Nikki of Tikkido arranged this beautiful & sentimental 40th Wedding Anniversary {Backyard Garden Party} for her parents. The sweetest thing about this party is the re-imagining of the wedding cake that they were never able to try! Nikki did an amazing job using little details from their wedding to inspire a truly magical night!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Pretty cake table canopy with baby’s breath, daisies & lemons + a hanging photo backdrop
• Name tag crafted to look like the brown & peach wedding tuxedo!
• Beautiful recreation of their original Apricot Almond wedding cake

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Nikki…

I had the great pleasure of hosting a 40th anniversary party for my parents recently. I started with inspiration from their wedding, naturally, but modernized it to make a casually elegant backyard garden party.

They had daisies at their wedding – lots and lots of daisies. And baby’s breath. I started with those classic flowers, but expanded the selection of flowers, while sticking to the yellow and white color palette. Sunflowers, ranunculus, even lemons were incorporated into the florals for the party. I did all of the floral arrangements myself–definitely the most ambitious arrangements I’ve ever done! But it ended up being incredibly easy. Time consuming, yes, but not difficult at all. My 3 year old daughter did one floral arrangement entirely herself, in fact, and it looked great! You pretty much can’t go wrong with lovely fresh flowers!

I kept costs low by getting the flowers from a wholesale florist, and getting a lot of free material from my own yard. The lemons came from our tree, and the greens entwined around the lights above the seating area were actually trimmings from a tree in our yard!

Guests came from many diverse groups, so we had nametags to help everyone get acquainted.  My dad got a very special one, however: one that was reminiscent of the chocolate brown tux and ruffled peach shirt he wore to his wedding. Always a dapper man, my father.  ;-)

Photos of my parents were used throughout the party, and were featured prominently as the backdrop for the cake.

Food was simple Italian fare:  caprese salad skewers, tossed salad, spinach and artichoke dip, and pizzas cooked in the wood-fired oven I built in our backyard.

The cake itself is my favorite detail. My parents never got to eat the cake at their own wedding! They were busy at the reception, socializing and having photographs taken. By the time they got back to the house after the reception, my mother’s 10 younger siblings had eaten it all. Every crumb. From the moment I started planning this party I knew I wanted to re-create the wedding cake for them. It may have taken 40 years, but they finally got their cake!