The first installment of the RM dinner club was born out of the conviction that if the goal of Reeves Mackenzie is to inspire people to gather, then we should be moved to gather the people around us.
A good starting place seemed like gathering the people who supported us. Some who invested their time helping us to understand principles and best practices of building a business, some who invested emotionally and served as encouragers, and others who invested financially. Many of the people in attendance invested in more than one area.
The purpose of the gathering would be not only to thank them, but to show them our heart behind the business that they’ve had a hand in creating with us.
We also wanted to show off our inventory and how beautiful it looks where it is meant to be: out of our musty storage unit and onto the dinner table.
About a month before the dinner, Anna Reeves’ dear friend, Aly (a woman incredibly skilled in the art of gathering) advised her to use the book, “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker as a field guide for preparing for the evening. She promptly sent her the book and it should be noted that the subsequent planning was heavily influenced by this field guide. We would highly recommend it.
Our goal for documenting this dinner (and dinners to come) is to inspire you to gather your people and to do so meaningfully.
So, let’s dive into the details!
We started off by nailing down our location. This was probably the easiest part of the process as Anna’s good friend, Amy Barry was overwhelmingly generous with letting us take over her and her husband’s (Jeff) home on Signal Mountain for the night.
To make the evening successful, we wanted to invite other creatives in our community to collaborate with us. These people were the Nelsons, the Guthries, and Anna Reeves' mom, Mary Jo.
Andrew and Emilie Nelson: A husband/wife duo who specialize in photography and videography (also some of the sweetest people we’ve ever met).
Molly and Sam Guthrie: A brother/sister duo who are gifted in the art of culinary.
The Nelsons were introduced to us by a friend who vouched for their unique ability to capture the essence of a gathering. Molly is one of Anna Reeves’ housemates and Sam is their very next-door neighbor. They are passionate about making the act of eating more than about sustainability. They are the makers of feasts and of food that you crave again.
Anna Reeves' mom, Mary Jo is gifted in several areas, one of which is floristry. She gifted all flower arrangements for the evening as well as strung lights across trees. We appreciate her so.
We started off with cocktail hour featuring two signature cocktails that Molly (our mixologist for the night) curated: The Reeves (A White Linen) and the Mackenzie (A Blackberry Smash). As soon as everyone had arrived and were sufficiently “watered,” a welcome was made by us, a blessing said by a friend, and everyone was ushered to their table to find their place card.
Wine was poured and dinner anticipated.
Sam created the menu: a five-course ode to summer. Here’s what was on it:
Course 1: Lite Fair: Seasonal vegetables, popcorn (we had these during cocktail hour - they really should bag and sell the popcorn)
Course 2: Salad: Blueberry arugula couscous salad
Course 3: Main Course: Steak with gremolata, marinated white bean and tomato salad, Niedlov’s sourdough
Course 4: Intermezzo: Cantaloupe, limed
Course 5: Dessert: Olive oil cake with whipped cream
We wish you could know how delicious it was. If Sam and Molly write their own cookbook (which we’re hoping they will so we can sell it in our store) you’ll have an idea.
Chatter persisted throughout the meal, some guided by the table questions found on the inside of the place cards. Sam actually came up with the questions as well (he is a skilled gatherer and knows how to provoke thoughtful conversation).
These were the questions:
1: What smell makes you think of home?
2: Who in your life has modeled hospitality well?
3: What’s something that’s brought you joy recently?
4: What story has captivated you recently?
Feel free to steal them for your own dinner parties (or just regular week-night family dinners).
Any gathering can be made to feel a little more special no matter how “normal” you may feel it is.
The evening turned out beautifully. Speeches and toasts were made. People ate and drank their fill. People lingered into the night.
As beautiful as it was, there were little clunky moments, one example being that Anna and Anna Reeves (in the whirlwind of planning) forgot an incredibly practical step: making sure that everything that was being eaten off of and with was clean. They were washing all 18 settings in a bathroom (to avoid getting in the way of Molly and Sam who were working in the kitchen) about 2 hours before guests arrived.
As Anna Reeves’ friend, Aly, put it on a phone call debriefing the night a few days later: The book is called The “Art” of Gathering for a reason.
Gathering well is a skill to be honed.
Anna and Anna Reeves are excited to continue honing the skill of gathering meaningfully and inspiring others to do the same. The goal of the RM Dinner Club is to inspire a ripple effect of gatherings.
The 2nd installment of RM Dinner Club will take place in the Fall. We can’t wait to share it with you! In the meantime, check out the photos from the evening below and follow us on Instagram @reevesmackenziehome and on Tik Tok @reevesmackenzie for all of our updates!
