setting the table

Last week I mentioned that I was lucky enough to help a great local shop, The Service Bureau, with their table at the annual Table Tops Spring Fundraiser for St. Louis Children's Hospital. It is a great event for an even better cause and I was thrilled to participate.

The Service Bureau wanted to go with a 'Nantucket on the Fourth of July' theme and I was totally on board. You say Nantucket and I say oh yeah baby. (read that in your best deep voice). Prep for the event was such a chore - I had to shop the store for items to include on the table that would best showcase what their store has to offer. Good times people. Good times. It was so much fun to say, 'I'll take two of those, and can we have four of these'? It was all very Pretty Woman, but without the snotty sales girls.

One disclaimer before we get to the pictures - in all the chaos I neglected to bring my 'real' camera, so these are iPhone pictures in a room that isn't well lit to begin with. So when you look at these pictures imagine them looking better in real life. And if you follow me on Instagram (@littleblackdoor) you've already seen some of these. (I guess that's two disclaimers)

Although we certainly used red, white and blue through out, we made a point not to make it too 'themey'. Themey, it could be a word.

We used picture frames from the store to display the menu and put a personalized invitation at each plate. A great way to show off all the wonderful stationary they sell.

I loved the lanterns they had in the store, but since it was a daytime event I thought candles would be a bit boring. So instead I decided to use the lanterns as vases and put a beautiful nosegay of flowers in each one. The striped ribbon coordinates with the stripes on the seats.

The craft paper placemats are so fun and I love that the little crab legs stick out behind the chargers.

The chairs were finished off with alternating red and blue scarves from the store along with sea grass ribbon.

After we finished our table, we walked around to see what everyone else had up their sleeve.

My friends at Indie Mats did a great job on their table.

This was a bakery that made their entire tablecloth out of paper cupcake holder things. Crazy time commitment.

Very similar to one of the inspiration pics I had in my post last week.

It was a very lovely event and a great time for me. A big thank you to Becca for including me, The Service Bureau and Bloomin' Buckets.

Been to any great parties lately? Need help planning for one? Let me know, I can help you out!