Earlier this year, I had the great honor of being featured in American Farmhouse Style Magazine. Since this is the time of year to be entertaining outdoors. I thought I pop into your inboxes today and share the article with you and how it all came together.
American Farmhouse Style Magazine reached out to me to hear my thoughts on bringing back the art of entertaining which is one of the main reasons I actually started my blog almost three years ago now. They had found the Anthropologie-Inspired Backyard Dinner Party on Pinterest that I created with two of my best blogging buddies so I thought I would share the whole back story of the dinner party and what inspired it.
Now that things are starting to get back to normal, I shared several ideas in the article with ways to be ready for the season.
How and why we created this Colorful Summer Alfresco Dining Tablescape
Shortly after I started blogging and was finding and following other talented bloggers on Instagram, I came across Holly J (Jolley) of “Home with Holly J”. Being another Holly J (Johnson) but of “Home with Holliday”, I reached out to her and introduced myself and we hit it off immediately and realized how much we had in common. You would think we had the exact same mother! It was crazy!!
Around the same time, I also found Lory Parson of “To Have + To Host” and I connected the three of us and we were all instant friends! Lory’s profile said she was “owner of too many napkins” so I just knew we would become good friends! We would have long phone calls to help each other in this new blogging and social media world for us all. We each had strengths in certain areas of our journeys and we encouraged each other along the way.
We finally decided it was time to meet in person, so we planned a little “retreat” in Scottsdale in Lory’s hometown. We spent hours together giving each other advice, learning new things together, and just getting to know each other.
We all started our blogs to encourage folks to bring back the art of entertaining. Although we all share recipes and other topics on our blogs, we all specialize in sharing our tablescapes and how to create them along with other ways to make our guests feel special. The goal for all of our efforts is always to help take away the intimidation factor that some people feel when it comes to entertaining.
On a total whim one day after a long lunch, we decided the three of us should put one together for Lory’s traditional weekly “Grandma’s Dinners”. We ventured over to Anthropologie for inspiration and made a major haul of some of their dinnerware that we planned to mix with some of Lory’s own collection.
All I can say is that we had more fun than you can even see “behind the scenes”. This will, most assuredly, NOT be the last table we design together!!
You can see the original post of how much fun we had putting it all together HERE. Jennifer Markle of Jennifer Markle Photography did a fabulous job capturing our fun! Jennifer Rettig of Rettig & CO. produced the video and photography for the Magazine Feature. She is a genius! Thank you to both of these talented ladies!
More ideas for creating a Colorful Summer Alfresco Tablescape
As I mentioned in the article, “think outside of the box for your tablescapes”. We used a throw blanket as the inspiration for this tablescape. It provided a “wonderful bright textural component to it that just made it perfect to play off of”.
Use a combination of color and texture to create a unified look. A new season is a time for reflection and hope. Using colorful combinations provides a bright and happy tone for the table.
Include natural textures for an added touch of the outdoors. Not only do the rattan placemats add a natural texture but the fringed linen napkins with the weaved napkin rings also added a nice touch.
Use fresh-cut garden flowers in your centerpiece. We decided to anchor the centerpiece with the white hydrangeas first and then layer in the smaller arrangements. The mint julep cups were a perfect vessel for the mixed flower arrangements.
Shop the look here..
You can also visit my Iconic Life Magazine Feature on Modern Tablescapes HERE. And, for more Alfresco Dining Ideas, you can visit these posts…
Rustic Alfresco Summer Table Setting
Natural Fall Alfresco Dining Tablescape
I am extremely grateful for the two ladies and the fun we had together. I am also grateful for the many more blogging friends we have gotten to know through this journey. Lory and her husband were such gracious hosts and this post/dinner party with the “Grandma’s” would not have been possible without them! We enjoyed a beautiful dinner and some amazing wine that evening to top off the end of our retreat. Because of the pandemic, our plans to reunite have been hampered but plans are in the works!
I hope you enjoyed hearing the details of my feature in American Farmhouse Style Magazine and how we created a Colorful Summer Alfresco Dining Tablescape for our time together! I can assure that there will be more to come!
Beautiful! So proud of you guys! I love to create different tablescapes as well. There is something relaxing about it for me. I have so many dishes and accessories that my husband had to build cabinets in the garage for me to store everything! :-). I post some of my tables on my blog http://www.twoadorablelabs.com. Again, your table is so refreshing and beautiful. Bobbi Jo
You are so sweet, Bobbi Jo! I love your name! I had my husband do the same for me. :=) I appreciate your kind comments!
I loved creating this special table with you and Holly! For sure, it’s been one of the highlights of my my blogging career! Xoxo Lory
Same here, my friend! We need to get onto another one! XO
So beautiful. I am ready to eat. 🙂