Inspired by This California Christmas

Last weekend I had the absolute honor of hosting a few of my friends for a California Christmas dinner party. Often times we produce and design these beautiful tablescapes only to tear them down after their done being photographed. This time, however, we decided to put together a gorgeous little party to ENJOY and have captured… by none other than the talented Leo Patrone.  Cortnie of Canvas and Canopy and Carissa of JL Designs decided to put a California twist on Christmas using mint green, bright red and accented with airy, coastal elements – succulents, coral, balsa wood flowers and tillandsias. Gray and white furniture was loaned to us from Found Vintage Rentals, and were the perfect pieces for the evening. Rachelle of Wiley Valentine did a beautiful job translating the theme into all the print pieces and Courtney from Joyful Joyful made us a custom “Merry & Bright” sign to hang over the sweets table! Merry and bright is what we all were that night 🙂

No part is complete without great food and sweets! I brought on some of my most favorite (and most talented!) vendors in the industry to make this all happen. Nathaniel from Contemporary Catering is a food guru and one of the best caterers in LA. He put together the most delicious menu for us with the choice of grass-fed New York strip with eleriac puree, radish sprout-lump crab salad and knob creek bourbon demi, or dover sole with spinach and pine nuts over saffron risotto with preserved lemon emulsion or chanterelles and cognac risotto with sauteed rapini and garam masala dust… believe me, they were ALL delicious! Dinner was followed by some delicious treats thanks to Jenine and Stephanie of Cupcakes Couture, which not online included a cupcakes, cake pops and macaroons… They also made homemade vanilla marshmallows in the shape of snowflakes to hang on our hot cocoa mugs and ginerbread cookies in the shape of present tags to hang off our mugs of hot apple cider. DELISH!

And what’s a party without favors?! Guests were treated to an organic and natural spray tan courtesy of Dannielle of Plush Tan, my absolute go to girl for a holiday glow. Courtney of Kamilyin (who you might remember from my bridal shower!) brought some sweet scents of the season so guests could make holiday hand soap and lotion to go at the scent station!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who contributed their talents to making this special night happen! And thanks to Jen from Green Wedding Shoes, Amanda from 100 Layer Cake, Summer from Grey Likes Weddings, Jenn from Hostess with the Mostess, Anne from Rue Magazine, Lucia from Utterly Engaged and Jesi Haack for being wonderful guests!

Host & Producer: Leila Khalil of Be Inspired PR (that’s us! :))

Floral & Design: Carissa Jones of JL Designs

Event Design: Cortnie Purdy of Canvas and Canopy

Photography: Leo Patrone

Stationery: Wiley Valentine

Desserts: Cupcakes Couture

Food: Contemporary Catering

Scent Station: Kamilyin

Furniture: Found Vintage Rentals

Let It Glow Tanning Station: Danielle Crouch of Plush Tan

Banner: Joyful Joyful