It has been a few months now and all of us at APR are still buzzing about how much we enjoyed celebrating our 25th anniversary with some of our best friends and industry partners. In the beginning, we didn’t know exactly how or what we wanted to do to celebrate but we all agreed we wanted it to be a PAR-TAY! We called on some of our nearest and dearest to help us with the occasion and we could not have been more pleased with the outcome.
Our team worked hard in the months leading up to the big day and with the help of Chelsey Morrison of Gather Together Events, all of our ideas came together and exceeded expectations beyond our wildest dreams! We chose a color scheme of black and white with pops of silver and teal to commemorate the occasion. The celebration gave us the opportunity to debut our brand new black and white stripe linens in combination with our teal to coordinate with our company logo. We tied in the 25th anniversary tradition of silver by showcasing our latest china patterns, Marais and Marcella both trimmed in silver accents. Our black and white dance floor along with our black faux suede and white leather lounge furniture helped to tie it all together. CE Rental donated their silver sequin and white accent pillows to add just the right pop of flare in the lounge area while JW Walton of The Catering Company of Chapel Hill designed a larger than life floral display for the back bar area and provided us with large rattan rugs.
Chelsey Morrison of Gather Together Events helped plan EVERY aspect of the event – she even vacuumed just before guests arrived!
Seared Duck courtesy of Durham Catering Company. Needless to say, the food was incredible!
APR Lounge furniture on a back drop of a custom photo wall designed by Chelsey Morrison, Gather Together and Indigo Envelope. Floral Dimensions created a beautiful arrangement and pillows were donated by our friends at CE Rental. All of this collaboration created a memorable, cozy corner of the tent!
A few months earlier, Brian Mullins took head shots of the Daymont Family and the APR team at the Cookery. This is a great one of the Daymonts and the perfect centerpiece to the Photo/Memory wall that Chelsey created!
We worked with the outstanding team at Indigo Envelope to create eye catching signage and an invitation that was sure to entice our guests. Christina Headrick and her crew were on the ball and worked diligently to get these invitations done right and in a timely manner. We were extremely pleased with the anniversary logo and design they created and the finished product was absolutely perfect!
A Pierre the party bear welcomed guests to the shin dig! Sign designed by the incredible talented team at Indigo Envelope!
Indigo Envelope helped us encourage guests to share the moment via Twitter! The eagle was a play off of one of our brainstorming sessions, and an inside joke with the planning team “guys, it’s AMERICAN party rentals!” Chelsey would remind us. 🙂 During the planning sessions we learned a lot about the story of APR and how being patriotic was so important to Pete, being a first generation American. This is thought to have inspired our company’s name!
Durham Catering Company came up with a mouthwatering menu that we could not wait to share with our guests! The DCC crew served up stationed small plates that included their famous shrimp and grits, chili rellenos and a yummy breast of duck just to name a few. Major kudos to Laureano, Hugo, Jen, Tom and the entire DCC team for knocking the food out of the park!
Durham Catering Company
Hammered pod passing tray pictured here, holding crab cakes made by Durham Catering Company. We were so touched by the effort all of our vendors made to include personal touches – The Daymont family moved to North Carolina from Maryland, where Judy perfected the crab cake recipe that Durham Catering used on these crab cakes!
The Smoked Salmon was another personal touch, chosen to pay homage to Pete’s Norwegian roots.
The miniature American Party Rentals delivery truck that adorned the incredible cake display by Sweet Memories Bakery is now in its very own display case for everyone in the office to admire. The attention to detail on the truck as well as the Pete and Judy figurines and tent was more than we ever could have imagined. Donna Ford and the folks at Sweet Memories thought of everything; right down to Pete’s signature green polo with khaki pants. He would be so proud!
That’s a cake in the shape of a tent, can you believe it?! Sweet Memories created this unbelievable and incredibly delicious dessert display, complete with working chandelier and miniature tables inside the cake tent!
Pete and Judy figurines designed by the incredibly talented team at Sweet Memories Bakery!
APR Truck made out of sugar!! Sweet Memories Bakery
Mini table cakes for the inside of the tent – they thought of everything!
Sweet Memories went all out – all American apple pie, creme brulee (Judy’s favorite), and Southern mini-bana pudding! This was an extension of the main dessert table – over 300 mini desserts in total!! Floral Dimensions outfitted the bottom half of the shelves.
Bartending Unlimited served up creative cocktails all evening to honor and celebrate our founders, Pete and Judy Daymont. These delicious concoctions contained the Daymont’s favorite spirits. “The Pete”, a gin and tonic using Chapel Hill’s very own TOPO Gin and “The Judy” which was a festive rum Mojito! These drinks were just as pretty to look at as they were tasty!
Custom cocktails named the “Pete” and “Judy”
Bartending Unlimited, doing their thing!
Barry Herndon and The Party Nuts helped us to set the tone by playing party favorites to get the crowd moving. Future APR employee (and Todd Daymont’s son) Lucas was a hit on the dancefloor.
We could not have been more thankful for the generous floral donation by Durham’s own Bea Miller of Floral Dimensions. Bea’s team of designers took our ideas and went above and beyond to ensure that no table or area was left without a beautiful floral display.
Beautiful table arrangements created by Floral Dimensions, incorporating the colors and feel of the evening!
Stunning, fun and festive arrangement, clad with striped feathers, white wood branches and flowers consistent with the cocktail table arrangements. Floral Dimensions
Dave Watson with Get Lit Special Event Lighting helped to set the scene with colored lighting inside our showroom and beautiful chandeliers in the tent outside. Dave and his team worked for 2 days to get everything just right.
Get Lit Lighting
Chad and Todd Daymont kissing Mom, Judy with her grandson, Lucas looking on
We were very thankful for TCS Event Rentals out of Burlington, who spared no expense for the occasion in donating the mack daddy Cadillac of restroom trailers. Air conditioning, tvs, marble countertops..the works!
We were able to capture all of these memorable moments on film thanks to Brian Mullins Photography and Neal Zipser of ShutterBooth Raleigh. Brian was able to snap some wonderful candid shots of the Daymont family and all of their guests while Neal focused on the hilarity that was our “awkward family photo” booth area, complete with hats, glasses and a variety of other fun props.
Thank you for celebrating with us in honoring the life and legacy of our founder, Pete Daymont as well as the success of American Party Rentals’ first 25 years in business. We will continue to work hard every day to keep Pete’s dream alive and well. We feel so fortunate to have been able to celebrate this milestone with you all and we look forward to the next 25 years! We appreciate YOU, our loyal industry partners, friends and customers.
Something Borrowed 
