My Tips for Setting a Table | Wheat Harvest Table for Thanksgiving *Winner Announced!

I wanted to share all of the details from this Thanksgiving "Harvest Wheat" table that I set last week. I think that people tend to be intimidated by setting a table - whether it be the centerpiece, flatware or the linens. Also, the whole vision of a table can be hard to come up with... there are a lot of factors like color, scale and balance to consider. It is not hard, but it has taken me a long time to dissect it and think about what works for me. I'll break it down below.

Whoopsy Daisy

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that Mike got me a new fancy big screen Mac for our anniversary present. So this morning, I get it out and am blissfully editing photos on the new big, giant screen when I noticed a complete whoops! on my part... do you see it? For those of you who see it, leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner to win a $50 gift card to my store. So, I will throw money at my embarrassment... that's completely acceptable, right?! I will not publish the comments until later today to give everyone a chance to guess.

Update : We have a Winner!

The winner of my $50 Gift Card is Clare Guinn! Clare said she was hosting her first Thanksgiving this year - so much fun. I have warm, fuzzy and fond memories of the first (and only so far...) Thanksgiving we hosted and I hope the gift card can help Clare set her first beautiful Thanksgiving table : ) Clare, please email me (jenny@jennysteffens.com) with your mailing address and we'll send the gift card your way!

Place Cards

I like place cards - even at small gatherings. For holidays like Thanksgiving, I think they are especially important for a couple of reasons : 1) They make guests feel special. Someone wants me to sit here, they have given thought to it and they are happy I'm here. 2) The host is able to strategically place people to foster great conversation. 3) It is organized. No one is walking around with a plate of food feeling lost, or ending up at the kids table because they got last in line : ) 4) They are pretty! It is just one more way to set the scene and create a mood for the meal. These Wheat Laurel Wreath Place Cards are the perfect spot to accent with my Wheat theme.

Centerpieces Don't Have to be Flowers

If you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner, then you probably don't have time to make a lovely fresh flower arrangement - in reality, you'll hardly have time to do anything else but cook food. I love these Wheat Bundles because they are natural, but not fresh, as in... they do not require any day-of (week-of, year-of...) maintenance. You can set your table now and it will still look perfect, seasonal and festive on Thanksgiving Day. I've tied mine with Edgartown Sand Ribbon, but you can use gold, brown or even a patterned ribbon to add more color or pizazz to suite your style.

The height of these is perfect - it adds some grandeur, but doesn't block a view. For a small table, do just one, or maybe two - one up, one on its side. For a large table, you can do 2-5, depending on what else you are filling the table with.

This is your first real peek into Mike parent's house (where we are during construction) - isn't it the perfect warm and cozy house to shoot a Thanksgiving table?!

Linens

This Natural & Cream Striped Tablecloth is my new favorite thing. Sometimes I just am so impressed by something when it arrives in the mail that I can't get over it. This tablecloth is currently that thing. It is hard for me to describe how completely lovely it is. Heavy, textured, natural, authentic, 100% linen designed and milled in Europe.

The size is my favorite for Tablecloths - a 54" Square. That may sound odd, but here is why it works. Most farmhouse tables are long and can be hard to make look bountiful. The square cloth acts sort of like a runner, just on the center of the table, visually bringing in the sides a bit. Then, the centerpiece can be build upon a smaller area (on the linen) to create an easier scale to work with. It also give the beautiful wood a chance to show through.

For long tables, I like to use long centerpieces. For round or square tables, I like one, or a grouping of three in the middle.
The wheat and the pumpkins are down the center in a structured way, then I've randomly scattered various heights and colors of Taper Candles.

For this setting, I used the White Linen Hemstitch Napkins on the Tablecloth, then used the Tea Towels at the heads of the table. It is a great way to mix and match, while stretching your pieces. I'm also known to do this with china when I'm setting multiple tables for one party. I'll use white dinner plates set with patterned salad plates at one table, then patterned dinner plates with white salad plates at another. It multiples your china by 2 and keeps everything "matching."