HOW TO USE ROMANTIC FLOWERS TO ADD CONTRAST TO YOUR TABLE

Romantic pastel roses!  They look so beautiful in fanciful, light colored settings that I sometimes forget they can be a lovely romantic contrast in a more formal setting, too.

This will be the first in a sort of series about setting tables at my friends’ places. It’s so fun to see what pieces other people have, and I often find myself secretly designing tables and mantels in my head during visits to friends. So I asked several of them if I could decorate and set tables at their houses! The first was my sister-in-law.

My Sister In Law

One of the things I love most that I got when I met my husband, is his family!  His sister and I are kindred spirits! And one of the things I love most about my sister-in-law (I’ll call her SIL,) is that she loves china and crystal as much as I do!

Plus she’s a great entertainer.  So when we were up at their house on Labor Day weekend, I took the opportunity to play with her collection and set a table for a group dinner.  They let me do their mantel too, which you can see here.

China

I usually start a table setting with the flowers, but in this case, I started with their beautiful wedding china.  The plates are very rich and warm – ivory with a deep jewel toned border, raised detailing, and gold accent.

I often mix different pieces, but this plate stack looked so gorgeous on its own that I kept to the set.

Linens

They have a deep green tablecloth that matches the china perfectly. It laid the foundation for an elegant table that was cozy in an English Manor House kind of way. There are napkins that match the tablecloth, but I thought that might be a little too much green.

As you know, or will come to find out, I love any combination of cream, ivory, and white. So I thought the basic white linen napkins made a nice combination with the ivory plates, and a contrast against the dark tablecloth.

Mix & Match Flatware

SIL has some beautiful sterling tableware that she inherited from the infamous Aunt Kitty. There are lots of family stories about Aunt Kitty, who apparently was well known among her east coast crowd for, among other things, her entertaining prowess! There are several lovely old patterns in the collection, including a whole bunch of cocktail forks. Oddly, there weren’t any salad forks, so we used SIL’s everyday stainless. I love the look of the three different patterns together.

The sterling was a fun topic of discussion at dinner too, especially the cool monogram on the backs. (Though we couldn’t remember Aunt Kitty’s married name!) This actually makes a fun kind of game if you have pieces with someone else’s monogram.  It can be pretty hilarious at a dinner party to come up with funny names the letters could stand for… !  ANYway…

Romantic Crystal

Four of the glasses we used for the seafood cocktail were actually some that I gave SIL for Christmas a few years ago. I got them at an antique store, and came within inches of keeping them for myself!

We were one cocktail glass short, so I added a slightly different shaped one at the head of the table.

The champagne glasses are from my hosts’ wedding set as well – lovely cut crystal. The gold rim around the top tied in beautifully with the gold chargers and the accent on the china.

More Crystal – and Candles

I love anything with hanging crystals on it, so the candle holders were perfect. The wrapped gold candles she had were an elegant touch, and we added a couple more votive candle holders as well. Those came from Good Will – another inexpensive and beautiful find!

At this point the table was looking lovely! The deep jewel tones were a perfect match for the dining room itself, and we were really happy about how it was turning out.

Romantic Roses

But it felt a little dark and serious to me – it needed a little romance! I hadn’t done the flowers yet, and their rose garden inspired my choice.

We picked some beautiful cream and light pink blooms from their garden and filled in the rest with some lovely romantic pink and lavender baby roses from the grocery store.

I wanted to continue my crystal sparkle, so we decided to shop her home for vases. All the “real” vases were too tall, so we looked for anything that could hold water. We came up with a cut crystal bowl, and a crystal sugar and creamer set that was yet another Good Will purchase.

All three pieces are really heavy and catch a lot of light, which added another romantic touch.

The table looked great!

Change of Plan

Then the plan changed! (Does this happen to you as much as it does to me?  Thank goodness for flexibility!) Turns out there would be eight for dinner instead of five, and a change of menu was also in order. And a change of tablesetting! We pulled out the leaves to make the table longer, but now the green tablecloth was too short. A couple beautiful old lace ones underneath fixed that problem and were as romantic as we could have wanted.

I alternated SIL’s everyday white plates with the china, and put out some of the green napkins after all. Now that there was more white in the plates, the green didn’t seem so overwhelming. We also added some extra chairs, glasses, and utensils. With the menu change, we only needed one big dinner plate now, so I took away the rest and just laid the napkins on top. Spreading out the flower arrangements and candles kept the romantic look, and we were ready to eat!

Food & Wine

The food was great, and so were the wines.

And we can’t forget the delicious pear and apple tart my husband made from his homegrown pears! That recipe might be coming along another day. (Yes! Here it is!)

I hope you have fun with your own romantic tablesettings – drop me a Comment below – I’d love to hear about them!

 

This Post Shared With

• Tablescape Thursday #584 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Thursday Favorite Things – Hosted by Shoestring Elegance
• Tuesday Turn About #52 – Hosted by Blue Sky at Home
• Tablescape Thursday #619 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Tablescape Thursday #669 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Thursday Favorite Things 07.22.21 – Hosted by Follow the Yellow Brick Home
• Tablescape Thursday 02.23.23 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Thursday Favorite Things 02.23.23 – Hosted by Shoestring Elegance