it's Morgan Yates and this video is one I wanted to make for so long I've been waiting
for the opportunity to have my schedule line up with my friends for them to come over to host a
dinner party so for today's video I'm going to be bringing you along with me um in the days leading
up to and the day of a dinner party with some of my best friends I'm going to show you the florals
the table Decor details prepping our dishes and showing what everyone brought and vlogging the
party so for this dinner party I was going for like an end of the summer Italian maybe like a
little garden inspired theme Italian food was the core of it it was a small thing it was just
for six people total so three couples which is all the fits at my dining table anyway so I don't know
what I'm saying and me and my friends thought it would be fun if we each brought a Dish as well as
brought a wine pairing just to kind of like I don't know feel a little fancy and someone who
does love hosting and has hosted a lot of things it adds up fast so if you're wanting to do some
kind of dinner party just asking everyone to bring a different dish like a pot look style
thing is the easiest way to go and I just had a lot of fun making this video so if you like these
hosting videos like bringing you along throughout the process let me know I am having a Halloween
party coming up soon it's going to be bigger and hopefully better than ever and since Halloween
is right around the corner I also just wanted to quickly share that I've created a 33 page Harry
Potter party guide Harry Potter and turning my house into Hogwarts was my Halloween party theme
last year I'll have the link below if you want to check that out just sharing all of my information
in like weeks of planning in one document and let's go ahead and get into my dinner party
fine flowers also shopping for our wine pairing Pinot Noir we're making multiple things and
we're gonna have multiple one flowers have been acquired I love that we decided to do this while
we were just on a walk started to carry this like a mile back and we bought wine the dessert line
so that's in here Kate them leaves off thank you my flower prepper over here all right so we are
three days out from my dinner party if you want to be really careful about your flowers you could
get them closer to the day of your event to make sure they're going to be fresh and perfect but I
was just walking by Trader Joe's and went in for something and then saw kind of the color scheme I
wanted and I wanted to snatch them up for this little Italian dinner party I feel like when I
think of Italy I think of like yellows or maybe that's just like a malfee I don't know I think of
just like yellow tones and like lemons and blue so I'd already bought some flowers in a ranch
yesterday which is all arranged face up which I think are very pretty I thought I'd do two pretty
little arrangements and so the flowers I picked out for my dinner centerpiece um I don't know
what kind of flowers these are but I think they're so pretty I wanted yellow but I didn't want like
bright yellow you know what I mean so they have a lot of bright yellow options and flowers and not
a lot of just like more subtle um yellow options so I found these and they only had one pack which
is unfortunate so I don't know how I feel about this still but we've got some of this whatever
type of flower this is got some of that so we're gonna see I don't know how I feel about all the
greenery on that I don't really know what to do with that got some spray roses I've got some more
of this like eucalyptusy Vibe not a flower expert I don't know I'm just trying to make it look good
she's like you can come over here I don't know how to do it because I normally goes before and
I always keep arches I'll always keep some I recommend having your little stem bag nearby
starting with this kind and just kind of set down a base layer with Freddy it was this or
sunflowers I don't know why sunflowers are just my least favorite flower so the garden
weeds it is what is wrong with it it's like a nice healthy green leaves a few times I'll get on that
oh you don't have to I'll do it also at Trader Joe's I decided I wanted to have a dessert wine
all right the arrangement has been made I don't know if I love The Greenery in this
like the little things we added here so on the food note or I guess why no there are
three couples coming to this so we've each kind of today in a group text picked out
um dishes of what everyone's going to be making and we're going to kind of bring a wine for like
a little wine pairing but we also I thought just as a bonus I wanted to get a dessert wine since
I'm coming off a big Europe trip and was really loving having dessert wine there so we're gonna
sample it to see if this is even good cracker open I'm sure it's gonna be good but we just don't want
to serve it to our guests if we've never tried it also you're making whoa also you're making
Focaccia right now right to do a trial trial run of that pour it up pour it up just to sit that's
enough for both of us you're trying to have a whole glass no give me a splash like done
see that's why we try these things I feel like it could be sweeter yeah caramely Rich what do
you taste what do you taste I don't know I'm so bad at this what do you taste black cherry
what do you mean what do we think do we like this or do you want to get a sweeter I feel
like it could be sweeter it tastes like a sweeter just regular red wine all right well consensus is
maybe so Giselle and I decided that we wanted to make a panzanella salad for a light and
bright flavored first course we also thought it might be nice to have a little appetizer option
for when friends got here we're not gonna like sit down and start eating immediately so you'll
see we decided to make some little spritzes for like a welcome drink and then Giselle made some
homemade pesto to serve over burrata as well as some homemade rosemary garlic Focaccia that all
of our friends know before I feel like it was by request of Caitlyn then she make that again
and then for wine we do end up getting another dessert wine that was a little bit better it was
like a ruby port and then for our panzanella wine pairing we went with a I don't know how
to say this sofready Tuscan wine they actually bought about a year ago it was a little bit of
a nicer bottle and we've just been holding on to it and this just seemed like a good occasion to
open it I've also usually for dinner parties or like any kind of Hosting where wine is involved
we are not that serious about it normally I just get my wine from a wink which is one of those
like wine subscription Services my tip here and what I do is I'm not like a monthly member where
I pay every month I'll just join it like the membership when I want to like buy in bulk or
you don't even have to buy them both but that's just like how you get the best savings I think
this isn't sponsored I think I still have a link a referral link that would get you I want to say
it's four bottles for like 29 and just look at the reviews and order the ones that have four
stars and above that's how I normally Source my wine we're not normally trying to do wine
pairings is what I'm saying so that's just like a little hosting tip that I follow is using wink
because I'll just goes come look at my bread I'm gonna make so much bread oh just held to
the trial run of her Focaccia did it two kind of different ways this one is a no-go and this
one's great if you're ever worried about a recipe or if the steaks are high not that they are for
this dinner party but just make it in advance all right it is the day before and I've had everyone
send me their little description of what they're gonna be cooking and I made a menu I always get my
menu templates off Etsy downloadable and then you can just instantly make all the changes you want
I'm gonna print it on some cardstock cut them off and then have one of these at each person's place
setting we also picked up another Port because we like the other one didn't love it so this one now
buying some final items three hours before a lot more flowers once finally opening the decor we're
gonna cross our fingers it all works normally I do this more ahead of time that way if I don't
like something if something arrives broken or whatever and I have time to get a replacement one
thing that I wanted to do to bring like some pops of color to the table my like Italian yellowish
green color palette I didn't want to do blue just because I feel like it doesn't match like
my home decor as much so the way I wanted to do that was to get some fun like yellow water cups
kind of like goblets these like vintages looking drinking glasses as well as these turned out cute
these are just basically like recycled wine bottles I'm pretty sure that are kind of like
that pretty green color and this is just gonna have like water in them to refill people's water
glasses but to have this like already ready on the table so I got these Moment of Truth
for these oh cute these are gonna be our water glasses for the night how's it going good what
are you doing up some bread we tried to go the make it stale route because it's like a sale or
like a I don't know toasted broth I suppose that goes into Pan's melt salad but the sale were all
developed mold so I think we waited a day too long and then she saw her Focaccia Rising back
here I'll show you guys the flowers from the other day are a disaster they're dying and I
hate them so bought new ones all right so here is the before normally I'll get some kind of
like table runner situation like a fabric thing but for my inspo picks I liked an example that
had Greenery going down the middle instead so I got this and we're gonna set the table
all right it is crunch time I have set the table with the basic Decor I need to come in with the
plates wine glasses silverware so this is what it looks like I think it looks pretty good we
resurrected the giant flower arrangement so we made a little Spritz station closer when
people get here ice is going to be in here in our Prosecco so that they can either go for an aperol
Spritz or a Hugo Spritz style type thing um which I really like some mint in there everyone will
put their wines out here instead of using a napkin ring like I normally use I was just gonna fold the
napkin up and put it underneath the bowl and then the menu on top I think it looks really pretty
I like The Greenery in place of a table runner also just now I bought these yellow candles and
I wasn't sure if I was gonna like that or not but I think it looks pretty good also just got
these little candlestick holders from Amazon I'll have those linked coming up next are the clips
from the dinner party but I did want to kind of explain my Decor I just wanted to share kind of
what I think about when it comes to setting a table and I have four elements this is not any
kind of formal design thing I didn't really this anywhere these are just like the things I think
about but I think through do I have an element of structure is the first one so that could be
a table runner that could be placemats usually both I feel like without that things are just kind
of you know floating throughout the table there's nothing like anchoring any of it or like bringing
kind of like that design element to it the second element is height so that could be flowers that
are a little taller it could be tapered candles I think that's like the easiest thing to do and
I think just having like a little Dimension instead of having just like a flat table where
everything's really low like just your plates and things I just think it adds a lot number three is
life so basically just flowers since that flower arrangement I was making ended up getting out of
control that thing was huge I kept it over on the island where we were gonna have apps and I
already have on hand these little uh like mini glass faces that I think are really cute to put
just a couple statement flowers in each of those and like spread them out throughout the table that
way you have that floral element but it doesn't like take over a ton of room on your table it
doesn't block the view of the people across from you those will also be linked and then number four
lastly is light so I think setting the vibe you know the Ambiance of your dinner party is very
important that also includes things like music and just like your lighting like probably don't
have all your bright overhead lights on so again the candles were my light element and I do love
having a cloth napkin I just think that elevates things a lot I have like one set of those and I
just wash them over and over and they've lasted me for years so I think that's a good investment
friends have a ride here's our guest
Alex Jill Caitlyn Connor and Giselle let's go we got some welcome Fritz oh is this the one
Fred I haven't even taken a look everybody brought more than one bottle let's see
wait Giselle playing oh my God it's just a basil with rice choking
thank you
all right first course Tuscan wine to pair with a summer panzanella yeah oh oh Alex yeah
Gisele went to like dinner at her house one time what it was like Memorial Day
and something she had a Barbie to her house we're getting some nice Connor or
Riley for us oh no that's good Jill knows our sommelier always the one to come pour the wine
flame your wine in your dish please okay so the dishes are called puttanesca which is a
um spicy savory tomato sauce and then the wine is a Pereira Connor
had a lot to do with that right this is garlic rosemary a little sourdough
based off the world famous Carbone in New York City oh
looking beautiful
let's do it
better than our bum five things
some after dinner activities they're playing influencers
in the wild trying to make our way to the pink wall just a limoncello break
also right after I got voted as the recipient of this card let's cheers