“Oktoberfest” Backyard Party

The next closest thing to Munich, Germany Oktoberfest must be this “Oktoberfest” backyard party on our lifestyle blog today! Planned by the fabulous Karson Butler Events, this event turned a Hillsborough, California backyard into a German biergarten! How fun right?! We’re sure this party was the talk of the town with all the incredible design elements and traditional Oktoberfest details the team incorporated! This is definitely one of our favorite entertaining ideas to date!

Amber, from Karson Butler Events, gave us the inside scoop on how they pulled this all together!

In order to pull off the traditional biergarten look, we knew we needed a focal entrance in the front yard, and luckily we knew just who to call. Found Vintage Rentals had the perfect pieces – we used their 9′ wooden Bergey doorway sandwiched between two 6′ Ivy Rusted gate panels to create a one-of-kind 21 foot entrance to our biergarten. We adorned this entrance with a custom sign on top and fresh magnolia garlands. It was incredible and when guests entered the front yard and passed under the entrance, it was as if they were walking into Munich!

The clients front yard had the most incredible oak tree, and during our site visit we knew this needed to be a focal. The one challenge is that the old oak had a black support pole for one of the biggest front branches.  But instead of hiding it, we turned that obstacle into an amazing design feature. We immediately thought of maypoles (common in German celebration designs, including Oktoberfest tents. We wrapped the pole, and using products from our incredible friends at Afloral, we created an easy DIY maypole wreath using a Green Wire Wreath Form, Assorted Ribbons and Hops Garlands. Amazing, right? The tree served as a focal point for our lighting and our Oom-pah band played underneath! Our friends at Dovetail Logistics provided manpower to help us install all of our design elements! Thanks Dovetail for the extra muscle!!

What’s an Oktoberfest party without beer? Guests loved our self-serve beer station complete with shelves of assorted beer steins and custom signage by the incredible Tessa Shane with T & S Craft.

A variety of guest seating including wood farm tables, cafe seating with assorted bentwood chairs covered in vintage grain sacks and standing wood cafe tables (all from Found) helped us create a pub-style atmosphere.  We created small fresh flower arrangements using California grown cafe au-lait dahlias and assorted greens and grains built into logo’d beer steins.

If there is an item as ubiquitous as the Bier at Oktoberfest, it has to be the famous German Gingerbread Heart. We hear these things are everywhere at Oktoberfest in Munich (and many German celebrations) and we really wanted to bring this idea to life for this party as our guest favors. Solvang Bakery perfectly executed our vision. We strung the hearts from ribbons and displayed them on gates around the property.

Thanks to Shhivika Chauhan Photography for her incredible help capturing the party for us!

Vendors:

Event Planning & Design: Karson Butler Events
Photography: Shhivika Chauhan Photography
Rentals: Found Vintage Rentals
Maypole & Hops Chandelier Supplies: Afloral
Hand Lettering & Illustrated Beer Signs: T & S Craft, Tessa Shane
Floral, Décor & Entrance Signs: Karson Butler Events
Set-Up & Strike Support: Dovetail Logistics
Lighting / Pool Cover / Linens: Classic Party Rentals
Gingerbread Hearts: Solvang Bakery
Beer Maid Models: Bravado Enterprises
Catering & Beverage: Casazza Catering / BevMo / Weimax Liquors
DJ: Verducci Event Productions, Adam Kennedy (DJ AK)