BLOOM, the picnic

A couple of months ago, during one of my regular Target visits, I walked past all of their super cute picnic baskets and picnic accessories and thought to myself, I want to host a picnic. I immediately took my thoughts to Pinterest and dug deep for "pretty picnic" inspiration. 

Soon after, I decided I wanted to make this a picnic that celebrated black women. Those who are close to me, those I'm not particularly close to, but who inspire me from afar. And with the recent tragedies that have plagued both my African American community and my Dallas community, the timing couldn't be more impeccable. I dubbed it BLOOM, the picnic. B.L.O.O.M = Black Looks Outstanding On Me. 

I spent a weekend day warehouse hopping in search of discarded wooden pallets and the plan was to create a long ground table, around which we would sit with blankets and throw pillows. The day of the picnic the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, I'd loaded all of the pallets into a rented truck and minutes before I planned to leave, the sky parted and a tsunami literally fell from the sky. This was really happening. To me. Of course. We tried to wait it out, but it didn't seem to be getting any better and the grass was inevitably soaked. So a plan B was put into motion. "You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather." Touché, Outkast. Duly noted. 

Although I didn't lay not one pallet, and we were robbed of natural sunlight for my pre-planned pictures, I couldn't have been happier with the turn out. We moved the party indoors and had the best food, the best wine, and the best conversation. 

I made my first naked cake garnished with fresh flowers! I totally impressed myself. I'll likely share a tutorial in the future. the topper is also a DIY project. 

Eventually, and hopefully sometime this summer, I'll get to have my pretty picnic. With my pretty pallet project. But it'll definitely have big shoes to fill.  

Photography by the super talented (who I get to call my little sister), Nolita Nouveau.