Simple Copper Thanksgiving Tablescape

I absolutely love decorating for the holidays… setting a pretty table and inviting my friends and family over for a fun meal. Honestly I like decorating for a party way more than cooking for a party! Luckily that seems to work out pretty well for me! BUT this year my best friend came over to help me decorate for Thanksgiving and instead of setting the table myself I asked her to give it a whirl.

I wanted to see what she would pick from my stash to set the table with… she has very different style than I do! She tends to lean towards more rustic, bohemian, colorful, vibrant patterns and colors. Of course, she was still limited by what I have on hand (as she lives in Texas and bringing her own table setting supplies would be hard) but it was still fun to see how different this year’s simple copper thanksgiving table is from last year’s rustic copper fall table or the more sophisticated blush and rose gold table from the year before.

Instead of my go to pink dinner plates she pulled out the original sicily blue set I received from my wedding… they’re so pretty with the copper!

Let’s take a look.

Supplies:

Tip 1: Pick a Jumping off Point

With alllll my dishes and autumn decor Rachel wasn’t sure where to start. She asked me to pick one piece as a jumping off point so that she didn’t have so many choices.

After picking one piece everything else had to coordinate with the first piece… making her decisions easier. I picked the cute copper thankful script words I made out of basswood. I love these specifically for a Thanksgiving table and tend to reach for them every year.

Since they were copper she picked white napkins to make the copper pop and blue dishes to contrast. It’s a very pretty color combo that I don’t always reach for… and the warm tones are perfect for fall! While my usual pink and copper feels a bit more elegant or feminine the blue and copper feels warm and homey. Definitely more Rachel’s style!

Tip 2: Keep it Low

Once she had her main plates picked out Rachel started thinking about her centerpiece. I typically like to go with big bold centerpieces that use the space vertically. It’s a small table so there isn’t a lot of space for a centerpiece… you can usually only fit one or two things.

By using a tall element (like a cake stand) you have a bit more room to play with.

I love how this looks BUT if you’re having guests over it’s not always ideal. Instead Rachel used a pair of adorable Turkish tea pots that my Mom gave me for Christmas last year as her centerpiece. She found them in a little shop out of Cartagena, Spain and I think they’re FABULOUS. They’re beautiful and go perfectly with the mugs that coordinate with my sicily blue dinner plates.

Mom found mine at an antique store so I don’t know anything about them… they have a bit of patina on them from use over the years and no makers mark (or made in china mark) on the bottom. I found a very similar set here so who knows where mine are from… either way I absolutely adore them and have been displaying them on my kitchen island.

The best part? Since these little cuties aren’t that tall you can see straight across the table to actually talk with the other people at the table… isn’t that a crazy idea?

Tip 3: Think about your Plates!

Rachel ended up using my thankful scripts on top of white napkins. They look so pretty lying on top of a pretty plate stack… and I especially love them with my copper flatware.

Of course, if you’re using napkin rings something like this isn’t necessarily an option but I love to mix up my napkins… I used beautiful rose gold leaf napkin rings on my autumn table and have even folded my napkins into sweet little roses for a summer table.

The only downside to a fun little piece sitting on top of your napkins is if you don’t have 4 of them. In this case I only have 2 thankful scripts… mainly because I like to mix and match them instead of using 4 identical plate toppers. Rachel picked these 2 copper resin maple leaves to go opposite and I love the look!

I used the same copper paint for both projects so they actually coordinate perfectly!

Tip 4: Flowers Aren’t Just for Vases

As a last touch Rachel asked to borrow a few dried flowers to sprinkle around the table. I tend to do big floral arrangements (like the one I cut out of my garden for my 4th of July Table) so I never would have thought to simply place these little blue sprigs of flowers around the tea pots.

It’s a very sweet addition and I love how it ties everything together!

If we’d had enough a simple flower wreath for under the tea pots would have been stunning but we only had a few stems… these are actually dried flowers from Rachel’s wedding that I’d doing a resin project (for her!) with.

When she asked to use them I was like… they’re your flowers you can do whatever you like with them!

If you want to check out all the pretty resin pieces we end up making then make sure you’re following along on YouTube. I’ll have full video tutorials on preserving wedding flowers sooner rather than later!

As for our little tablescape we’re all finished! Thank goodness Rachel is here to help with the cooking… that’s definitely more her area of expertise then mine!