It’s officially Summer y’all and I couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate the first official day of Summer than with a fiesta! I was more than thrilled my best gals felt the same way so we decided it was time to get together and host another something fun. We have recently had an Easter brunch and a potting party both hosted by the beautiful Laura of Louella Reese. I have always talked about doing a Cinco de Mayo party, but the timing never works out. We all share a very unhealthy love of Mexican food so a summer fiesta was a natural fit for us all and a great opportunity for me to host a gathering.

Ever since we bought our land in May of 2018, I have wanted to have an event in the field. My inspiration for this fiesta came from all those beautiful outdoor weddings that have a long banquet table, dramatic centerpieces, and exquisite place settings. Granted, our gathering wasn’t as quite as grand as a wedding, we made it special and had great finds from Emily McCarthy, Vietri, Nearly Natural and Playa Real Tequila that pulled everything together and made the vision come to life.

True to form, the planning started with the tablescape and the place settings. I usually focus on the centerpiece first, but I have never hosted a party with place settings and wanted those to be special for each guest. Vietri has always been a favorite brand in the tabletop world. They have the most beautiful collections of dinnerware created by Italian artisans. I’ve always saved Vietri for dinners and special occasions…until now. They have recently released a collection of melamine dinnerware that looks exactly like the stoneware version. I was so excited when I found these plates because I knew they would be perfect for outdoor entertaining and everyday use. I was also really excited I didn’t have to sacrifice a beautiful presentation for a practical option. There’s nothing worse than not being able to enjoy your party because you are so paranoid that something will be broken. Side note: if that’s the case for your dinner party or event, choose something else. You want to enjoy your event and you want your guests to feel comfortable. I only used the dinner and salad plates for this because we didn’t have use for the other pieces. There are bowls and serving trays that complete the collection that would be a great addition if your menu requires them.

I paired the plates with some natural placemats I found at Target and some beautiful floral napkins and gold flatware I had on hand. To top everything off and make it truly special for everyone, I painted maracas and used them as place cards. They also added some more color to our table and balanced out all the green.

After the place settings were done, I moved on to the table decor. It was a no brainer; it had to be Emily McCarthy: the Queen of color and Southern entertaining. If you haven’t visited her shop in Savannah, GA or her website, you’re missing out. Everything is so colorful and she has everything you would need to host the perfect event, including this perfect stripe table runner and these colorful cocktail cups and “cheers” napkins. I don’t know about y’all, but I feel a little extra sassy when my cup is extra and these colorful leopard cups are definitely extra. They are also perfect for a fiesta and holding the perfect margarita.

Speaking of margaritas, you know you can’t have a fiesta without a good batch of them. What makes a good batch of margaritas? Good, smooth bottle of Playa Real Tequila and your favorite mix. You could go all out and make your own lime juice mix etc, but honestly, the store bought mix is so delish I don’t bother. We got a little funky with our margaritas thanks to our friends at Playa Real Tequila. They sent us all three flavors of their tequila: silver, pineapple, and mandarin,  so we could put our own twist on the classic fiesta drink. It was honestly the best margarita I’ve ever had. I usually experience a bitter taste or have a strong liquor sip at the end of the drink but these were smooth all the way through and so easy to sip on all night. We each had our favorite flavor and had the most fun mixing up different drinks to try.

The last thing to take care of was the centerpiece for the main table. The place settings really filled up the table and made a huge impact so I knew I wanted to go simple yet chic to fill it in. Morgan suggested succulents from Nearly Natural to add more of a desert/ southwest vibe. The Nearly Natural arrangements from our Easter brunch were so fabulous, we all agreed we def wanted to go with the succulents. We filled the table with tall, short, aloe and cactus varieties and it was exactly what we needed to make it perfect. They also made great gifts as we used them for takeaways for our guests- each person got to choose their favorite to take home with them as a memento from our fiesta.

We had the very best time getting together for a Summer Fiesta. It was a great night filled with laughs, yummy tacos, and tequila. I love getting together with my girlfriends and it was extra fun having our guys join us this time. We’ve had so much fun lately, we’ve decided to keep going with this party thing we’ve started. To see more of this fiesta and all our events, follow our hashtag #bloggersplanaparty on Instagram. We’ll be sharing our events, inspiration and of course, looks from all the fun. Keep scrolling to shop our fiesta and to see a few more pics from the party! XO

Sources

Melamine Dinner Plates – c/o Vietri

Melamine Salad Plates – c/o Vietri

Silver, Mandarin, Pineapple Tequila – c/o Playa Real Tequila

Green Stripe Table Runner – c/o Emily McCarthy

Spot Cheetah Cups – c/o Emily McCarthy

Cheers Napkins – c/o Emily McCarthy

Succulents – Nearly Natural