Rory's Welcome To The World
I can’t think of a better reason to throw a party than to welcome a precious new life into the world.
We had a fabulous summer garden party to celebrate Ollie’s arrival (HERE). It was such a wonderful, memorable day, we knew we wanted to do something similar to welcome Rory too.
A Welcome to the World Party, just weeks after our babies arrival was a perfect excuse to bring all our favourite people together, and in some cases, to introduce them to our bundle of newborn scrumptiousness for the very first time.
With Rory’s March birthday, we couldn’t risk the weather with a garden party (Ollie’s birthday is Mid- July), so we decided to host everyone at beautiful Verzon House.
Just a few miles from our home, Verzon House is not only one of our favourite local restaurants, it also has eight beautiful boutique bedrooms. We visit here often for lunch and drinks and the food is simply divine. It was the perfect place to gather together and celebrate.
We were so so grateful that so many of our beautiful friends and family travelled across the country to attend. It was such a special day and it meant the world to us to have them there.
We decided on a relaxed, late afternoon Sunday Roast on April bank holiday weekend. Verzon House were amazing and helped us plan a slow and easy afternoon. We had 40 adults and 11 children and babies, the people who will no doubt be a huge part of our boys life.
Although the party was to celebrate our baby boy, we didn’t want it to feel like a baby shower in any way. Plewsy designed these gorgous invitations for us, a simple wreath with his name in the centre. I loved it so much that this became the theme for the whole day.
Instead of flowers we lined the table with jam jars filled with greenery
The place names were brown paper luggage tags and the children all received a goody bag with bubbles, stickers, chocolate and a bag of Willy Chases’ Popcorn.
The English Stamp Company are a really beautiful small company that I discovered through my friend Jules. They designed the most gorgous “Rory” stamps, in keeping with the theme. I adore them, and will absolutely be getting the same for Ollie and Archie too.
A party isn’t a party without cake, and we couldn’t think of anyone better to make ours than Tandem Bakery. A gorgeous cafe/coffee shop in the heart of Hereford, these guys make THE BEST cakes. They made us a two tier, semi naked sponge cake that was moist and delicious. We decorated it simply with greenery and a lovely personalised cake topper from Sophia Victoria Joy. We served it with jugs of cream for pudding and it went down a treat!
So how did we spend our special day…
After a morning of rushing about completing the final touches, we got dressed up for the occasion. Ollie wore his first blazer (just from H&M) and felt quite the big brother matching his idols Archie and Daddy. Rory’s little outfit was from Patachou, who have stunning occasion wear for babies.
I loved my Ted Baker dress (which is now on sale!). It was covered in apple blossom which was in full bloom here in Cider County over the weeks Rory arrived. It was very forgiving on my mummy tummy and I had a little help from my Wacoal Shapewear . They have the ultimate “suck you in pants”. They were brilliant. It’s not an ideal dress for breast feeding, but not impossible either, we managed.
Everyone arrived around 3.30pm, Verzon House served gorgeous English sparking wine with a canapé of their famous hot sausage rolls. Scrumptious!
We mingled in the bar area as everyone arrived. It’s a cosy and informal space but with plenty of stylish touches.
We didn’t expect any gifts at all, but everyone was so generous. Ollie and Archie were spoiled too. There were bikes and lego and toy trains scattered everywhere. After an hour or so of chatting and dishing out the Rory-cuddles, we moved to the dining room for our Hereford Beef Roast.
Colin said a few words, we cut the cake and gradually everyone moved back into the bar.
The kids had so much fun playing hide and seek outside. We got to meet my friend Sally’s beautiful baby Remy, born just 10 days after Rory. Then I got snuggles with our wonderful friends baby Hugo, who was just 2weeks old, we were so so grateful you made it Dave and Ruth.
Around half the guests left early evening, but for those that stayed we served a big cheeseboard and stayed up chatting until midnight.
We went to bed tired and so so happy that we’d enjoyed such a fantastic day with the people we love.
Rory won’t remember it, but we have the pictures (mostly taken by our lovely friend Al…as always, thank you Al!!) and the most precious memories to cherish forever. One day we’ll show him and tell him all about the day these important people welcomed a very special little boy to the world!
