Sunday Brunch with Annie

Top: Salvation Army // Skirt: Zara 

Last month, I threw myself a Sunday brunch for my birthday at my favorite coffee shop, Copa Vida. I think I have an act for planning and throwing little get togethers. Ever since high school, I've always volunteered myself to get a group together for a beach trip or a big Christmas party. Since then, getting a group together for a special occasion has always been fun to me. I find pure joy in the countless hours of planning, the frustration, the endless trips to Michael's and Target, burning myself with the hot glue gun and all the headaches. Hah. But of course, all of that was so worth it when I saw my brunch come to life that Sunday morning.

When I heard that Copa Vida hosts events, it was a mere dream to host an event there. Naturally, though, my ideas were spiraling from left to right and inspiration from my cousin's wedding (couple of posts below) as well as other big DIY events my cousins have planned, made me really want to do this. Also, with an interest in party planning, I honestly just wanted to see if I could actually pull it off. The ideas and planning started early this year when my birthday was 8 months away. I decided to jot down all my ideas on an Excel spreadsheet and saved up as much money as possible. I also spent hours and hours on Pinterest brainstorming ideas. 

I found so many people on Pinterest who do handwritten invitations, chalkboard art, typography and calligraphy and decided to make handwritten and addressed invitations for all my guests. I'd like to thank June Bride Lettering for being my ultimate inspiration (my invitations basically look exactly like her work only a lot more ugly). Here are some photos of my invitations.

White gel pen:

I experimented with two different kinds of white gel pens before I found the one that worked the best. I used uni-ball's Japanese Signo UM-153 that I purchased from eBay. I'm not sure what the difference between the Japanese and the regular one is but it has Japanese characters on the pen and I thought it was awesome so I bought it. The particular pen I used is actually a thicker point than I'd prefer.

Black ink pen:

Micron 03 0.35mm. I purchased this at Blick's but I'm sure you can also find this on eBay or Amazon. I love this pen. It dries quick and doesn't fade when you erase it (tracing over pencil). 

Color art markers:

I used Copic markers Baby Blue and Lipstick Red that I purchased from Michael's. (Download the Michael's app on your mobile device and get 40% off of one item off your purchase!) I also used Prismacolor markers. 

As for the envelopes and cardstock paper, they're from Michael's. It took me a very long time to finally decide on white cardstock paper. Originally I was going to use kraft colored paper but the shade was a little off from the envelopes. Also, the Baby Blue Copic marker does not show on kraft colored cardstock. I would post unclose photos of the envelopes and invitations itself but that would reveal the addresses of my family and friends. 

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I am so thankful for my cousin Phillip and my friend Jennifer for taking all the photos of the event because to my surprise, I didn't take any at all. There were so so so many photos to choose from, I decided to upload A LOT!

Everything here is pretty much DIY. The "welcome" chalkboard, the burlap and felt banners, the stenciling of the lettered/numbered banners, the handwritten menus, the "party favors" and polaroid station signs, the chalky finish mason jar vases and even the party favor name tags/polaroid name tags themselves were all hand cut. I actually purchased inventory tags at first (which were later returned) but opted to cut my own. Besides the baby blue/red square(?) flags pictured above the "Sunday Brunch" banner, I also had all baby blue and all red triangle and square(?) banners but I guess I don't have any photos of them :( As for the baby blue and red color scheme, I've been obsessed with this color combo for years ever since I saw a big baby blue house with a painted red front door. Instantly fell in love. 

The food was catered by Copa Vida of course. The yummiest cafe sandwiches ever! My favorite is the chicken salad! mMm!!

The chocolate naked cake with fresh fruits was made by my very talented cousin, Jennifer of but it's not just cakes! Delicious! The figs were from my very own backyard! 

Looking back at all these photos and trying to remember what to write about is a very bittersweet feeling. Once the event was over, I was going through post party depression. Hah! It was serious. I was really missing the overall planning and going crazy part...but I'm soooo glad it's over. So many things could have gone wrong. I actually had a flower crisis 6 hours before the event started and was freaking out like mad. Luckily though, the baby breaths and baby blue hydrangeas were found at nearby grocers. My original plan was to go to the LA Flower Mart at 4:30AM but Phillip Yelp'd the place an hour before and we found out they close on Sundays! Yeah. It was insane. How did I not know that, right?! 

Anyway, I am so thankful for my family and friends who took the time to spend my birthday with me that Sunday. I especially want to thank my cousins Brittney and Phillip for coming down to LA from Sacramento via bus! Also, thank you Phillip for pulling an all-nighter with me and running to all the last minute stores with me. Thank you Jennifer, Jie and Phillip for being the best set-up team ever! Thanks for waking up early and getting everything set up and done super efficiently before the guests arrived. Thank you to my cousin Jennifer for the beautiful naked cake! Thank you to my brothers, my cousins Binh and Long, my friends Brenda, Jake and Samantha for coming!! It meant the world to me to see so many of you there! Last but not least, thank you Layne and Matt of Copa Vida for being the best event coordinators ever and making sure we were all having a great time during the event. Thank you Copa Vida for having such a great space for holding special events like this! 

Thanks again Phillip and Jennifer for taking all of the photos! 

xx