Fall is here, and I recently hosted a Friendsgiving early October for friends who had travel plans in November. Friendsgivings are my most favorite type of gathering because everyone brings or makes something.

These days, flowers can be costly, especially for unique flowers that you can only find at the farmer's market or boutique flower shops. What I've been loving lately is using seasonal produce to add bulk, color, and texture to a tablescape. With the fall season, there are so many beautiful themes one can do. I debated about going with a mushroom theme, which would be so interesting with the various shapes and monochromatic brown color palette of mushrooms. I also thought about adhering to a muted green color palette, choosing produce like green grapes, green squash, and pears. In the end, I went to my local bodega nearby that sells discounted produce. They had small champagne grapes, persimmons, and chestnuts. Combined with mini pears and dark purple figs I had just bought elsewhere, I felt like I had the makings of a beautiful classic fall tablescape.

My table at home is quite large, so I often use two shorter tablecloths to cover the table. I chose mustard-colored linen napkins and rummaged through drawers and cabinets for whatever I had. Whenever I host brunches or dinner parties, I end up reusing tableware, props, and vases over and over. This time, I used ridged glass candleholders, ceramic white candleholders, steel ice cream cups to hold fruit, and pieces of marble to be used as cutlery rests. I had some small tree branches with fall leaves and a couple of eucalyptus stems from previous floral arrangements sitting at home, and that helped complete the look. 

Props

• Ceramic candleholders from Camilia Living
• Rippled glass candleholders from Jamali Garden