I’m not sure if I love to throw dinner parties at our house because I love having our friends over, or if I just love to legitimize purchasing an otherwise-inappropriate amount of overpriced fresh cut flowers. Ok, the company is definitely the best, but the flowers are a close second.
Pants: Banana Republic | SWEATER: old, similar HERE | SANDALS: Steve Madden | BAG: Moyi Moyi (similar HERE) | SUNGLASSES: Wonderland | BRACELET: Monica Vinader | PENDANT NECKLACE: Melinda Maria | FRINGE NECKLACE: Melinda Maria
The party prep started with a flower run during the lunch hour on Friday, first to my favorite corner floral shop in the neighborhood, and then to Trader Joe’s where they happened to have an actual ocean of peonies, hydrangeas and other gorgeous flowers at prices that immediately made me regret running errands in this order. Word to the wise—in the spring when all of these beauties are in season, head straight to TJ’s and hoard away. I only learned this after basically wasting my future children’s college tuition on overpriced peonies elsewhere. If you follow me on snapchat (maryorton) you know that the pain was very real.
Sometimes our 9-to-5 jobs mean we don’t have all the time in the world to pull together a dinner party. If this is true for you, check out my five easy entertaining tips for the working girl HERE and you’ll see how easy it is to trick people into thinking you’re Betty Draper. I love to keep a lot of house plants—both large and small—throughout our apartment, and the small ones in particular can come in super handy when throwing together a centerpiece. As you can see below, I threw a small wheatgrass plant between some low bunches of peonies that I picked up on Friday, and between that a simple linen table runner and a bunch of tea lights that I had in the cupboard, my table was ready for action.
GLASS DINING TABLE: William Sonoma Home | CANE CANTILEVER CHAIRS: Marcel Breuer (also HERE) | CENTER WHEATGRASS PLANTER: CB2 | LINEN RUNNER: Pottery Barn | GOLD VOTIVES: BHLDN | DISHES: Juliska (combination of Jardins du Monde and Berry & Thread patterns) | PLACEMATS: Juliska | GREEK KEY DINNER NAPKINS: Ann Gish (tons of great colors!) | SALT & PEPPER SHAKERS: Oscar de la Renta | FLATWARE: Couzon (La Perle pattern) | WINE GLASSES: Riedel
CULOTTES: White House Black Market (sold out, similar HERE) | BODYSUIT: c/o Tuxe | SANDALS: Steve Madden | NECKLACE: c/o Melinda Maria (similar HERE) | CHOKER: Fallon (similar HERE and HERE) | RUG: similar HERE
I didn’t have the right vase for the kind of low arrangements of peonies I wanted to have, so I just threw these guys in our short double old-fashioned glasses and they were good to go!
PLANTER: Modernica | RUG: similar HERE
The rest of the flowers were placed throughout the house, which is always such a quick, easy way to make the house feel more festive.
CUSTOM FRAMING: Framebridge (obsessed with them) | GLASS VASE: JULISKA | GOLD PLANTER: similar HERE and HERE
PLANTER: (similar HERE and also have THIS ONE that is one of my absolute favorites) | CANDLE: Illume (similar HERE) | AGATE COASTERS: Jonathan Adler (also similar HERE)
MIRROR: similar HERE | HOBNAIL VASE: similar HERE
SMALL PLANTER: CB2
BRASS PLANT MISTER (that desperately needs to be polished, but is great for spritzing succulents!): CB2
Happy Monday! xx