”I think many people are moving back to nature,” says Denise Dinyon, bridal and entertaining expert for Lenox Brands. “There is a hunger for connection. Everyone seems to be opening up to more community-based activities.

“In times like this, when we need a sense of security, nature’s eternal renewal is especially comforting.”

When you are entertaining and want your guests to simply enjoy the moment, perhaps it’s easiest to simply celebrate the seasons. Nature’s glorious cycles provide rich ideas for seasonal meals, décor, and ambiance.

Seasonal Textures & Colors
In dressing your table for each season, decide what the season means to you. “A lot of people respond to seasons in terms of colors,” says Denise. “For others it has to do with texture. When you think about the ‘texture’ of fall, for example, you may tend to think of things more woven, with a tapestry effect.

“But in springtime things become softer, more tactile and silky. Or maybe you are drawn to textures that are very crisp, like linen.

“To me winter has a softness, because I always feel like I’m burrowing in for the season, looking for the softest blankets and other items that provide warmth. So to me winter textures tend to be soft, tightly knitted, and very comforting. Think of rich blankets and quilts.”

How about colors? “Certainly in the fall people tend to gravitate toward earth tones, but often with some brilliant touches, such as bright yellows, oranges, and the other colors you see in the leaves falling from trees.

“Everybody in our region thinks of the changing of the seasons. In the winter things become a little brighter, because you have the glitter of the holiday season, and also people tend to overcompensate for the lack of daylight with brighter colors and jewel tones.

“Things soften out again for spring, when you have a lot of mist and rain, so you’ve got a lot of pastels which are softened with gentle overtones, like looking at things through watercolors.

“Then in summer you get back to the bright primary colors."

Seasonal Table Settings
You can use these colors and textures to create a seasonal theme as you dress your table. “If you are doing a fall scene, maybe the central colors on your table are those that you relate to fall. And maybe you are using textures that have some nubbiness or a tapestry effect. You might use garnishes, like leaves from nature, just as you would use fresh flowers in the spring to evoke a mood.”

There are other things from nature that you can use as well. “Take flat river stones, write your guest’s names on top, and use them as placecard holders. Get beautiful maple leaves in golden yellows and oranges fresh from the trees and write people’s names on them with a gold metallic pen, or shave off the bottom of a pinecone so that it stands upright, and tuck a little placecard in the folds of the pinecone.”

Such touches suggest the spirit of nature and evoke memories of early childhood. “You can even make this interactive. Don’t set the table initially. Put the supplies out and as people come in, have them create their own placecard holder. There is some playfulness in making something personal and unique.”

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And Now, The Presentation
You can refer to the colors and textures of each season, and each season’s more formal or casual menus, to help guide you in serving and presenting your dishes.

“I don’t think your serving dishes change as much, seasonally, as they do with the formality of the occasion,” says Denise. “You can instead suggest each season in the way you garnish the dishes, again using some of those natural accents.

“In the fall, for example, we also go back to root vegetables like squash and turnips. My supermarket actually bags those vegetables already pre-cut and cleaned, because how many of us, when faced with a turnip, knows what to do with it?

“If they have these vegetables already prepared, all you have to do is put them in a serving pan and bake them slowly with some brown sugar or butter.

“Then if you turn it into a serving platter and use leaves as garnishes around the serving platter, again you’re getting fall’s texture into your presentation, with food that suggests the season.”

Basic serving dishes, china, and more casual dinner plates should take you through every season, depending on how you garnish the dishes.

“Maybe you want a larger earthenware platter for a more casual occasion, versus a lovely silver or fine china platter you might use for a more formal occasion, but that doesn’t mean the garnishes have to change. The garnishes of the season can remain. Again, platters and serving bowls in various shapes and sizes are critical.”

“I’m such a soup nut, so for me a soup tureen is critical, as are smaller soup bowls. But if I’m serving more casually and it’s a heartier soup, I would go for heavier earthenware bowls.”

The Lenox Butlers Pantry line includes great oversized mugs which might also be used to serve soup, “particularly if you’re doing a buffet style meal, because it makes it a lot easier to hold onto when seating is very informal.

“If I’m having a more formal sit down meal, crème soup cups or rim soup bowls are perfectly appropriate. But that doesn’t mean they can only be used for soups. A crème soup cup also makes a very elegant little dessert bowl for a pudding or a mousse, and a rim soup bowl is also a perfect pasta bowl or pasta plate.

“Think about the formality of the meal,” says Denise, “Always look at your menu and write down on paper what type of piece you would need on your table to serve that dish effectively.”

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Coordinating Your Table
In addition to garnishing your table with items from nature, you also can use your dinnerware and crystal to coordinate with your flowers, music, and other elements to create an atmosphere that relates to the season.

Many accent plates are designed to serve as seasonal accessories. “For instance, if you have a very basic set of dinnerware such as our Eternal, which is so classic and simple, you could mix it with something in our holiday pattern for winter meals.

“A pattern like Spring Vista has a beautiful soft blue border. We have it in a pale blue and pale green border. It has lovely florals around it for the spring season.

“For the summertime you could add something that has a bold accent. We have a pattern, Liberty, which has a bold blue accent around the border with some little tips of red enamel dots. It’s great for July 4th.

“For the fall season you would take a pattern like Autumn, which has beautiful fruit baskets in the colors of the season.”

So get a set like Eternal, which is simple, basic, and elegant and combine it with almost everything. Then get your accent plates, choosing them based on their seasonal feel, as one approach.

“But if you fall in love with a very decorative pattern,” says Denise, “then by all means buy it, and don’t worry about its seasonality. Find other ways to make that pattern work each season, perhaps with your garnishes.”

Don’t forget colored crystal. “There are so many ways to use crystal in beautiful colors. Use red and green for the holiday season, deeper jewel tones during the fall, and lighter jewel tones during the spring and summer. That’s always a beautiful way to accent the table. Maybe your mother or your grandmother has passed down some wonderful crystal to you. They can evoke a special mood, if not a season.”

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“Whether you’re moving from lighter breads in the spring and summer to heartier breads in the winter, make sure you have great bread trays, whether they are silver or a great alternative metal that will actually help keep them warm, or even china or crystal.”

Wedding Favors
Your wedding favors also can have a seasonal touch. “For example, I’ve been at weddings where they give away little thumb pots that have tiny spruce trees in them. People can go back home and literally replant.

“In the spring and summer, I’ve been to weddings where they’ve given packets of seeds for beautiful flowers or fresh herbs. These are simple ways to take those seasonal themes and put them into wedding favors.”

For Your Wedding
You can apply this seasonal approach and its associated presentation to your wedding itself.

“I think it’s a lot in the attitude of your colors and your garnishes,” says Denise. “I was in a wedding this past summer where the ceremony was in a chapel in the woods and the reception was held in a barn.

“We lit up the rafters with little twinkling lights, and the bridesmaids all carried very light wildflower bouquets.” Each table had a vase that the bridesmaids just dropped their bouquets into, “and they became part of the table decoration at the reception.

“I think that’s all there is to it. Take the different elements of the season — the flowers, colors, textures, and foods — and pull them together to create the seasonal mood you want your guests to enjoy.”

Lenox
800.63.LENOX, www.lenox.com