With any event outdoors, there always the chance of a challenge thrown in by weather — it’s a big part of what makes dining outdoors so wonderful. It’s either a spectacular day (night) and the weather is perfect which makes it so memorable, or it’s a “weather issue” day — which can also make it so memorable.
I say this, unless you live in extreme cold or heat, don’t be daunted by some of the smaller weather issues. In our case, the pheasant shoot lunch for 60 had what might be called a larger “issue”: temperatures in the high 50s with winds gusting up to 20MPH. Not exactly a relaxing field lunch situation. So here’s what we did.
Since we knew it was going to be sunny, we tried to be creative and find a place with lots of sun and something to block the wind. That something ended up being a horse barn.
See those big walls? Now start thinking creatively…
The wind direction was just right, and even though nobody had ever even considered that corner of the farm as a pretty venue for anything at all!…we took the chance to make the most of being outside on a pretty day.
The view from the side of the horse barn (at dawn that AM). The sun would rise just above those trees and throw the warmth everyone needed after a morning in the field.
It worked!
Lesson learned: get creative! Use your sheds (inside or out!), use your garage, use your house, use a barn, use any building!, use the overpass of a road, use a horse trailer, use a tent, use any number of things to block wind or weather.
Hot food stayed warm through a couple of hot plates plugged into quiet generator. This happens to be the sweets end of the table. (Interesting…I’m hanging around down here….)
More creativity…
We were quite concerned about having enough seating space, so we put out hay bales. So why not take an old rug (it was a Salvation Army special) and make a “room” for more seating?
Willingness to step out of the ordinary is what makes a memorable event. Perfect has many many definitions…and this day…was perfect in all its imperfections.
Whew.