Confession: I love setting the table.
One of my favorite things about entertaining is coming up with a beautiful tablescape. I spend a lot of time thinking about my theme for each get together we have at the farm. I love coming up with a unique and beautiful setting that will make our guests feel welcome. My goal behind every tablescape is to convey how much our family enjoys our guests’ company at our table and in our home. I like to make our guests feel our love through the effort I put into setting a beautiful table for us to sit around and enjoy while we share many laughs, delicious food, and good conversation throughout a meal. Some of my favorite memories with friends and family are those where we have gathered around a lovely set table for hours enjoying one another’s company until the wee hours of the morning.
I have been thinking about my Thanksgiving tablescape for months now. This will be our first Thanksgiving celebrated at the farmhouse and I am so excited to put together a simple yet elegant table setting for one of my favorite holidays. The theme I am going to go with this Thanksgiving is rustic elegance. I want to incorporate a lot of pewter and brass along with greenery and herbs from the farm. Of course there will also be beautiful flowers and what is a Thanksgiving tablescape without pumpkins. It goes without saying that there will be an abundance of candlelight. The fire marshal may disagree with me, but I don’t think you can ever have enough candles set in a dining room. My opinion on this matter has only strengthened since turning 40.
To start, I am using my natural linen table runner. I went to our local pumpkin patch and found some gorgeous fairytale pumpkins. I love fairytale pumpkins because they have so much character and their muted colors look beautiful with just about any decor. I use the rule of odds in design and arrange five pumpkins down the center of the table elevating the center pumpkin to give the arrangement some height and visual appeal.
Before I begin filling in the centerpiece with flowers and candles, I like to set the table. I find it easier to fill in a tablescape once the dishes, utincils and glassware have been set out. The amount of serveware you plan on using on the table will dictate the amount of flowers, greenery and candles you should use. A beautiful table setting can overpower the functionality of serving and eating a meal. That is not the goal here. You want a table setting that is functional as well as beautiful. I always use charger plates under dinner plates. They certainly aren’t necessary though as they don’t serve any other purpose than sprucing up your table setting. I found these beautiful pewter chargers and could not resist them for our first Thanksgiving on the farm. The engraving says it all. Although I have china, I decided this year I did not want to put it out for Thanksgiving. Life on the farm is about simplicity and I didn’t want a wonderful family-filled evening to conclude with hand washing our wedding china. So this year, I decided to use our everyday white dishes. I used our everyday silverware and freshly pressed natural linen napkins. To tie in the brass candlesticks. I opted for brass napkin rings and tied a sprig of rosemary from the garden around each napkin ring with twine. The rosemary adds greenery and freshness to the place settings and it smells amazing. I adore the smell of rosemary! Finally, I put out the glassware. I use my everyday wine glasses and beautiful water glasses with gold accents to help accentuate the brass on the table.
Now it’s time to pull everything together. This is my favorite part! I begin filling in my centerpiece with greenery and flowers. I set out the candlesticks and candles and ensure that every seat has a good line of vision to the other seats. You never want your tablescape to interfere with the conversation among your company. Now the Thanksgiving tablescape is complete. I am very happy with the way it turned out. It’s even more beautiful than I had imagined. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving day to share this beautiful table with my loved ones.
I am so grateful for this life and so thankful to have so many amazing people around me to share it with. Happy Thanksgiving ya’ll!
Sincerely,
Meeghan
