Dinner for twelve? Oh, yeah, baby! When there is going to be a crowd, there is so much incentive to make the table look uber-fabulous. Early November is the perfect time for a fall into fall tablescape, and this color palette will drive away the ghosts of Halloween.
Let’s deconstruct the tablescape, shall we? I used two floral arrangements that I made in thin, low brown and bronze vases. The guts of the arrangements came from storebought market bouquets, supplemented by my faithful lotus pods and a few stems purchased separately. In front of each place setting is a tiny clear vase with a petite bouquet, mainly purple alstroemeria lilies and orange tylips. (BTW, the little vases are actually votive candleholders I purchased for about a dollar apiece.)
At first, I put the plates directly on the quilted satin placemats, but I have to tell you, it just didn’t look quite right. (That’s why it is important to plan ahead and experiment. Sometimes the vision in your head doesn’t translate well to reality and you have to make adjustments on the fly.) I didn’t want to use gold or silver metallic chargers, because they would be too formal looking. Aha! The turquoise ones, with their cut-out design around the edge, pulled the same vivid color from the dishes, provided a nice layer of separation from the placemats, and was just what the table needed.
You will notice that I kept the napkin a simple brown with rattan napkin rings. With the flowers and the pattern in the dishes, there was already a lot going on, so I didn’t want to distract the eye from the floral lovelies and the pretty plates and bowls.
The dinner was rustic Italian cuisine (pork roasts with cream sauce, roasted brussel sprouts, cippollini onions, gnocchi of regular potato, as well as sweet potato), but I went with sterling flatware anywhere … just because.. If you’ve got it, use it!
Study the pictures and see what takeaways you can use for your next occasion.
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