Lakeside Lobster Night

I know what you’re going to say. Gosh, she talks about her family a lot. But honestly, Our Table’s Company is kind of a family brand at this point, because they are my favorite people. There were originally six of us, but we’re in a really fun season of spouses, significant others, girlfriends, and boyfriends, so the table is quickly growing.

We knew we had one special evening where everyone would be home at the lake, and mom wanted to make the most of it. We’d never done lobsters at the lake, or lobsters in general, so this was new for all of us. It definitely made the evening an occasion. If you ask me, it’s the perfect dinner party to host in July, August, even September, especially for those of you on the East Coast.

We really wanted to build a whole world around this dinner party. I shared the three steps of how we build ours in a recent post on Instagram. But one thing we don’t overthink, and try not to for any of our dinner parties, is setting the table.

If you follow a lot of our hosting guides, you know there’s not much to say about setting the table, because for us it often comes down to what we have on hand, especially at the lake. Our outdoor table at the lake is from RH, and I’ve linked similar in our shop. We used our Williams Sonoma Brasserie plates you’ve seen many times before, and a table runner mom got from Wayfair. We get a lot of questions about this one, and yes, we do cut holes in the table runner to fit it through the umbrella. Besides that, the table was built with a lot of different candles and the essentials for a great lobster night. My sister Lila also made very small menus on Canva just for fun, which might be my favorite detail on the table.

You can find everything we used at our Lakeside Lobster Table Collection.

Building a world around a dinner party is a choice. We’ve had our fair share of dinner parties that are incredibly lowkey and take very little thought. But the idea of building a world is setting the tone. It’s curating details and ideas that flesh out a table into a moment in time people look back on.

A great place to start is Pinterest. We began with a lobster, and from there we pinned off into the East Coast. Bar Harbor sailboats meets casual backyard lobster bake. Lobster rolls served on old newspaper. Cable knit sweaters, blue gingham, hydrangeas on the table, buoys hanging off a cedar shingle shack. Before we knew it, the whole evening had a feeling before it ever had a menu. You can see the full board here.

We lowkey had a lobster theme in the dress code, and everyone showed up in this effortless vintage Gap meets Ralph Lauren summer attire, which was kind of fun. This dinner party took place at the end of a long lake day, so an official dress code was definitely not going to be a thing. I linked a lot of the clothes seen in our reel.

Speaking of the lake, we hardly had to set much of an atmosphere, because the environment did it for us. It has been an unusually humid summer for the Midwest, and the lake was steamy that evening. I do have a curated playlist for this dinner party, a mix of old classics and modern day vibes I love. You can listen while you host your own.

This menu was very simple. We knew the lobsters were going to be the star of the show, so we didn’t spend time on much else.

For the lobsters, we did our homework. A friend of ours recently hosted his own lobster night and gave us all his tips ahead of time. We chilled the lobsters first to gently sedate them, then steamed them in a big pot outside, which is considered the most humane method and gives you the most tender meat. Shoutout to my brother, husband, and dad, who took the challenge on. Guys, I literally started crying. What’s wrong with me? Why am I so dramatic? I don’t know.

For our sides, and for a party of 16 people, we made baby potatoes with rosemary, sourdough bread and a massive burrata summer salad. The recipe for our summer burrata salad is right here, and it’s one that will shine on your table for the rest of the season. This wasn’t really a cocktail kind of night. We kept the drinks simple with a chilled white, and honestly the lobsters didn’t need the competition.

We didn’t anticipate the night being a ton of work, but candidly, I think lobsters are naturally going to require the extra effort. So by the time we sat down on this July evening, we were wiped and hungry.

We dove into the lobsters, and mom posed a fantastic question to the table. “Was there ever a person or a moment that made you see people differently than you used to?”

The question was quite profound, and it made the table go quiet for a second. And then some of the most amazing stories were shared. I don’t even know where to begin on the conversations we had, but what I can tell you is we sat there until 11pm, talking, sipping wine, and savoring every bit of it. We were belly laughing and tears were streaming down our faces, all in a matter of moments. We closed the night in prayer together, and it was a night I’ll be thinking about for the rest of the year.

Until our next table,

Georgia & Annette