Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I have been counting down the days for quite some time now! It’s far and away one of my favorite days of the year — I love that we have an entire day dedicated to little more than giving thanks and being with loved ones. For us, that means traveling to visit our families, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, helping cook a feast, setting the dinner table (my dedicated task since I was a little girl!), watching football in the afternoons, naps on the couch followed by a walk around the neighborhood, and really just being together, grateful for so much.

Before the official Thanksgiving Day festivities, hosting and/or attending Friendsgivings has become a beloved tradition over the past ten years! When I lived in DC, my roommates and I often hosted an annual Friendsgiving at our house, and then two of my close friends in the city also hosted a Friendsgiving at their apartment. These days, Rob and I always open up our home to our community group from church for an annual Friendsgiving feast, my articles club usually gathers for Friendsgiving as our themed dinner each November, and this year, I hosted a Friendsgiving for many close wedding industry friends!

We all work from home (and we often work together at coffee shops and each others’ homes, too!), and one perk of working for yourself is having a more flexible schedule during the day! Despite it being a pretty busy time of year for wedding industry friends, we managed to gather for a few hours for a Thanksgiving feast and time together with friends, new and old!

It was so much fun — and really just so special — to get together at our house for lunch! The wedding industry isn’t always the easiest industry, but finding friends in it over the past several years has been so transformative, so encouraging, and so much fun. Each of these ladies (and many, many more, of course!!) has such a huge heart, balances so many things so well, and serves their couples wholeheartedly, and I have benefited so much from their friendship, support, wisdom, camaraderie, shared experiences, and giving hearts! Gathering together to catch up on life, share stories, and eat and drink together was so heart warming and so very fun.

It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to get twelve friends around our dining room table so that we could all eat together! I definitely don’t have twelve of everything, but we made do just fine. As the resident wedding planner of the group, you know it was great fun for me to put together our Thanksgiving dinner table! I pulled out both sets of family heirloom gold china (from my great-grandma), used many beloved pieces we registered for like my favorite gold flatware and our navy linen napkins, and loved every second of designing this.

I wanted to stray away from traditional Thanksgiving colors like red, green, orange, and brown and instead embrace a more neutral design with pops of gold and blues. I tied the navy linen napkins with goldenrod silk ribbon and added two sprigs of dried bunny tail to each napkin. Down the center of the table, I place several smaller bid vases of dried bunny tails and dried pods, one larger centerpiece of the dried bunny tail, and, of course, added in copious amounts of taper candles in taupe and dusty blue to complete the look! There’s little better than the glow of candlelight at a dinner table (even if during the middle of the day!). I also added in several white mini pumpkins and two neutral fake pumpkins for a festive seasonal touch.

I adore how the table turned out — beautiful, warm, festive, and happy! And the best part of it all? Gathering around this table with dear friends and the conversations that were had. More than anything, friendships and people are the crux of it all, and I am profoundly thankful for these ladies (and everyone who has ever gathered around this table!).

I love each of these beautiful, smart, capabale, encouraging, wise, and awesome ladies SO very much — and am so thankful for them, now and always. What a treat it was to celebrate Friendsgiving together!!

PS: need more inspiration or ideas? I’ve shared about my love of taper candles, what cultivating gratitude looks like to me, our favorite fall traditions, and how to host at home with ease