Celebrating Baby Manno

I am filled with so much joy and love after this weekend that I feel like I am bursting at the seams! My baby shower weekend was truly magical. More than I could have ever hoped for. Not only were all my local friends there, but dear friends flew in from out of town and my mom, sister, niece, and Kevin’s mom all flew in! It meant so much to me! Honestly, I was worried about being so far away from long time friends and family while going through this special time in my life. I guess I was worried that I wouldn’t get to share all of this with the people I love most. Well, those people that I love so much showed me how much they care by making the long trip to my shower to celebrate my little girl.

Some of you have asked why I had my shower so early – I’m only 26 weeks. Well the reason is because I really wanted my family to be there with me and my sister is pregnant too! So her doctor said this past weekend was the last weekend she could travel. I honestly couldn’t image having my shower without my big sister by my side, so I decided to have it a little early so we could celebrate together.

I have to say right off the bat that this shower would not have been possible without Leila Lewis. She is an ANGEL and magic maker!!! Really she is the best party planner/PR kick ass chick!!! Her company Be Inspired PR helped me, my sister, and my best friend Stef plan this entire shower and made sure that every single detail was perfect! There were things that I didn’t even think about until the very last minute and Lelia already had it completely handled. She works with the absolute best people in the event planning business and was able to help me choose the perfect vendors for my shower. In fact, she did such an amazing job with my baby shower that we’ve asked her to help plan our wedding!!! Thank you Be Inspired PR for EVERYTHING! Follow Leila and follow Be Inspired PR on instagram for the cutest wedding and event photo inspiration!

Since the shower was so magical for me I really want to share it and all the details with all of you. And thanks to Sanaz Photography and Scott Clark Photo and their beautiful photos, I can do just that! Aren’t these photo unreal?! They truly captured every detail and moment of the shower and how beautiful it was.

My shower was at the Malibu Cafe and it is such a gorgeous spot! Since Kevin and I visited this location a few months back, we’ve been obsessed! Now we go for lunch all the time! It’s the cutest little garden oasis in the Malibu hills. It’s got a country chic feel and is the best spot to sit outside with drinks and friends on a Sunday for brunch. Our favorite thing about this place is that they have games everywhere! Like corn hole, an oversized chest board, ping pong, and more! You can even paddle boat around the venue through a little pond that runs through the property. So when we saw this venue we knew that we not only wanted to have our shower there, but plan to bring out of town guest there and just go there all the time in general. Really, if you come to LA, it’s a MUST-GO location.

The gorgeous flowers were done by The Hidden Garden. The turned the beautiful space at the venue into a magical space! So pretty! I got to take a bunch of flower arrangements home and I am in love with how my house looks right now!

And how gorgeous is this naked cake by Beverly’s Bakery?!?! I feel like it’s pretty enough to be a wedding cake! Beverly’s Bakery also did my adorable dessert bar that all my guest took home in goodies boxes because we had SO much food at the shower! This pregnant lady loves to eat these days!!! Ha!

One of the best things about my shower was learning about how to care for my baby. I really have to give a huge thanks to Dr. Smiths for being there and teaching me about diaper rash! As they went over everything I needed to know about my little ones booty, I realized that I have SO much to learn as a first time mom! Having Dr. Smiths there to educate me and my guests about the dreaded diaper rash was so awesome and truly made me feel more prepared for this huge adventure in my life! Now I just need to pass this knowledge on to Kevin since I’m hoping he will take over most of the diaper duty! Ha! I’m in charge of the input (breast feeding) and he’ll be in charge of the output (diapers). That least that’s the plan – for now…

Really every detail of the shower was absolutely perfect. The linens by La Tavola on the tables were so luxurious that I wanted to bring them home and sleep on them. Ha! I never thought I would be the type of girl to obsessed over table linens until I saw what La Travola did at my shower. Everyone at the shower was talking about how gorgeous they looked!

Speaking of the tables, the menus and place cards were made by Lupa and Pepi and were customized to have everyone’s name on them. The stir sticks by Delovely Details were Kevin’s mothers absolute fav! How cute is it that they all say Baby Manno? At the end of the event I took home all the leftover ones! I plan on putting them in my virgin drinks all summer! The plate chargers are Vini’s Party Rentals and looked absolutely beautiful in the table.

The furniture rentals by Circa Vintage Rentals really brought everything together. I want to use all their stuff to decorate my house!

And I was so happy to send my guests home with goody bags! Everyone got Dr. Smiths products (to take care of their little ones bums!), a baby carriers from Solly Baby (something I plan on using a lot!), adult or baby blankets from Aden & Anais (I’m in love with my adult blanket! Baby Manno will love hers too!), Swell Bottles in all different colors (Kevin and I have about 10 Swell bottles – we’re obsessed!), Keep Collective jewelry by Stella & Dot (You can see me wearing Stella and Dot in many of my blog posts. Like HERE and HERE), dry shampoo from Drybar (My family and I all got our hair done at DryBar for the shower!), and FAB bags from Sole Society (you’ll see me wearing a Sole Society bag in an upcoming fashion post). It felt pretty awesome to send my guests home with such great gifts!

Speaking of my guests, it’s really the people that made my day unforgettable! A huge thank you to Stef for helping to put so much of this together! You are my best friend and I love you more than you know!

Stef came up with the idea for the Baby Manno Face Game. It’s SO hilarious and my favorite thing ever! Basically Stef took photos of me and Kevin making different faces and then printed them out. Then she cut out strips of our eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, etc and asked people to tape them together to show what Baby Manno could look like. She is SURE to be a looker! The results are HILARIOUS! See for yourself…

Haylie – the Auntie Book you made is something I know I will treasure for the rest of my life! You have become one of my dearest friends and I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve brought to my life! Your vibe attracts your tribe!

Lisa and Mith – How is there not one photo of us all together?!?! We need to fix that next time I see you guys! As we always say, there are friends and then friends who are like family. You guys know what you are to me 😉

Mom, Dad, Joanne (Kevin’s momma), and Raya (my sister) – Thank you so much for traveling so far to be here with me for this special day. You guys are my FAMILY, my heart and soul, the people that make me, me. Thank you for loving my little girl so much already.

To everyone else – I LOVE you all! Here are some of my favorite photos of all of us from the event…

I have to end all of this by thanking the most important person in my life – Kevin. This man is the most loving, thoughtful, strong and caring man I know. To say that Kevin is the man of my dreams wouldn’t even be true. I couldn’t dream up someone as perfect for me as he is. I am so incredibly grateful to bring a baby girl into this world with you Kevin. You are my everything. I love you.

In the end, the day couldn’t have been more perfect. Baby Manno is so loved already. Baby girl – we can’t wait to meet you and give you all the love we have to give!

I leave you with photobooth fun thanks to Mirmir…