Now that summer has finally arrived and we’re eager to host friends and family once again, lifestyle and entertaining expert, Kimberly Whitman, has partnered with prominent Chicago-based interior designer (and close friend,) Shelley Johnstone Paschke, on seasonal entertaining for their new book, A Loving Table: Creating Memorable Gatherings, released this spring.
The book showcases inspiring tablescapes and the entertaining styles of 34 trend-setting women from around the world, who also share tips and lessons from the important women in their lives. Built on authenticity, many of the tablescapes captured in A Loving Table are from real dinners and events with tastemakers’ families.
Traditions and Heritage Passed On
“These style-setting women pay tribute to how their mothers and grandmothers have influenced their own styles of entertaining at home,” writes Whitman on her website. “Whether they proudly incorporate recipes passed down from a grandmother’s collection or follow a mother’s lessons for making guests feel comfortable, it is clear that family role models have had a strong influence. Blending inherited dinnerware or decorative pieces in their modern tables is also big in the way women embrace their heritage for entertaining. From formal to casual occasions, city to country, and grand to intimate, indoor and outdoor tables beautifully designed tell a story about how these women host guests at their tables. Each style maker shares tips and lessons in entertaining that she learned from the women in her life.”
Featured tastemakers include:
- Diana de Cadaval, 11th Duchess of Cadaval
- Filipa de Abreu, brand ambassador for Tory Burch and Themis Z
- Anne Itoop, food blogger behind The Familiar Kitchen
- Kim Hersov, Fashion Editor and Co-Founder of Talitha
- Cathy Kincaid, Cathy Kincaid Interiors
- Cristina Lynch, founder of Mi Golondrina
- Jessica Nowitzki, Philanthropist
- Julie Neill, Julie Neill Custom Lighting handcrafted in New Orleans
- Orlene Valy Paxson, founder of The Malabar Collective
A Loving Table offers inspiration for events ranging from grand to intimate, city to country, and even indoor to outdoor. Some notable moments in the book include a Vietnamese Christmas Eve, a Royal Luncheon in Portugal, a Mardis Gras brunch, and even a 100th Birthday for your Grandfather.
Be sure to intertwine the generations of advice passed down to these tastemakers into your next family-oriented celebration.
About Kimberly
With a talent for making the ordinary extraordinary Kimberly Schlegel Whitman has taken her original and clever take on parties and created business ventures to help you celebrate in style. While planning her own Idlewild Debutante Ball in Dallas, Texas, Kimberly found an undiscovered opportunity—a lack of quality goods for party rentals.
In 1998, a quick-thinking Kimberly launched her own event company, RSVP Soiree Luxury Event Rentals, and, after building up a wonderful business, sold it in 2006. She also took the century-old RSVP Social Calendar online in 1999 and created an online resource with a comprehensive list of Dallas’ finest charitable events at http://www.RSVPcalendar.comKimberly’s success in this field led to the publication of nine books on entertaining, countless television appearances, a daily radio segment on CBS’s 103.7 KVIL, Dallas’ number one morning radio show, and a spot as co-host of KTXD’s live daily television talk show, Texas Living. In 2011, she became the Editor-at-Large of Southern Living Magazine, the seventh-largest monthly paid consumer magazine in the nation.
In 2015 Kimberly joined forces with sorority sister and calligraphy artist Jen O’Neal to create a line of table linens that brings classic designs to the modern hostess. Halo Home by KSW’s monogrammable linens and popular emoji cocktail napkins are found in over 200 stores across the country. In 2018, the pair sold Halo Home to Mariana Barran de Goodall, the founder of Hibiscus Linens. In 2020, Kimberly founded and continues to operate ShopKSW.com, a website that features and sells tabletop treasures curated by tablescape, brand and style. Her popular Summer 2021 fashion collaboration with Antonio Melani, exclusively at Dillards, is celebrating another successful collection with the Summer 2022 selection of twelve dresses perfect for any celebration.
