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Hey Guys!
So last week, I went to Diner En Blanc Los Angeles (2017). This was my first time going. I scoured pinterest left and right for ideas about decorations, what to expect, food etc. So I thought I would share a little bit of information regarding our Diner En Blanc experience now that I've officially gone.
The day of got off to a rocky start. I live on the outskirts of town, so I knew that I would be driving to our meetup location, parking the car and then leaving by UBER to the secret location. I wasn't in love with the menu they offered so I decided to cook our dinner. So that meant, I wanted to literally be pulling the food out of the oven as we were heading out the door. We got close to the meet up location and thought we'd take an uber from our car over there. We were REALLY close to the meetup spot, so we just walked (about 1 block). From there we lined up with other people from our group. Each location is different. We were to meet at 4:15 for a 4:45 departure.
Around 5:15 we finally started to leave after everyone loaded up everything on the bus. Our bus driver was following a few other buses. Those buses disappeared. We got lost. The driver finally "found" our destination and dropped us off. There was a couple in the park taking wedding pictures. Everyone joked how cool it would be if we flash mobbed one of their wedding pictures... we didn't. Around the time everyone unloaded our stuff off the bus, our bus leader saw that we weren't at the right secret location and that we were about a 45 minute walk away. Thankfully, the bus hadn't left yet. So we reloaded the bus and then..... the bus broke down! So, long story short, we were late. We arrived around 7:30 or so. The napkin wave had already happened, people were already finished eating and on the dance floor.
DESPITE the rocky start, I STILL had a great time.
So lets break it down... What do you need to prepare for Diner En Blanc? Diner en blanc is an all-white affair (despite several rule violations I saw - ex. cream, khaki clothing etc.). Your attire is supposed to be all white, your decorations are supposed to be all white. Your dinnerware should be real and not plastic. If you want, you can use silver to accessorize (not gold) You can order food and wine from them, or you can bring your own. We ordered wine from them and brought our own food.
What was on my menu?
Appetizers - Strawberries, grapes, prosciutto wrapped cheese and shrimp cocktail.
Main course - Chicken caesar salad, Stuffed mushrooms, Stuffed porkchops, and some caesar pasta salad that I picked up from Vons.
Dessert - lemon bundt cakes with lemon drizzle icing
Knowing what I know now, how would I prepare and pack for future Diner En Blanc events? Here are a few of my Diner En Blanc Essentials:
Your going to need a table and tablecloth. I didn't have either, so I ordered the table from Amazon and headed to my local HomeGoods store (I just love that store) This table is absolutely amazing. It is a Coleman brand camping table. It rolls up and it is very lightweight. ALOT of people had this exact same table. Great minds think alike!
I also needed chairs. They prefer you have white chairs. If you don't have white chairs, they want you to put a white chair cover over the chair. I picked 2 chairs up from my local Wal-Mart. However, you can also order these online.
Now, how are you gonna carry all this stuff? Tables, chairs, decorations etc? I saw ALL types of things being used to carry stuff (imagine a rolling laundry basket, suitcase with chairs poking thru the zipper etc) Well, we had this utility cart laying around the house, so we decided to use this.
Guess what, it was able to hold 2 chairs, our table, food and some decorations with no problems.
What you gonna put on this table?
If you don't have this stuff at home, it can easily be found in a store (well since I went to 4 different home goods stores, plus a couple of Ross and TJ maxx - I won't say easily, lol) You need plates to eat off. My plates at home are an Asian theme so they are red and black and wouldn't work. So I went to the Dollar Tree and got 2 awesome plates for $1 each. I had battery-operated tea lights at home. This worked out perfectly because you can't use real candles.
I also found our tea light holders at Dollar Tree. I grabbed 3 of those. I also grabbed two colossal size wine glasses. I didn't want to bring mine from my home. So if they broke, it would only be $1. (they survived) And I was desperately looking for this 3 tiered tray (the reason for the million store stops). I was unable to find it in clear (I didn't want white because it wouldn't fit in with my other decor when I'm entertaining. ) So I eventually settled for a two tier tray I found at Burlington Coat Factory. I also found 2 sparkly table mats that I ABSOLUTELY ADORE! The cutlery, I brought from home. Here's a few links if you need a 3 tiered tray, plates, napkins and candles.
Here's my table for the night: (sorry the pictures are all dark, we got there so late it was night already)
If you are bringing food from home you will also need an insulated bag, picnic basket and/or tote bag:
Personally, I think the picnic basket is a bit excessive. However, if you do alot of picnics this could come in handy. Or if you are bringing your really good china / cutlery and want it to say safe, this would be perfect.
What to wear:
Here's what hubby decided on:
whew!
My pocketbook was so ready to shut down the last 24 hours before this event! We spent so much money to get ready for it. However, the good news is, we will be ready for next year much easier. (and cheaper!!!)
So after all of the preparations... its time to have a lil fun:
So what did you guys think? Chime in below. Have you been to Diner En Blanc? Tell me about it in the comments below.
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