I love entertaining. We built our patio partially so we could do it more. And we finally got to take advantage of that this weekend for my birthday party. It was such a fun and beautiful night with my closest friends and I even stayed up until midnight… unheard of for me!

I looked around at one point and just felt this giant rush of gratitude that we’ve cultivated such a beautiful group of loyal, supportive, loving, fun friends. It was a night for the books.

The set up: Most of our patio furniture hasn’t arrived yet but I really wanted to throw a party at our house, something we haven’t done in forever. I asked my IG followers for recommendations of party planners who would set up and break down basically a “fancy picnic” situation and ended up hiring Bella Soiree, a local company that, as you can see, did a beautiful job.

I told Heather, one of the owners, that I wanted it to be blue and white with lots of hydrangeas and man did she deliver! I didn’t see any of the set up ahead of time and really trusted her to make it beautiful. And it was perfect.

She included every single thing you see pictured including the plates and cutlery as well as the lighting.

The food

I met Liz of Drewlizcious at another party recently and loved the grazing table she created so I asked her if she could recreate it on a smaller scale. Because I don’t eat cow dairy, I requested more sheep and goat cheese with a few cow dairy options along with charcuterie, olives, breads, crackers, nuts, and other snacks. It was a beautiful spread and every single thing was delicious.

She also set up table fans to keep the flies away and we had not a single bug on the food. I bought them immediately afterwards.

For the “main course” I picked up a giant sushi platter from Fjord (best sushi in town, hands down), along with a shrimp cocktail platter, poached salmon, and pigs in a blanket.

For drinks, I wanted to keep it simple so I served Sancerre, rosé, beer, and some canned cocktails. I didn’t want to deal with pouring and drinks.

My dress

I wore this gorgeous cut-out maxi dress that I originally wore on Easter and is still available. It’s one of my favorites and the price point is excellent.