Tablescape Tuesday: Coral on the Beach

I think we can all agree that nothing says summer quite like listening to the sound of the water, feeling the sand between your toes and watching the dune grass sway in the breeze. I recently returned from a trip to the beach, and I couldn't let the summer slip by without sharing the details of a dinner party I hosted on the beach last summer.

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

When the opportunity to dine on the beach arises, I am the first to volunteer to participate. I like to start my dinners on the beach while it is still light outside, leaving the candles unlit. As the sun goes down, I light the candles both on the table and around the table for a beautiful glow.

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

For this party, my husband and our friends carried the teak table and chairs down to the beach for our special sunset dinner. Raynaud's "Cristobal" pattern china seemed a good choice for the evening. I love its color and pattern, and I especially love all of the different pieces that it has. Each piece has a different pattern, some with coral-colored background with white accents and others with a white background and handpainted coral branches. My favorite pieces in the group are the sea urchin-shaped salt and pepper shakers set on a small square tray.

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

 Simple crystal glassware perfectly complemented our tabletop. A centerpiece of curving driftwood fitted with small containers for tea light candles added to our simple beach look. Large chunks of coral, some set into Lucite bases, added color to the center. Beautiful gold-colored seashells filled in other spaces, and highlighted the gold accents on the china. A set of antique glasses with handblown coral accents served as vases. They are filled with sand to help the blowing dune grass stay standing tall.

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

Kimberly Shlegel Whitman Tablescapes

When serving dinner for special guests outdoors, be sure to think through what their experience might be from start to finish. For example, if it gets chilly on the beach where you spend your holidays, it is a nice gesture to have a pile of pashminas or warm wraps in a basket nearby so your guests can put them around their shoulders as the sun goes down. You might even hang one over the back of each guest's chair and give them as party favors to take home at the end of the evening. 

It's also important to ask yourself, could guests ruin their shoes in the sand? At my dinner party, I asked them to trade in their shoes for flip-flops that you provide at a "shoe check." 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the details of my summer dinner party. With just a few more weeks of summer left, I am hoping to entertain on the beach as much as possible!

Tuesday Tablescape: One Table for One Hundred

A rehearsal dinner is an important event for any bride and groom, and especially for a Mother-of-the-Groom, who is traditionally in charge of this celebration. I am lucky to have the chic, stylish and elegant Caroline Whitman as my mother-in-law. She had beautiful ideas for our rehearsal dinner and wanted to make it a night no one would ever forget.

Challenged with finding an intimate venue that would house a wedding party of 75, Caroline opted to host the dinner in a tent, as she was trying to create a setting that was cozy as well as elegant and ethereal. A beautiful white tent erected on a tennis court provided the perfect spot for one gigantic table to seat 126 people. 

The table was made of platform staging in the center with eight-foot by 30-inch tables placed all around the edge. Caroline turned to the talented floral team form Dallas' Bella Flora to help make the center of the table perfect. For such a massive space, she wanted a lot of drama without it feeling to overwhelming.

Todd Fiscus of Todd.Events thought we needed some drama in the tent and loaned us three massive white chandeliers.
She assembled a collection of large-scale blue-and-white containers, clear glass vases and Lucite museum stands; we borrowed from friends, family and our favorite florist! Some containers were simply left empty in the center of the table; others were filled with beautiful yellow flowers or lemons. Large branches with yellow blooms and potted yellow tulips added life to the massive white setting. 

The dinner was served on simple but elegant white plates that were placed on woven wicker chargers - they were such an important element as they framed the white plates against the background of the white table linen. Crisp and clean hemstitched white linen napkins sat on top of the plates, waiting to be placed in the guests lap. Silverware from Tiffany and Co. framed the plates to perfection, and beautiful but simple swirl stem crystal complemented the settings.

Each guest found his or her name in white ink on a blue place card. The menu, printed in blue on clean white paper, was placed in the center of each white plate. 

Even the servers wore blue ties to match!

The overall look was better than any of us could have imagined, but the most memorable part of the evening came as the toasts were winding down to a close. When it was Justin's turn to make his toast, he carefully and unexpectedly pushed his place setting to the side and hopped up onto his chair and then onto the table! The space between the centerpieces and the place setting formed the perfect walkway for Justin to make his way around the table and tell each person there how grateful he was to have them in our lives.

It was a perfectly magical moment that I will never forget, and it took place on one of the most beautiful tables I could have ever dreamed of! Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me!

Big Thanks to:
Bella Flora
Todd.Events
Stephen Karlish Photography

Tablescape Tuesday: Breakfast in the Afternoon

For me, setting the table is a great creative outlet. I take every opportunity, even brunch with girlfriends, to do just that!  Here is a green and white table that was featured in my book, Tablescapes.

 "Tablescapes"

To set a ladylike tone,  I began with a simple white cloth and a Lily of the Valley-patterned overlay from Porthault.This is a set we use nearly every day - a green and white plate with tiny green flowers that we brought home from a trip to Paris and a smaller breakfast plate from Porthault with a border of green clover.

 "Tablescapes"

Ceramic bouquets of flowers from Christian Dior in Paris provided a special touch at each place setting!  Please please promise me that you will add a stop at the amazing Dior Boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne to your Paris wish-list. It is my very favorite shop in the world!  It is filled with amazing Dior fashions and it has beauty area covered in smoky mirrors that is to die for but the area that really makes my heart stop is the home section.  From the hand-painted glasses to the cashmere throws, I promise you won't leave empty handed.

 "Tablescapes"

In the center of the table was a beautiful lemon topiary created by my friend Susan Spindler. Susan came over with a bag full of tools, I provided the lemons and off we went to create this long-lasting arrangement. Small pieces of hydrangea left over from another dinner party filled in the space and the topiary sprang to life!

 "Tablescapes"

We laid out cheerful silver flatware with an enchanting bird pattern and placed a vintage chick eggcup beside each juice glass.

Informal place cards in light green and white marked the seating. To add to the garden feel, I brought outdoor chairs into the breakfast room. 

 "Tablescapes"

The refreshing view out the window into the garden was the final perfect element and our breakfast in the afternoon was a relaxing time well spent!

Photography by Scott Womack  

Interns Needed!

The RSVP Calendar

The RSVP Calendar is very dear to me. It was established decades ago by women in our city who recognized the need for a social calendar in Dallas. The calendar was originally printed and mailed on a subscription and quarterly basis. I purchased the calendar in 1999 and quickly found that in mere weeks after the calendar was mailed, the phone was frequently ringing with event detail changes and cancellations.


I immediately began envisioning a new interactive online calendar that would allow changes to be made quickly while serving as an up-to-the-minute resource for the most recent information on happenings in Dallas & Collin County. When the calendar launched online, guests were then able to conveniently submit their events and changes in an instant. Today, thousands visit the calendar to submit their events, find the best date to schedule an event in the future, or to learn what is going on each week in their city. The calendar has expanded into a blog and newsletter as well! I hope you enjoy the RSVP Calendar as much as I enjoy expanding it. I'm not sure what my personal calendar would look like without it!

The RSVP Calendar

The RSVP Calendar is very dear to me. It was established decades ago by women in our city who recognized the need for a social calendar in Dallas. The calendar was originally printed and mailed on a subscription and quarterly basis. I purchased the calendar in 1999 and quickly found that in mere weeks after the calendar was mailed, the phone was frequently ringing with event detail changes and cancellations.


I immediately began envisioning a new interactive online calendar that would allow changes to be made quickly while serving as an up-to-the-minute resource for the most recent information on happenings in Dallas & Collin County. When the calendar launched online, guests were then able to conveniently submit their events and changes in an instant. Today, thousands visit the calendar to submit their events, find the best date to schedule an event in the future, or to learn what is going on each week in their city. The calendar has expanded into a blog and newsletter as well! I hope you enjoy the RSVP Calendar as much as I enjoy expanding it. I'm not sure what my personal calendar would look like without it!