Had a fun play around with a Burgundy and Yellow/organic/floral tablescape in a field this Summer!

I’ll share my 5 top tablescaping tips at the end if you fancy re-creating a show-stopping tablescape for your dinner event.

The field shoot: dinner for 6

under the apple tree: dinner for 4

Same tableware, different layout and position. Couldn’t resist the apple tree in the background…

5 tips for magical tablescaping

the table or table covering is your ‘canvas’
Sounds incredibly obvious but everything else will be placed ON TOP of your base level. Consider whether you’re using a bare wood table or want to use a table covering. In the shoot above, the large-print floral tablecloth was the starting point for the whole scheme. Everything else was chosen based on colours and textures in the cloth.

2. Think about every detail - you don’t HAVE to have silver cutlery

If you’ve got the scope to create a bespoke tablescape you can consider every detail which adds up to the overall look. Including - cutlery, napkins, glassware. Sure you might have silver cutlery and plain glasses in the cupboard but is that really going to give the table the WOW factor? I love having separate starter/main cutlery but you don’t have to - cutlery can be kept between courses. A lot of high street shops only have mains size + spoons for dessert.

In this shoot I chose amber champagne glasses and a textured pink glass from Ikea (they were 75p each - it doesn’t have to cost the earth).

3. Flowers, foliage, fruits (and veg)

I often work with professional florists to create centrepieces and displays for my tables on things like corporate london events but I get this isn’t an option available to every occasion or budget!

I was trying to do this shoot on a budget too so I went to the local weekly market near where I was (Hexham, Northumberland if you want to know) and picked up these Zinnias in the colour palette for £5! Go with an open mind about what you could use - choose any flowers within your colour palette. Local Fruit and veg shops sometimes also stock local flowers too.

As yellow and orange were part of my colour scheme, I thought I’d add citrus fruits for a maximalist effect (they’re cheap and you can eat/drink after!)

4. choose interesting serveware

A key part of a meal is the plates and this is a great opportunity to pull in a bit of tactile design that’s going to be up close to your guests. Flower shaped and textured plates are quite on-trend at the moment so I managed to find a couple from high street retailers that suited the brief. I found the lilac-hued daisy plates in B&M for £2 each! An absolute steal!

Depending on the type of food you’re having/how it is being served from the kitchen you could use different plates as a charger plate, side plate or starter plate. Try layering on top of one another, or placing to the side like a bread plate.

5. good candles

Lighting with candles will always be my preference. Make sure you buy smoke-less, drip less ones so you’re not creating a potentially toxic/messy atmosphere with them! I love tall, tapered candles (these ones are handmade from Ester & Erik) but also consider dtwisted, marbled, dye-dipped versions too to create a statement. And think about the holders too - this is a key part of the ‘look’.

Bonus advice

Leave enough time to set up the table. Practice, tweak, change. If you haven’t dressed a table before you’ll realise there are actually quite a few mini visual decisions for each element. How and where to place the cutlery, the napkin, the candles. Keep tweaking and looking at from different places until you’re happy you’ve created the scene setting you’re aiming for.

If you’d like me to design, source and set up a sustainable bespoke tablescape for your london event, get in touch

5 Top Tips For Creating a Magical Tablescape