Citrus Summer Luncheon

A couple weeks ago my sweet friend Amanda of Fashionable Hostess and myself hosted a Citrus Summer Luncheon in celebration of Miami Swim Week. We invited a small group of blogger/influencer gals to partake in an oceanfront soiree at a private residence in Miami Beach.

Every event, however small or large, starts with a theme. This is probably the thing I struggle with the most when planning. I usually have too many ideas that it’s sometimes tough to reign in the creativity and stick to a few key concepts that make an event really POP. Once I put my ideas on paper, and vision board everything, I stick to the plan and try not to deviate. It’s easy to get carried away with allllll the things haha. In the end, you should really focus on 1-2 items to really shine – the rest if just icing. In this case – the oceanfront venue was the biggest wow factor! We wanted to keep the scene clean and fresh with a chic summer feel. I gathered inspiration from Pinterest, along with the vision of wanting to put together a citrus themed table spread for a while now – this seemed the perfect opportunity!

The craziest part…we pulled it off with two weeks of prep time!! There’s nothing I love more then working with dedicated, creatives who love the hustle – Amanda and our team of vendors did an incredible job with this one. Here’s a breakdown of our citrus summer luncheon essentials!

And here it is – every table setting or event comes down to the details. They’re what set an event apart from the rest. Those special touches of pizazz.

PLACE SETTINGS

Keeping inline with a clean and fresh aesthetic for the table, we opted for a bare, light wood farmhouse table rentals from Unearthed Rentals, along with modern white wire chairs with a vintage twist. Topped with place settings that make my heart sing! Starting with the beautiful anchor of natural woven placemats by Kim Seybert. Love the added texture these gave the overall look and feel of the table. Along with sleek round plates by Villeroy and Boch and a sweet eyelet trim napkin. Paired with classic ovid white wine glasses and green goblets by Villeroy and Boch. Colored glassware is my absolutely favorite element to play with when designing tables! It’s a great way to jazz up the usual clear glass feel.

And I of course can’t forget our star name cards by my sweet friend Megan at J.Lily Design! She took my idea of a citrus summer luncheon next level with her lemon leaf cricket-cut leaf tags. And her use of white ink calligraphy really made these pop off the plate. We had double the amount of leaves cut and placed a blank leaf underneath the name card, faceted with a sewing pin to add volume and make them look a little more realistic.

GARLAND

As the base of the entire tablescape, our garland was the main focal point of the tables. Using pre-made greenery base, and citrus as opposed to flowers, kept the cost down while still making a big impact. The Garland Guy {who surprisingly is actually a crazy talented lady!} has an amazing selection of pre-assembled greens that are completely customizable. We went with the Salal or ‘lemon leaf’ garland because it’s in season and of course was fitting for the theme. And then sprinkled in a plethora of citrus for added color + texture. I’ll be putting together a separate post that outlines all my tips + tricks for executing a beautiful citrus garland as well, so stay tuned next week on that front!

FOOD + BEV

If you’re going to execute a theme – do it from start to finish. Not over the top, but I love subtly incorporating aspects here and there. The menu was inspired by our overall citrus summer luncheon vision, and included light summer fare such as tuna tartare, citrus salad, melon cups, lemon herbed chicken, smoked salmon and lemon tart bites.  Clos du Bois’ Lightly Bubbled Chardonnay and Rosé paired perfectly. The Miami heat is no joke this time of year, but our setting was just too stunning to take indoors. A little light fizz was just the touch to keep our guests’ palettes refreshed!

To sweeten the goodbyes, we partnered with a few of our favorite brands to send our guests off with goodies galore! Three styles of Sole Society totes were chosen and filled with all kinds of yumminess – rose gold metallic cosmetic bags + umbrellas by Vera Bradley, Coola sunscreen, setting spray by Urban Decay, makeup removing mitts by Take My Face Off, and gold statement earrings thanks to Lisi Lerch. Along with a few Charleston favorites: candles by Rewined and tassel earrings by Hart Haggarty. Topped off with some lightly bubbled by Clos du Bois. Cheers to a successful citrus summer luncheon. Who’s ready for the next one?!

photos by Simply Lively 

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