Dinner in the Garden | | Creative Tabletop Ideas

Tips for Hosting a Dinner In Your Backyard or Garden | A Fabulous Fete

If you’ve been following along over on instagram, I am sure you’ve seen a story or two where I have shared all of the details behind the renovation of our home. One of the first projects we took on was building out our little garden on the side of our house. Before (and yes, we will do a before + after soon!) it was overgrown with trees and bushes. It had a weird little cement pad that would have been perfect for a table and chairs, but the fact that it was all the way on the side of the house, with no access other than the backyard, made it a place no one wanted to be. We added doors (instead of an old window), cleaned it up with pavers, garden boxes, and a few new pieces of outdoor furniture, and we finally have a space that we spend A LOT of our time.

Now that it has been nice enough that we can sit outside and enjoy coffee or wine… I’ve been dreaming of hosting a few guests out here! So for Tabletop No. 3 in our series, we transformed the garden into a space for a small dinner party. I wanted a neutral palette that blended with its surroundings, and the accessories I used accomplished that perfectly. It was one of the simpler tables I’ve set, but I really wanted the actual space to take the spotlight.

Here are a few tips on how I created the tablescape in the video below, enjoy!

How to Host a Dinner in Your Garden or Backyard | A Fabulous Fete

A Few tips for setting this simple tabletop in your own garden or backyard:

Instead of large florals, gather natural lanterns. They don’t all have to be the same, or from the same store, just similar in material and color!
Add some bud vases with wildflowers or clippings from your yard
Add a pop of color in your place settings
Create a fun place setting by wrapping your silverware and napkins in a unique way. Here I used some beads I found at a local decor shop. Watch my video to see how I created this!
Use candlelights and string lights to set the mood! I love the soft light these give off.
Bring the garden to your table if possible. As you’ll see in our video, I used mint from the garden to create a cocktail for the setting!