This past Wednesday evening, we attended the annual Dîner en Blanc for the second time. Last year, being our first time attending the event, we didn’t really know what to expect – but it ended up being one of our favourite and most memorable nights of 2015. And this year, it most definitely didn’t disappoint! Especially since my parents were in town and were able to come with us.

{Outside our apartment, ready to go! We took an uber from the apartment to the initial meeting point.}

If you’ve never heard of Dîner en Blanc , it’s essentially a super secret flash-mob-style picnic dinner, attended by 10,000+ people, and is by invite only. We can’t thank our friends Ray and Bobbie enough for including us in this amazing night!!

There are certain rules that go along with the event:
• you must dress head to toe in white (classy outfits too!)
• you bring everything for your meal – food, platters for serving, a table and chairs, real wine glasses and cutlery, and white table linens
• at the end of the night, you pack everything up and take it with you, as if no one was even there

Even up to the day of the event, the details of location are kept a secret. Around midday, your group leader informs you of the location of the initial meeting point – usually a bar or restaurant fairly nearby. Around 50 people gathered at our specific meeting point, which was a bar in the 8th arrondissement (that ended up being just under a kilometer from the final venue). Since so many people attend the event, there are different meeting points all around the general area, and people converge at the final location. We met at 8:00 pm, and waited for further instruction, which came around 9:15 pm.

{Initial meeting point, at Le Comptoir du Faubourg.}

At this point, everyone left the bar en masse, headed toward the final destination. BUT, you just blindly follow the group leader, not knowing where you’re heading until you physically arrive! This year, that place was Place Vendôme .

{Everyone on the move! The guy on the bike was likely a bit confused, as hundreds of people dressed in white swarmed past.}

Once you arrive, you have about 15 minutes to get everything set up – tables in place and fully set, food out, champagne popped! Once everyone is set up, there’s the ceremonially napkin twirl to start off the night. That’s more than 10,000 white napkins, all twirling at once!

{Setting up.}

{The napkin twirl to kick things off.}

Our group brought food potluck-style, so there was a ton of amazing food going around. And a little wine too ;) Dinner went on for a couple of hours, and live music played all around the square. And of course, Bobbie made an amazing cake!

{The CupCakery Family! Beautiful cake by Bobbie. I also stole this photo from Bobbie.}

{Thanks to Sarah for this picture!}

{You can find my recipe for these Nanaimo Bars here .}

After dinner, everyone at the event lit sparklers, and the mingling and dancing began.

Finally, just after midnight, everyone packs up all their things, leaving the space just as it was found. Not so much as a drop of wine is left behind – as if we were never there.

Cheers to an amazing night, and a huge thank you to all our friends that made it so special. Also, check out Ray’s blog post about it here , and David’s video here .  Thanks for reading!

Also, some great related links:
• Ray’s blog post about Dîner en Blanc 2015
• Lillian’s blog post about Dîner en Blanc 2015
• David’s video from Dîner en Blanc 2015