On April 28th, my friend Laura surprised everyone by announcing her and her boyfriend, Richard, had eloped. I was so excited for her, I couldn’t wait to celebrate this huge announcement. Under the ruse that she and I were meeting at our friend Cassidy’s for wine, we had, unsuspectingly of Laura, planned a surprise party.

I had been planning it for about a month. I had organised for all the ‘J-Girls’ to come beforehand, except for one, who was travelling down the Oregon Coast.

I had arrived at Cassidy’s early to help decorate and set-up. Cassidy had hand made a ‘Congratulations’ sign to hang above her balcony. I provided some banners, tassels, and honeycomb balls from Homesense. I also found a cute, lidded wine glass, with a straw that said ‘I said yes’ for the newlywed.

Cassidy also made a fantastic assortment of food. She made a charcuterie plate, homemade guacamole, a quinoa salad and a beautiful cake.

Once everyone arrived, we waited patiently for Laura to text that she was downstairs. As soon as the message came, we popped the prosecco and waited for the surprise. With all of us ready, when the door flew open, we all yelled ‘surprise!’

Laura was thoroughly surprised. She was delighted! The rest of the night we celebrated Laura, ate lots food, and laughed non-stop.