An Engagement Dinner in the Library

And so the adventure begins …

Kyle is engaged!

Well, he’s been engaged for nearly two years.

Timing is everything and the engagement happened just before the pandemic lock down.

Things like engagement celebrations, picking a date and a venue

… all the things, got delayed.

Sigh.

Thankfully, weddings are back.

In fact its a wedding-palooza!

We attended our first rescheduled wedding at the end of August.

And we have four more on the calendar – so far – in 2022.

Three of them in our family.

What an exciting year it’s going to be.

But back to Kyle.

And his fiancé, Melody.

Their wedding is finally scheduled for March.

And it’s coming right up.

It was long past time to invite Melody’s family over for an engagement celebration.

And, to make things even more festive, a wedding wine tasting.

We settled on a date in early October and planned a casually themed dinner on our back patio.

Jim’s travel schedule intervened and the dinner was pushed back a couple of weeks.

The delay combined with a change in the weather – cold with rain in the forecast – forced a last minute decision to move the dinner indoors.

Our outdoor dining table seats 12, but our indoor table seats only six.

Uh oh.

We got creative and decided to turn our library into a dining room for the evening.

Moving the furniture out and a rented table and chairs in.

Several weeks ago I shared Snowberry’s library room reveal.

Here’s how it looked before I waved my magic wand and transformed it into a dining room.

Wait a second.

Turns out I had no magic wand.

All the party rental company’s were fully booked for the weekend.

Remember, it’s wedding-palooza.

In a state of panic I reached out to Lindsay of Lindsay Lauren Events.

She helped plan my niece’s California baby shower several years ago

while I was living two states away on Fidaglo Island.

In a stroke of good luck for me, Lindsay didn’t have a wedding this particular weekend and said she’d be happy to help.

Whew.

And here’s where the magic wand comes in.

Lindsay’s magic wand.

Next thing I knew she’d secured all the rentals, flowers, and calligraphy that had eluded me.

Monica, of Monica Vargas Photography, who takes most of my blog photos, came over to capture the before-dinner scene.

So, without further ado let’s take a look at the

library-to-dining room transformation.

The place settings were simple and clean … white and gold … with black and gold flatware.

And bleached ferns.

Yes, bleached ferns tucked into the napkins!

Fabulous.

Lindsay and I exhausted all options for place card calligraphy … or so I thought.

Lindsay pulled another rabbit out of her hat and surprised me with these scrolled place cards by Blushtype.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Sheela from Sarah’s Garden Design created the gorgeous florals.

Sheela brought a bin full of brass candles sticks and brass rimmed bud vases.

She and Lindsay interspersed them with the larger arrangements in brass urns down the center of the table.

Pure magic!

Ta da!

I love the soft, autumnal colors of the florals.

Roses, dahlias, anemones, ranunculus, white Veronica, among others.

The hit of the night … chocolate cosmos.

 

 

The bride-to-be remarked that the candles didn’t drip wax.

Oh my gosh, she’s right!

I left a message for Sheela inquiring but she hasn’t responded.

Trade secret?!

 

One of the (many) benefits of library-as-dining room scenario …  dining fireside.

Amazing ambiance.

We had to crack the windows a little … the fireplace puts off a lot of heat.

Before dinner Jim presented two special wines to the happy couple.

Wines from their birth years.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux.

1990 and 1992 vintages.

Just before dinner Jim decanted both bottles.

The candlelight highlights any sediment in the bottle to avoid it getting into the decanter.

I took a video of Kyle and Melody pouring their wines for the guests.

I’ll share it in my Instagram stories.

There was much discussion around which wine, the 1990 or 1992, showed better.

Opinions changed throughout the evening as the wines opened up.

At the end of the evening a tie was declared.

Lest you think I sat back eating bon bons while Lindsay and Sheela did all the work

… while they were setting the gorgeous table, I was slaving over a hot stove.

Here’s what was on the menu ~

• Grilled Ribeye (ok, Jim made this … he uses the sous vide method prior to putting the steaks on the grill)
• Baked Salmon with lemon, garlic, and butter sauce
• Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
• Herb Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes
• Skillet Rolls with Garlic Butter
• Apple Crisp
• Homemade Vanilla Ice cream

I have so much gratitude for Lindsay and Sheela … event and floral designers extraordinaire.

Aren’t they gorgeous woman?

As well as brilliant, funny, talented, uber-organized, clever, thoughtful, resourceful …

you get the idea.

I reached out to Lindsay in a panic.

She took my panic and turned it into a stress-free evening in a magical setting.

Did you know that events planners are not just for weddings?

Oh no, they design and plan many other types of events and celebrations.

Even small dinner parties like mine.

All’s well that ends well.

We had the loveliest evening celebrating with Melody’s family

Oh, and just as we sat down to dinner it started to rain.

And it poured.

So the last minute change that drove us inside turned out for the best.

Like it was meant to be.

To see more of our engagement dinner party, head over to my Instagram.

I’m sharing a beautiful Reel created by Monica.

And several Instagram story videos and behind the scenes photos that I took throughout the evening.

Including an amusing story about the fish I made for dinner.

Oh, and next week I’ll have a post about our at-home wine tasting that happened before dinner!

Oh boy!

A huge thank you to ~

• Photography: Monica Vargas Photography ; Monica’s Instagram
• Planning & Design: Lindsay Lauren Events ; Lindsay’s Instagram
• Florals: Sarah’s Garden Design 
• Rentals: Pleasanton Rentals ; Pleasanton Rentals Instagram
• Calligraphy: Blushtype ; Blushtype Instagram

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As always, I appreciate your visit and welcome your thoughts in the comments below.

Cheers from Snowberry!