Entertaining

Great Table Setting Ideas From The Great Chefs Dinner

At this year's Great Chefs' Dinner to benefit The Family Tree, some 40 area designers and tastemakers celebrated 'Paris Meets Paradise' with their enchanting tablescapes. Here are some of Style's favorites.

“Paradise meets Paris,” is designer Kelly Andres’ immediate response when asked to describe her azure leather and cream rose clad setting, designed for Select Event Rentals.…MORE

It's a nice day for a green wedding

More and more couples are striving to reduce the big impact of their Big Day.

When Geoff Gorski and Shelby Lambert began planning their June 2009 nuptials, they figured an environmentally conscious wedding would, well, require more green than they had…MORE

Christmas then and now

Without her family’s holiday rituals to guide her, senior editor Sarah Gilbert Fox creates her own.

Ever since my mother died almost 15 years ago (has it really been that long?), and my dad immediately after, and all the family I’ve ever…MORE

Heaven and Nature Sing

Each year this family creates a real country Christmas at its 19th-century home.

Stepping into the log cabin family room of Melanie and Bob Sabelhaus late 1890s Federal-style estate home in Green Spring Valley is like walking back in…MORE

Table Talk

At this year’s Great Chefs’ Dinner to benefit The Family Tree, some 40 area designers and tastemakers celebrated 'the spice of life’ with their enchanting tablescapes. Here are some of Style’s favorites.

>> Welcoming warm colors in shades inspired by the setting sun evoke an Indian bazaar. The goal was to create a “bit of intrigue” and mystical…MORE

Wedding Wizard

From horse-drawn carriage rides and custom-made bride and groom bobbleheads to fireworks and even live camels, special event and wedding consultant Anne M. Berman can make dreams come true. Equal parts therapist and magician, Baltimore-born Berman started planning weddings nine years ago and since then has ushered nearly 350 brides and grooms down the aisle. Yes, she still tears up at weddings.

1. What’s the biggest misconception about wedding planners? Some people think that I am the ultimate party girl and that I am at a party every…MORE

The Art of Regifting

Everyone does it. Some people just do it better.

It’s the morning after your holiday celebration (or birthday party, bridal shower, retirement party, whatever). Among the boxes and bows are some gems. But there are…MORE

Expert Opinion

This season, do your friends and family a favor: get some guidance on your gift-buying. Style asked the owners and managers of 20-plus local shops what they're buying for the folks on their lists. We figured, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us.

Gian Marco Menswear Marc Sklar, president 517 N. Charles St., 410-347-7974 What gift do you want from your store? Rarely do I take new merchandise out…MORE

A Vintage Party

Writer Mary K. Zajac studies up on how to host a wine-tasting fete that isn’t stuffy, scholarly or intimidating.

Since we met several years ago, my friend Kate has been urging me to host a wine-tasting party. “You could come to my house and talk…MORE

Top Tables

At this year’s Great Chefs’ Dinner to benefit The Family Tree, some 40 area designers and tastemakers brought Southern style and panache to each guest table. Here are Style’s five favorites.

Southern Hospitality “I wanted to create a very soothing environment,” designer Michelle Miller says. “I thought of a beautiful luncheon, with all the ladies gathered around…MORE

Entertaining From A to Z

From antique plates to zinfandel, we've gathered 26 terrific tips on how to throw a party with pizazz.

ANTIQUE PLATES Rita St. Clair, interior designer “My plates and serving dishes are from all over the globe and I have special memories attached to all…MORE

Designed for Dinner

This year’s Great Chefs’ Dinner benefiting The Family Tree featured tables decorated by 38 of baltimore’s most creative designers and tastemakers. Here are a few of our favorites.

Picture This “We wanted it to be like a painting,” says designer Jennifer Mulholland of wessel’s florist and wedding, describing the inspiration for its art-themed table.…MORE

Dressed for Dinner

At this year's Great Chefs' Dinner benefiting The Family Tree, 30 area designers and tastemakers brought style and pizazz to each guest table. Here are Style's five favorites.

Fresh Squeezed When the owner of Gala Cloths, Dulany Noble, saw Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s ‘Gates’ exhibit in New York’s Central Park last year, she was attracted…MORE

Inviting Creativity

More and more couples are breaking free of the constrictions of classic wedding invitations and creating announcements that reflect their own style and their Big Day.

More and more couples are breaking free of the constrictions of classic wedding and creating announcements that reflect their own style and their Big Day. By…MORE

Table Talk

Surrounded by colorful linens, elaborate centerpieces and warm candlelight, guests of The Family Tree’s 13th Annual Great Chefs’ Dinner spent a spring evening in style.  The…MORE

Potluck Primer

If you’re a true citizen of this great American nation, you’ll do two things this November. You’ll haul yourself into an election booth and vote for…MORE

Book 'em

Want to energize your next soiree? These jumpin’ ensembles can do it, from island rhythms to Jewish klezmer to zydeco honky tonk, and more.

They aren’t listed in the yellow pages along with the so-called “wedding bands” that perform mirror-perfect images of Top 40 songs. Most of them don’t have…MORE

Don't Tell

Savvy entertainers have a host of special sources and shortcuts that help them get a meal on the table with style.

Hors d’oeuvres I always have a jar of chutney in the house. Top some banana bread with cream cheese and a little chutney for a quick…MORE

Just Desserts

Thanks to two Frenchmen, an Italian and a German, Baltimoreans are enjoying the sweet life.

Pâtisserie Poupon At 45, Joseph Poupon might just be hitting his prime. The normally laid-back pastry chef is still beaming about his success at the 2001…MORE

Tabletop Props

For Dee Hardie, setting the table is setting the stage.

Almost every room at Thornhill is like a stage set. The chintz living room, the red library, the yellow dining room, the checkerboard kitchen. I can’t…MORE

Mix Master

When bartender George Lee and his legendary Southside mix are behind the bar, spirits are high.

I watch George Lee behind the bar as he assembles Southside after Southside, pouring in first the Mount Gay rum (or the occasional vodka or gin),…MORE

Party Scrapbook

A patchwork of entertaining tips and taboos from 25 of Baltimore’s most accomplished hosts and hostesses.

The Guest List Unless it’s a party for 200, where you can have your Aunt Josie and a prince, you have to have some kind of…MORE

A Toss Up

Now that rice is taboo, local wedding planners give tips on what to throw at a wedding.

I confess. I’ve dreamed about my wedding day every since I took my first “official” walk down a church aisle at the age of 5. I…MORE

Requesting the Pleasure of Your Company

When writer Dee Hardie and her clan cook up a party, the invitations can get downright personal.

In one of my favorite movie scenes from long ago, Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver is sitting at the breakfast table sipping tea when the butler…MORE

The Martha Stewarts of Baltimore

We searched far and wide to find candidates who could fill the Texas-sized, Type-A homemaker shoes of Martha, and turned up three: a deluxe cake baker and arts-and-crafts maker, a high-tea thrower and miracle grower, and an entertainer extraordinaire. Read on and weep.

You know the type. They entertain fabulously at a moment’s notice, turn the $11 wing chair found at a yard sale into the focal point of…MORE

Band Aid

Party-planning experts tell all about picking the right band for your reception crowd.

The bride is aglow. The flowers are freshly cut. The poached salmon is perfect. And the band sounds like a bad night at the local Karoake…MORE

Well-Stocked Bar

Before a gentleman pours a drink, there are issues of hardware, glassware and ambience to consider.

It was the most beautiful bar imaginable, a masterpiece of understated Art Deco, about six feet long with sleek rounded corners and an ambience of stylish…MORE

No Regrets

Getting that wording right can test your etiquette mettle. Despite shifting social norms, there are some rules to guide you through.

Thirty years ago, formal wedding invitations were worded in the traditional “Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Harris Martin request the honour of your presence…” way. There were…MORE

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