How the pros plan the perfect garden party
Over-the-top tablescaping, blousy blooms and festoon lighting... take inspiration from the tastemakers and turn your gathering into an event. By Madeleine Howell
Rejoice! ’Tis the season of the great British garden party. Groups of up to 30 are now allowed to gather and socialise outdoors, including in private gardens. So, how to impress your guests in 2021, and ensure they have an agreeable, Instaworthy time? To inspire your next garden gathering, we asked aesthetes, party planners, styling experts and good-living gurus how they host their own friends and families in their gardens at home.
Read on for their tips, tricks and cunning ideas for stylish, al-fresco fun, from kombucha cocktails to ditsy print linen and blooming centrepieces. After all, as Julia Childs once said, a party without a cake is just a meeting.
The fashion world’s party designer of choice, Fiona Leahy is founder and creative director of Fiona Leahy Design. She made her name throwing dahlia-strewn lunches for Christian Louboutin, Chinese-lantern-lit dinners for Louis Vuitton and Dita Von Teese and Jade Jagger’s 30th birthday pyjama party at Claridge’s. She lives in Queen’s Park in London with her boyfriend Alex Antonioni and rescue terriers Riley and Genie
This summer, I’m embracing yellow, orange and pink. I don’t know if it’s a subconscious thing because yellow is the Pantone Colour of the Year, but I’m craving bright colours, sunshine, cheer and playfulness. I like the idea of barefoot, carefree escapism and dirt-floor decadence – a little bit “Summer of Love”.
I always have a tablecloth outside, because it’s softer, and I like it in the breeze. I used to have a lovely railway sleeper table that I got at the Chelsea Flower Show, which I got rid of because it was so big. Now I have a simple black metal table from the Conran Shop, which I treat like a moveable feast and move around depending on the position of the sun.
Nothing can ruin outdoor dining like too much sun, rain or wind. Recently, I bought a huge, white fringed parasol from Business & Pleasure Co, which does the most chic cabanas and vintage deck chairs.
“Matchimalism” is my signature. I layer different prints, textures and colour schemes, like florals and pale blue or Hunter green ginghams. It’s maximalist, and it’s matching. Anything with a white background is refreshing and failsafe for outdoor dining too. I love co-ordinating mint or sage green with white, and monogrammed vintage French washed linens with random initials. I’ve also been making tie-dye Shibori-style tablecloths with stained linens, a fun hack to reuse and upcycle them for a party and an instant good time. You don’t want to be too precious – it’s not supposed to be perfect or pristine. Wicker placemats and Falcon enamelware are both durable and pretty. But it’s so easy to buy a few metres of material online or on Berwick Street’s haberdashery shops and make your own tablecloths and napkins.
Beautiful but utilitarian features, like chinoiserie ice buckets and ceramic Sicilian Moor’s head flower pots, which I collect, draw the eye. I have festoon lighting, and really like multi-coloured Murano and vintage candlesticks and tea lights, but they have to be sheltered from the wind. You just can’t have naked candle flames outside.
My boyfriend is a photographer and artist and has got really involved with tablescaping with me. He sees it as a crazy domestic art form. It’s a fun thing to do together and get your guests involved with.
I put dahlias and coral-charm peonies in green bottles, and I love fans for decoration and in case it gets hot – they are a fun thing to have on the table. Glass paperweights to stop place settings and paper menus from blowing away. Using clear-glass plates with menus underneath is a good trick, and clear-glass plates are also perfect if you don’t want to detract from the print of your tablecloth.
Coloured shawls are a great thing to have draped on the back of chairs, and guests can use them to protect their shoulders from the sun or to keep warm.
My pink and candy-striped tablecloth from Summerill and Bishop (summerillandbishop.com), left, is a joy paired with white Oka plates and clear wine glasses (oka.com) and LaDoubleJ pink and green bowls (ladoublejcom). I’ve styled it here with my own Fiona Leahy Design pinkedge Murano candlestick hurricane vases and bud vases, and pink marbled resin glasses by Dinosaur Designs (dinosaurdesigns.co.uk). The flowers are by Scarlet and Violet, supplemented by my garden flowers, and the green bistro chairs are from Ceraudo (ceraudo.com). I love the combination of pink and green.
My garden is small, but I use it as much as I can, and I probably have more garden chairs than I have square feet, including a big outdoor swing with a canopy of roses above it.
The visuals are important, but so is food and energy. We have a Big Green Egg barbecue and we love to grill fresh fish, bread and peaches.
I have a trusty old-school Block Rocker Sport ghetto blaster on wheels for music in all weathers. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought for outdoor entertaining and al-fresco discos. I play everything from Blossom Dearie to the Beach Boys and the Eagles.