Evangeline Lily's First Birthday and Naming Day

Our sweet baby girl turned one in April. As is tradition in our family, we combined her first birthday with a little naming day celebration to officially welcome our baby to the world and to introduce her Godparents.

I've tried my hardest to reduce the number of photos I'm sharing but I loved this day so much and choosing only some pics is so hard! I'm down to 42 now so maybe go make a cuppa first and then come back and enjoy!

After spending a lot of time on Pinterest going crazy at the number of girly-party themes I could actually now choose to go with, I eventually decided on a simple, elegant, pink and floral theme. (You can see all those ideas in this Pinterest board.) 

The theme was mostly inspired by these invitations from The Sundae Creative on etsy...

 

We chose a beautiful spot by the water at East Point Reserve and asked our family and friends to come and share a High Tea with us. 
The teepee might be my favourite part of all! Especially with those goreous flowers trailing from the top (flowers from Little Miss Flowers)...
The dry season turned up and gave us an absolute stunner of a day too... 

Dragonflies everywhere... 
I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that she's going to love footy too, huh? (Evangeline's gorgeous dress is from Little Lamb.)

To make catering a little easier for us me, we asked everyone to bring a plate to share for High Tea and we had quite the spread to share...

Little Evie spent the day getting lots of special attention and hugs.

Oh, my heart! My soulmate with our eldest and youngest...
With Grandma x

It took her a while to figure out Uncle Nick who always pretends he's mean and cranky but is secretly a big softy...

It was just wonderful to have my brother, sister in law and gorgeous niece, Hayley, fly up to meet Evie and celebrate with us..
And it was SO special to have these two back home xx
 
With Grandma and Nanny xx

Evangeline not only has the most wonderful Godparents - our dear friends Troy and Janine - but she's gained a 'Godsister' and 'Godbrother' too. We just adore these two. Liam and Jake have been best friends since Preschool and Isabelle has the kindest heart. How lucky is our girl?

Janine was kind enough to make Evie's stunning cake and after a few speeches and toasts - with Pink Champagne, of course - we sang "Happy Birthday" to our girl...

 

 

It was the most incredibly beautiful cake. Look at those layers!
Baby girl likes cake...



As the morning progressed we moved chairs and bodies with the shade and had a great time catching up with our nearest and dearest. Introducing our families to the friends who have helped make Darwin our home.

 

All the excitement and all the cake proved a bit much for Miss E...

 While baby slept and grown-ups chatted the big boys explored the beach...


If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know how much I adore all the little details that I feel really make the party. 

We had sweet stripey straws in mini milk bottles...

Perfect for sipping the palest pink Lemonade...

Monogrammed cake forks and confetti plates and napkins...

I just had to display all those monthly milestone pictures we've been taking... 

And I made colouring books to keep our little guests busy...

And sent our guests home with petite bags of pink sweets...

Instead of bringing a gift, we asked our guests to contribute a card or letter to place in a Time Capsule for Evie. We asked them to talk about how they know her, or how they know us; to share their favourite quote, or to give her the best piece of advice they have for living a happy life. Evangeline will read all of these on her 18th birthday and I know they'll all mean as much to her then as they do to me now.

It was such a special day for our little lady and so nice to have our whole family together again. We miss having Michael at home so much...

It was the first time all four Grandparents have been together for an event too...
Once back home, we finished the day with a lovely cool down in the pool and a refreshing drink to celebrate our sweet Evangeline Lily. How blessed we are.