David Tutera makes his living as an event planner, but he’s never had such an important client — his daughter.
“I’ve done events for celebrities and royalty around the world, and I just told my staff, ‘This is the most important event that I’ve ever had to host in my life,'” Tutera tells PEOPLE of putting together his daughter Cielo‘s first birthday party.
“I had a responsibility to make sure that it was unique, child-like and playful,” he says.
When choosing a theme for the special occasion, Tutera relied on his observations of his young daughter’s current obsessions: bubbles and bunnies.
“As a parent, you pay attention to what your child loves,” Tutera says of deciding on an Alice in Wonderland theme for the Sunday-afternoon fête, which was held in the backyard of his new, Los Angeles-area home. “It was a tea party, which is always great for adults and children.”
Courtesy Kelsey S. McNeal Photography
