Sip & Shop with Vogue Vintage
Last Saturday, Melanie Everett & Company hosted a shopping party with Vogue Vintage, and it was simply the best afternoon. Before I dive into the details, I want to give an extra-big thank-you to Sarah of Vogue Vintage.
Sarah, you have an eye for style! Your ability to give new life to old pieces is truly such a gift. Thank you for everything you did to make this party happen — most notably, scouring estate sales and resale shops all summer long!
(Read more about Sarah of Vogue Vintage here!)
Now, there was so much heart that went into this event. Where do I begin? I’ll start with the marketing!
Once we selected a date with VV back in June, my team and I began planning. The party would take place at my home, on a Saturday afternoon. We invited clients, neighbors, and of course, all of VV’s loyal followers. Soon after the Paperless Post was out, we quickly realized just how much interest our community has in antique and vintage home furnishings! Every time I checked the PP, there seemed to be another handful of sign-ups. We ended up capping it at 150 guests!
Now, onto the details. (Details are, I believe, Sarah from M&Co.’s middle name. She thought of everything and worked tirelessly to pull this party off. Thank you, Sarah!) We wanted this party to showcase Vogue Vintage, so we chose a palette that matched VV’s signature color: purple! We ordered purple everything: signage, napkins, and a little instructional guide for guests to take upon entry. My favorite purple detail was our Sweet Mandy B’s cookies! We worked with SMB to come up with the most perfect cookie combo. One of them was a an iced cookie with “VV x M&Co.” on each one (Sarah found the most darling shopping bag cookie cutter on Etsy, which we shipped to SMB!) and the other was a classic frosted sugar cookie in a miniature size.
We also envisioned guests leaving with a takeaway of some sort. Our first idea was to do tote bags, but many revisions later, we could not land on a tote bag that we loved. We scrapped that, and after my friend Betsy made a joke to me about how we should have custom matchbooks, it all clicked! In the same way that you grab one when you leave a restaurant after a meal, I thought guests would love taking a matchbook as they left my home. I found a few vintage bistro matchbooks online, sent it to Sarah, and she made magic happen! The finished product was a petite matchbook with a quintessentially LP home on the front, and a little blurb about the neighborhood and its history on the back. Our custom M&Co. matchbooks were a huge hit, both on Instagram and at the event.
What’s a party without music? I put together this Spotify playlist in the days before the event. (As it turns out, I probably shouldn’t have agonized so much over the song order. It was SO loud inside that you could hardly hear what was playing on the speakers!)
A few days before the party, I woke up extra early and drove to Trader Joe’s for a flower run. I’ve never bought so many flowers in my life, but this was a special occasion. My mom and aunt came over later that day to help me put together the arrangements. My mom’s tips: use Scotch Tape to make a grid so the flowers stay put, pull all of the bottom leaves off each bloom, and blow into the roses so that they open sooner!
There is a corkboard in our kitchen where we hang invitations, reminders, and art projects. For this party, my mom had the fantastic idea of pulling off everything personal and covering it with pictures of the M&Co. team and our listings. We printed photos, tacked them onto the board, and taped blue hearts on top for a little extra M&Co. spirit.
Last summer at Monica’s bachelorette party, Sarah made us all cocktails using Empress Gin. As it turns out, this brand of gin is purple — what could be more perfect? We served two mixed drinks, a cocktail — “Vogue 75” — and a mocktail — “M&Co. Mixer.” We also had a wine bucket filled with whites and sparkling.
Last but not least, the spread! I have had years of practices making charcuterie boards, but this was my biggest one to-date. I coursed out the grocery shopping over a few days, picked out my serving pieces, and found the cutest chalkboard labels on Amazon. My mom, the true queen of hosting, came early to the party to help set it all up!
I’m *still* tired from this party, but it was so, so worth it. I could never have done it without the support of my team, my family (the girls went to hang out at my brother and sister-in-law’s condo in Bucktown during the event!), and of course, the VV team!
A friend of M&Co., Andrew Suk, put together this special recap video for us — watch it to see all of the details come to life!
