All White. But Only After Labor Day.

Hello there Lovelies!  And Happy Monday?

Getting back to the grind can be difficult, but I hope that your weekend was a fabulous one.  A few weeks ago, my friend Brianne and I did something truly different.  If you either know me or have been paying any level of attention, one thing that you know is truly different for me is white.  All white.

Some of you may have heard about Paris' epic White Parties.

photo credit

If not, let me give you a little history.  Exactly twenty-five years ago, a group of Parisians got together, wearing white, and held an impromptu dinner party.  Not just any dinner party, but a party with white tablecloths and champagne in historic, and therefore off-limits, locations.  And thus the Dîner en Blanc was born.  The past few years, these events have grown exponentially and spread across the globe.  I follow a phenomenal blog, Messy Nessy Chic that is based in Paris and just recently posted about a documentary that chronicles this phenomenon.  The French really do know how to throw a grand dinner party...they not only started the very public Dîner en Blanc concept, but again, through Mess Nessy Chic, I learned that they also enjoy an underground and forbidden dinner quite a bit!  Seems like secret locations are their thing.  But let's bring things back to my neck of the woods...

photo credit. PS - how fabulous are these ice buckets?!?!

I had just been talking about this with another friend of mine, so it seemed like kismet when Brianne asked me if I wanted to go to the second annual PopUp Evening in White - Los Angeles.  About a week later, I was dressed in a white dress(?!?) and was waiting to find out where we were going, as they do not reveal the location until 2 hours before the event.  All we knew was that it would be somewhere on the West Side of L.A.

And at 3:00, Brianne received an email and we scheduled our Uber.  A little while later, we arrived at our destination with our picnic and a few bottles of (white) wine.

That's right...our Dîner en Blanc would be taking place on the Santa Monica pier.  We were very excited, but didn't quite know where to go, so we just started following other people in all white.

Who said men aren't fashionable??

And here is the moment that many of you have been waiting for...photographic evidence.  Yes, that is me in white from head to toe (you'll just have to trust me when I tell you I was wearing a pair of heeled sandals in white as well)!.  Let me tell you, it's EXTREMELY difficult to find a white dress the weekend after Labor Day!  Though, I found it pretty fitting that of all the times I could have been looking to purchase something in white, it would be the time that it was socially frowned upon...

Since Brianne and I did not attend this event last year, we did not really know what we were getting ourselves into.  It wasn't until about an hour before we were supposed to leave that we realized just how elaborate people get.  Unbenownst to us, we were supposed to supply a white linen tablecloth and napkins as well as some type of tablescape in addition to our dinner.  All in white...which meant it was up to Brianne to see what she could scrounge up in the hour before she left her place.  Bless her for it, she took a white wrap which she turned into a table runner and pulled out some Chinese lanterns and flameless candles (sadly, but understandably, open flames are a big no-no).

It seemed like we were the only ones who had not been to the first Los Angeles PopUp White Dinner.  It was incredibly impressive to see what others did - it was as if everyone was trying to out-do each other!

This table was my favorite!

There was also some awesome fashion.  Men in top hats?  Fantastic!

The only thing that could top the top hat is a powdered wig!

And some people even used fashion as part of their tablescape.

But mainly people stuck to more traditional tablescapes.  And they were all beautiful.

By far, the most over the top thing we saw was the table in the center of the event on a white runner which we found out was someone's 25th wedding anniversary party!

All the guests brought their own wedding photos (I guess single people weren't invited to this one).

It was catered and there were even servers.  They thought of everything!

I gave high marks to those who brought and polished their own flatware.

And fancy ice buckets for their bubbly!  Also, this was the first white Radio-Flier I've ever seen.

I was admiring this woman's tulle skirt all night - I think I've found my ensemble for next year!!

The cumulative effect of all the white in such a great location was pretty spectacular!

As the sun started going down, dinner commenced, but before we were allowed to eat, they called everyone to participate in the traditional napkin wave.

Since it was only us two, it was probably a good thing that we didn't have a tablescape, since our food spread was pretty out of control!

Full and very happy, I HAD to get my photo taken with the captain who also apparently made wine.  Random, but that's a combination I can definitely get behind!

Spending an evening in white and having a bit of a Marilyn moment was a SPECTACULAR time!

Brianne and I are looking forward to getting a group of people together next year to have the space to really do up our table right!  Everyone better watch out...it's going to be epic!!

Have yourself a happy Monday everyone!
XOXO!!