11.17.2017

1987 Birthday Wine Dinner

TGIF!

I don't know about y'all, but for me this has felt like a long week!

I'm enjoying the creative energy that comes from writing again and hoping to find time to create my holiday gift guides this weekend! Last year I only managed to make ladies gift guides. This year, I may try to do gents, too, but reduce the amount. When I was doing 6 for the ladies, 6 for the gents, and 4 stocking stuffer guides it took a lot of time! Each guide takes at least an hour, so at a minimum, I was spending 16 hours on guides, outside of my normal "work" hours. Definitely no time for all of that these days!

I am trying to make time for the blog again, though. We hunker down more as the weather cools, so I'm hoping to get back into at least a semi-regular schedule again this winter. We'll see...

All that being said, I never got around to sharing Bryce's 30th birthday back in March!

A few months before Bryce's birthday, he began researching and ordering 1987 wines to try. We decided it would be fun to have a fancy dinner party to taste the wines surrounded by good friends. It was so fun!

Of course my mind, first and foremost, went to the table. I really enjoyed designing a tablescape that would reflect Bryce. I knew incorporating a decoy was key, and I selected the pintail below because it has special significance to the both of us. It is a Chris Martin decoy, and I actually picked it out! I love that Martin's work has more of an artistic and contemporary style, and I just couldn't resist that fabulous blue beak! His normal home is actually in my ultra girlie sunroom, but I brought him out for the occasion!


The next key elements were finding a tablecloth and fun napkins (funny story about the napkins, below!). The Kate Spade tablecloth was a Home Goods find, and the napkins are from one of my favorite sources for table linens, Pomegranate!


Once that all came together, it was simply a matter of zhushing things up a bit! I love how our new everyday dinnerware provided a nice, fresh look. It is the Emma Collection from Pottery Barn. I also knew that white hydrangeas were key, and drove all over town to find them in late March (Fresh Market for the win!). I was fortunate to be able to borrow the wooden stand and candleholders from my mother-in-law, as well as the gold chargers which were a last minute addition. I made the place cards myself with scrapbook paper!


The "Happy Birthday" banner was made from the same scrapbook paper and grosgrain ribbon!  made a similar one for the mantel and also got "30" balloons!




In the kitchen I set up this little bar area featuring none other than childhood Bryce! He was a cutie! I also ordered these napkins with his monogram, BECAUSE, when the blue napkins above arrived, "his birthday napkins," he was a bit disappointed. When I had told him I'd ordered napkins for his birthday he'd thought I meant monogrammed cocktail napkins, like our friend Frank has for his bar area. Not wanting to upset the birthday boy, I put in a rush order to have these babies at his dinner party!

So now for the courses! We started with Veuve, oysters, and baked brie. Katie's recipe is a go-to I've been using for years! It is so easy and fast, too! It takes 15-20 minutes in the oven, so I put it in right as guests were about to arrive!


Next up was a salad course! One of Bryce's groomsmen, Alec, and his wife, Allison, attended the dinner party, so I looked to this Host: A Modern Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Feeding your Friends (perfect for the occasion!) cookbook they had gifted us at a shower for dinner party inspiration. In it, I found a recipe for a kale caesar that was ahhh-mazing! I will have to share it with you soon!


For the main course, which I was having a little too much fun, and maybe a little too much wine tasting, to photograph, we had beef tenderloin (recipe coming soon!), roasted parmesan potatoes, and roasted asparagus. We selected this menu specifically because it contained items that could easily be prepped ahead. I wanted to ensure I was present in the celebration and not just stuck in the kitchen all night!

Finally, you can't have a birthday party without cake. I ordered a "dessert cake" from a local favorite, Sweet Fix, which was the perfect size for our party of 8. I selected dark chocolate with a salted caramel filling, Bryce's favorites!



Can you tell a lot of wine had been consumed at this point?


I snapped this picture amidst the cake consumption, and remember just feeling so happy in the moment! Surrounded by some of our closest friends, at a beautiful table, after a delicious meal...there's nothing quite like it!


And I also couldn't resist snapping an aftermath photo...that's a lot of wine!


And for the wine enthusiasts, here are the 1987s that we drank:


The Penfold's was the group favorite!

How do you celebrate milestone birthdays?

Have a great weekend!