Fall Harvest Tablescape and Succulent Centerpieces

Up the drama and fall flair at your autumn themed dinner parties with this fall harvest table scape with succulent centerpieces.

For a gorgeous, autumn-inspired spread at our Farm to Table Harvest Dinnerwe incorporated lots of colors, textures and materials- from bright pops of teal and red, to natural woods, and mixed metal and ceramic accents, as a nod to autumn's dramatic changing views.

One thing we've been trying to do with our table settings is to use items we love to use everyday, but dress them up a bit- we don't want to have to store separate party decor, or go out an buy new items- so we have been slowly adding pieces we truly love into our everyday decor stash so we can mix them in for stunning dinner parties. For this stunning party, we used lots of everyday staples to fit our farm to table theme.

We love mixing live plants into tabletop decor. When we found some red mini colanders, we knew we needed to incorporate them into some kind of table setting! We found some mini succulents at whole foods (though most hardware stores stock them year-round as well), and we placed them in the colanders to display on our table. We loved the variation of colors and how the succulents pop in this little display!

You could also add pea gravel or little pebbles to the colander for a permanent look- but we will be using these succulents for something else after the party- or repurpose them into another display!

We love to use succulents for home and table decor because they are perfectly un-fussy, use little water, and are a great sustainable choice for decor. We love all the textural variations succulents give- they are a solid addition to tabletop decor!

Tips to a solid harvest dinner table:

Plan your cook wear around your table! We love serving food straight from the vessel we cook it in- and try to incorporate the cook wear into our theme. We went for gorgeous hammered stainless steel kadhais that transition perfectly from high-heat wok to elegant addition to the table. Bonus- picking pretty cook wear you can serve out of cuts down on doing extra dishes!

Mix textures, colors, patterns and metals. If there is any season that centers the most around change, color, and texture- it's fall. Don't be afraid to have golds with silvers, ceramics with metals, rustic wooden pieces with polished pretty accents.

Make guests feel extra special! We incorporated watercolor themed place cards and menus from Minted for our intimate dinner in the vines- and set out rustic grapevine monograms from Jo-Ann as a placeholder for guests. Simple nods show your guest how much you value them- and are a great addition to your table scape!

Don't be afraid to mix. We had rustic flour sack inspired towels on the table for serving, as well as pretty teal napkins for guests. The blues didn't match (it is important they dont *clash*, but mis-matching is okay), but we loved the mis-matched colors! They helped add texture and movement to the table, and kept people's eyes circulating all over.

Add candles! We chose battery operated candles that use real wax for a safe, romantic way to light our dinner as the sun started to set. Pick candles with a realistic flicker for extra ambiance, and mix them in with decor around the table.

Remember your wine! At a wine-focused dinner, it is important to leave room for wine to be the star! After all, isn't the wine everyone's favorite part? We like to think of wine as a decorational element- not only are La Crema's bottles pretty on their own, we think it is important for guests to be able to see and interact with their wine during a dinner party. Displaying wine prominently helps guests remember the wine, and gives them more time to study the label and remember what you served. We featured La Crema's Monterey Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as well as their Bennett Valley Viognier

Go for gold! We love adding a touch of glamor to parties- and even though this table is a little more rustic, we had to mix in some gold faceted wine glasses. They are so beautiful, and are a lovely way to show off your wine!

Follow along with our farm-to-table harvest dinner and get full recipes for each dish on Avdaye, Freckled Italian and the La Crema Winery blog here: