A Ruby Wedding Anniversary - A Photo Essay

Way back in November, my sisters and I hosted a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary party for our parents. We invited 30 of their nearest and dearest family and friends and created a 3 course sit down feast. For months beforehand we met and talked and planned and trialled and created dishes and scoured Pinterest and made decorations and deceptions {it is no easy feat to keep a secret from ones parents for several months}.

The theme was easy. Ruby. We added a hint of blackboard chic, and simple elegance. I created a "blackboard" poster with facts about our parents and their 40 years of marriage. The table was decorated with personalised black bonbons - which contained trivia questions, and a black and  white photograph of each guest with our parents taken some time in the last 40 years. We set up a Photo booth for the guests including some vintage frames, a few "ruby" accessories and fake mustaches for guests to don.

The tables were set up outdoors and we decorated the back yard with glass jar lanterns which my brother-in-law made. Some were dyed red and others left clear. These made the garden look truly magical. We inserted black and white photographs of our parents into all the photo frames in my sisters house, making every room a little tribute to our parents and their marriage.

The menu centered around our parents favourite dishes. Starting with a tomato and a watermelon gazpacho amuse bouche, the entree was a prawn cocktail (Heston style), the main was a slow roasted lamb shoulder, and for dessert my sister created a spectacular ice cream and affogato bar.

With a lot of preparations, I think it was an amazingly successful and special night for our parents.