Back To School

We have been planning a shoot for Back to School since June and we were so excited to have this be our first shoot under the House Of Fete name.

We were inspired by the nostalgia and simplicity of school supplies. You know the vibrant pink erasers, the old green chalkboards, lockers, the no.2 pencil, the list continues. I had done a very SMALL table scape last year and I wanted to take that concept further.

We took the elements of back to school and translated them into large installations, place settings and even party hats. We thought about every detail and we are so excited to share them with you:

The Installations:

This is where the first idea came into play. Tina from Ellie and Piper and I were chatting about BTS and she mentioned how the Forrest green Oh Happy Day plate looked so much like a chalkboard- I couldn’t agree more. I had just completed the plate backdrop for Brennan’s first birthday and I thought a chalkboard out of plates was just the thing, it snowballed from there. After working with Glamfete for Brennan’s party and the Fourth we wanted to include fringe in this shoot as well. I was sitting on the couch and thought, PENCIL. I sent over a sketch to Bri immediately and the pencil fringe was born!

As the shoot was getting closer Marissa kept suggesting lockers, I was a little apprehensive because we had a lot going on, but then we we talked about it being the “cake table” I was sold. We found these vintage orange gym lockers on Facebook marketplace and they were the show stoppers of the set. We made them into a Back to school Advent, each compartment holding something different, the cake, fresh flowers, paper bag favors, you name it! The orange ties in beautifully and I am involve with every scene they appeared in!

The Table:

You know this is our favorite thing in any event- and currently we are obsessed with making each setting different. We used black and white plates as composition notebooks, stripped plates as paper, and of course a red plate with a leaf as an apple. We mixed in a grid plate, solid pink and yellow to work in the colors of the shoot. We did old school milk jugs, a chalkboard runner and letter napkins.

We loved the jars in the middle filled with pencils and erasers and obviously no table is complete without a garland and confetti. Each kid even had an individual lunchable by Danville Cheese, we were all snacking on them, it was amazing!

Another favorite detail in this shoot was one we were having trouble with at first, we were not quite sure what the kids should use as chairs, we didn’t want anything into an afterthought. AH HA, books, stacks and stacks of old books. We were in love with the idea and it got even better when we found rainbow vintage books at Hello Penngrove. They turned out absolutely perfect.

The Clothes:

Primary Dot was kind enough to dress the kids. Their solid color palette and saturated colors were absolutely perfect for this shoot! The kids look ready to go to school and they are such good wardrobe staples. Can you even with those tube socks!?

We also added in pullovers from our friends at The Wishing Elephant. Their collegiate collection added fun and whimsy to their outfits! We are in love with the colors and quality!

The Cake:

Obviously pinnacle at any party. We had our baker decorate the cake to look the boys stripped sweater, and don’t worry, we thought about the inside too! Filled with peanut butter and jelly, the best school lunch in our opinion. Then the CAKE TOPPER, this is Marissa’s baby. We had to go to Katie from Fancy Free Finery and fashion something amazing, when Marissa suggested she use pencils instead of skewers- we all knew it would be AMAZING. The tiny apples and silver ABC made it a show stopper.

There were so many amazing details that when into this shoot, did you catch our Little Blue Olive party hat collaboration- a PENCIL, SO GOOD. and the composition notebook invitation, nothing went unnoticed.

This was such a fun shoot to plan and execute, a HUGE thank you to all our amazing vendors who made it come to life!