the perfect complement.

What To Wear: 

Keep your colour palette light and airy and go a little outside the box with this gorgeous tan suit!

Trend #2: Metallics

Your wedding day is all about you, so why not take advantage of the spotlight and go a little glam? It’s your day after all. Metallic accents are the perfect way to add some glitz and glamour to your celebration. Like I like to say – go big or go home! There’s no such thing as too much shine on your big day, so add those pops of gold wherever you want. Gold sequin bridesmaid dresses are such a huge trend this year, and for good reason – what an eye catcher!

What To Wear: 

Your groom needs to look the part, so why not try this classic black tuxedo for the perfect pairing!

Trend #3: Navy & Blush

Full disclosure, I’m a little partial to this palette because (spoiler alert!) it’s the one that Fernanda is using for her wedding next year! I may be a little biased but my bestie has great taste, so it’s no surprise to see this pair making into the top three! The contrast of the deep navy with a sweet blush is the perfect mix of fun and fancy, and it looks great with some pops of gold and a little whimsy!

What To Wear: 

Channel the fun in your man’s wardrobe with this bold coloured suit that will stand out in a crowd – but also match your wedding colours!


So what do you think? Do you have a favourite colour palette from the ones I’ve chosen above? Or better yet – what trends are you loving these days? Let me know in the comments below!

Filed Under: lifestyle Tagged With: groom, mens fashion, suit, tux, wedding, wedding colours, wedding inspiration, wedding trends

September 19, 2017 by Ashley Leave a Comment

make this bridesmaid proposal & flower girl printable freebie and diy!

bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy

Bridesmaid Proposals made easy with this FREE printable and easy, affordable DIY option!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been giving slipping a few hints about some pretty big announcements I have coming up in the next few months. I’m beyond excited to share all the things I’m working on! However, in the meantime, I’ve definitely been around here a little less than usual. I promise that it will totally be worth it, but in an effort to make it up to you I thought I’d give you guys a special printable freebie and DIY project today that should come in handy as we roll into engagement season.

If you or someone you know is getting married and you haven’t heard of bridesmaid proposals, I’m going to stop you right there. Not only are they super trendy and all over Instagram, they’re also adorable and such a sweet way to celebrate your engagement with your besties. AND it’s a great excuse to give your girlfriends something special they can wear on your big day in a fun and unique way they’ll be dying to share all over Insta.

bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy

Today’s post is all about an easy DIY Bridesmaid Proposal gift that looks high end but comes in totally under budget! Jewelry is one of my all-time favourite things to gift. You can make even inexpensive (but super cute!) pieces look fantastic and perfectly wedding-appropriate. I thought a good freebie for you guys would be an easy flower girl ask card that works great with inexpensive jewelry for the special little girl in your life!

bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy

How To:

All you need is this floral Will You Be My Flower Girl printable, a small box, and some cute earrings. I found these flower earrings at Claire’s for less than $5! Use dull scissors or a scoring blade to gently score along the lines. Poke small holes into the front of the printable for the earrings and attach. Using double sided tape, adhere the printable to either side of the box. That’s it! How easy is that? For under $10 you have a gorgeous ask that looks anything but cheap!

bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy bridesmaid proposal and flower girl ask printable and diy

Filed Under: create Tagged With: bridesmaid proposal, diy wedding, flower girl, flower girl ask, printable, wedding, wedding party

August 29, 2017 by Ashley Leave a Comment

fairy tale party: get the details from this easy diy tenth birthday party for a little princess!

fairy tale birthday party

This fairy tale birthday party is full of easy, affordable details you can try at home!

Fairy tales rank pretty high on my list of priorities, especially when it means creating them for my younger sisters. After a summer obsessed with Beauty and the Beast and the new Disney Descendents movie, my sister Jordan, who turned ten this summer, requested a fairy tale theme for her birthday this year. The result was a pretty garden party fairy tale fit for any little princess, and a big hit for little girls with fairy wands and a lot of imagination.

fairy tale birthday party

fairy tale birthday party

Since I’ve been traveling a lot this summer this party had to be put together a bit last minute, and on a pretty tight budget. With the cost of summer camps these days I’m sure a lot of summer-baby parents can relate. This party was remarkably inexpensive and turned out perfectly for a group of ten-year-old girls. Read on below for some of my favourite details from the party!

The Details

fairy tale birthday party

Originally inspired by the castle grounds of the Beauty and the Beast remake – who wouldn’t be? – we knew from the start we wanted something that involved flowers. I used a faux-turf piece for the perfect “natural” table base. You can find them easily at your local Canadian Tire for about $5/foot.

The floral garlands are from Michaels; they were on clearance for about $1 each! Originally the vision was to put together a floral wall but since we were putting this together the night before we made some sacrifices. I think the simpler look actually worked in our favour.

fairy tale birthday party fairy tale birthday party

I made these little pink favour boxes with glitter paper and pink candies from Bulk Barn. They looked super sweet and cost me pretty much nothing. Since the party was in the dead of summer and we tend to have a lot of kids running around, hydration is a big priority. I made these pretty floral water bottle wrappers to add a pretty detail to a practical party staple. Water bottle labels are always a great trick because they’re very low cost but make a big impact!

fairy tale birthday party fairy tale birthday party

I used the rose cupcake wrappers from my Etsy shop and some crown toppers to make easy cupcakes, and cut out a simple paper crown for an easy, affordable cake topper. If you’re a Party Girl subscriber you probably read all about our last summer party, Lo’s emoji party, where the icing on our baked goods melted and ruined all my pictures. Jordan’s cake held up slightly better, but still had a pretty hilarious tilt. We ended up having to leave it on the cardboard base (it was not handling transferring very well) but the tilt gave it a whimsical look that looked almost purposeful. Gotta love when that happens!

fairy tale birthday party

The total cost of this party was about $20, including the ingredients for the cupcakes and cake! Isn’t that crazy? It also was easily put together in only a couple hours – which is the perfect kind of party for a busy mom on the go!

What do you think, will you borrow any of these ideas for your own fairy tale?

Filed Under: parties Tagged With: birthday, fairy tale, floral, kids birthday, party planning, princess party, summer party

June 28, 2017 by Ashley Leave a Comment

graduation: how to pop champagne like a pro and celebrate in style!

graduation: how to pop and chill champagne

Graduation is around the corner – are you ready?

With graduation coming up fast for many post-secondary students, what better time to collaborate with my friends over at PartSelect to show the new grad how to party like a rockstar? When PartSelect reached out to me about sharing their article on how to open and chill champagne (spoiler alert: it’s not actually about the pop!) I thought graduation was the perfect time to share it. After all, if you aren’t celebrating with champagne have you even graduated?

Check out their tips for how to master your bubbly:

graduation: how to pop and chill champagne

How to Properly Chill and Open Sparkling Wine
It’s Not About The Pop!

If you’re reading this, the chances are good that you’re cheering for, and with, bubbles. Sparkling wine has arguably never been a more popular beverage choice, especially in the U.S. The Wine Institute reported that in 2015, Champagne and sparkling wine sales in the U.S. grew by two million cases, topping off at an incredible 21.7 million cases that year.
You might be a bit shocked to learn, however, that the iconic imagery of celebrating major life events with the loud pop of a Champagne cork flying across the room has got it all wrong, at least when it comes to the best way to enjoy your bubbly-drinking experience. And if you’re like most of us, the bottle of sparkling wine at the end of that cork is being served too warm, too. Yeah, we know, we’re party poopers, but we’re trying to help you out, here.

While a cork-turned-flying-projectile is admittedly kind of fun, there are better ways of ensuring that your celebrations include getting the best out of the bottles of bubbly on which you spent your hard-earned cash. Those start with knowing the best way for chilling your sparkling wine (hint: it involves salt), and the best way to open it once it’s cooled down (hint: it’s not supposed to be noisy).

Here’s a primer on chilling and opening your bubbles, with an overview of the science behind it, for those of you who are skeptics at heart, and in case you want to impress your friends with your wine knowledge.

Chilling it Out

Due to its carbonation, sparkling wine generally tastes best when it’s served colder than most other wine styles. Typically, this is in the 43–48 degrees F (6–7 degrees C) temperature range. A lower temperature also slows down the molecular activity in the bottle, making it safer to open; warmer carbonated liquid tends to foam up more – which can make a mess. So, in a way, chilling sparkling wine is the first step in properly opening it.

You can achieve this chill-down by putting your bubbles into the refrigerator, but that takes about three hours, and mostly kills the romance associated with whipping out a bottle of celebratory sparkling wine. The quickest way to get your sparkling wine to the right serving temperature – usually getting the trick done on a 750ml bottle in 20 minutes or less – is by using an ice bucket, ice, water, and salt.

First, fill the ice bucket about halfway with ice and water. This is the most important step in chilling the wine, and the one that even some seasoned professionals sometimes miss. A mixture of ice and water will chill down your sparkling wine much more quickly than ice alone. For that, we can thank the laws of thermodynamics (you know, the stuff you slept through during science class in high school). For the wine to cool, it needs to transfer its heat to its surroundings; the colder the surroundings, the more quickly it can do this. Ice, of course, cools the area around the bottle, but ice alone will have many air pockets between the ice cubes, and air, being a gas, isn’t great at heat/energy transfer. Water, on the other hand, is a pretty good medium for transferring heat, and it will fill in the air pockets between the ice cubes, increasing the amount of cooling material in contact with the bottle, thereby getting the bottle of bubbles cooler, faster.

graduation: how to pop and chill champagne
Adding a handful of salt to the ice/water mixture before gently putting the bottle into the ice bucket is also a good idea. Why? Because salt will lower the freezing temperature of the ice water in the bucket. When that happens, there’s more melting than freezing happening in the bucket, increasing the ice water’s ability to absorb energy from the wine bottle, and minimizing the cooling time required. See, you should have paid more attention in physics class!

graduation: how to pop and chill champagne

Don’t “Pop” it Open

Now that you’ve given your sparkling wine a 15-or-so minute chill-out, it’s time to open it up. Notice we didn’t say “pop” it open. Flying corks can be dangerous, and should be avoided. Not only that, but a loud “pop!” indicates that you’re releasing a lot of the carbonation in the sparkling wine, and you paid extra for those bubbles – so we want to keep them inside the bottle as best we can. Also, forget using a corkscrew on sparkling wine, because that’s dangerous; this needs to be done by hand.

First, get a small towel and dry off your bottle after removing it from the ice bucket. Next, remove the foil around the top of the bottle, and grab the bottle with one hand. Using your other hand, grab the wire tab at the bottom of the “cage” that secures the cork, and untwist it by turning it counter-clockwise.

graduation: how to pop and chill champagne

While doing this, keep a thumb from your other hand on the top of the cage, and be sure that you’re not pointing the bottle at anyone (including yourself) or anything expensive. The reason: you’re holding a potential missile. There are 5 to 6 atmospheres of pressure inside that corked bottle of bubbly, equating to about 70 and 90 pounds per square inch. That’s the reason that Champagne bottles are thicker than still-wine bottles: so that they don’t explode. The pressure is going to want to find the quickest release, which is the opening in the neck of the bottle.

Once the wire cage is loosened, put the small towel over the top of the bottle, hold it at about a 45° angle, and continue to hold the top with one hand. Start twisting the bottle – yes, the bottle – slowly with one hand, while applying pressure against the cork and cage with the hand that’s holding the towel-covered top of the bottle. The carbonation will be trying to pop that cork right out, but that’s not what we want. Continue applying slight “negative” pressure as you twist the bottle, until the cork loosens and you can release it slowly.

If done correctly, instead of a pop, you should hear a sigh…which, hopefully, is like the sound that you’ll be making after drinking and appreciating your properly chilled and properly opened bottle of bubbles!

Source: PartSelect Blog
Author: Joe Roberts


How’s that? So when you’re out celebrating your graduation this year, make sure you show everybody just how ready you are for the real world. After all, you have the real skills, right?

Filed Under: lifestyle Tagged With: champagne, graduation, how to, party, tutorial

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I'm Ashley, and I like Diet Coke, confetti, long walks through paper stores, and making every occasion extra special!

I created The Party Girl to be a place dedicated to celebrating the everyday, one printable, DIY project, or idea at a time!

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