My experience going to Diner en Blanc in Paris France

This summer, I received an invitation to attend the Diner En Blanc event in Paris, France. If you all do not know what Diner En Blanc is, let me tell you all about this fabulous event! Diner En Blanc is a worldwide event that has expanded to six contents where people have a picnic dressed in white and go to a secret location. This event is invite-only and must attend with ac guest. You can register to be placed on the waiting list, or you can be sponsored by a Diner En Blanc member so that you can receive an invitation to attend.

The waiting list was so long that I did not get a chance to go in my hometown Atlanta in 2018, so I decided to sign up on the waiting list for Paris. I received an email about a month before the event, saying that registration begins for the Diner En Blanc Paris and that I can attend as a member!

Preparing for Diner En Blanc

Everyone attending the event picks a group leader and table leader, which are Diner En Blanc members that have volunteered.

After picking a group and table leader you may begin the preparation for the event.

Which includes bringing:

white attire to wear, a foldable table and white table cloth, two white chairs, a white or brown picnic baskets, bags for food, preference of decorations for the table, food, and drinks

We ordered a portable table that folded up into a small bag and carried it on the plane with us. We also bought our decorations for the table from the craft store and stored them in our checked bag. The chairs we ordered were from the Diner en Blanc e-store, which was convenient because all we had to do was pick them up from the meeting spot.

Getting to the secret location

The table leader organized where we would meet up and pick up items from the e-store. Information was relayed via our what’s app group and the messaging tool that is apart of the member’s board on the Diner en Blanc website.

Our meeting point was Place Vendôme, and there were several groups already there in their all-white attire.

After finding my group leader, there were about 20 people in my group. Although there would be thousands of people at this dinner, I would be sitting closely with these 20 people.

Arrival at the secret location

My group arrived at the secret location by foot. I do not recommend doing this at all because the location was far from our meeting point. It was supposed to be a 6-minute walk, but it turned into a 30-45 minute walk lugging all of our dinner equipment with us. It is highly recommended that you wear comfortable shoes until you get to the destination if you are traveling on foot.

The secret location was revealed to be at the Louvre, but there were so many people attending it was full to capacity. When we got there, we were told we couldn’t go in, so the rest of the thousands of people who were attending were rerouted to Palace de la Concorde.

Honestly, I think this destination was unique. Palace de la Concorde has a view of the Eiffel Tower, so it made the night more magical. Also, we ate in the middle of a huge traffic circle, so it was funny to see cars drive by us and cheer/ honk at us.

Dinner Time

When we finally got to our destination, we set up our tables together and began decorating. It was intense because we had to set up our table, arrange our table decorations, and set up our food in about 20 minutes before the wave of the napkin began, which indicated the start of the dinner.

You are supposed to bring three courses for your dinner. Our first course included cheese and crackers, fruit, and shrimp cocktail. The second course included salmon cakes on top of a salad. During the third course, we had pound cake with strawberries. We also brought our own wine to drink throughout the dinner.

Party Time

After eating, everyone got sparkles, which commenced that it was time to party! There were thousands of sparklers lit, and it made the event magical.

There was entertainment, which included music and dancers!

During this time, I got to meet the founder of the Diner En Blanc François Pasquier and his wife! Their table was right near us! There were television crews there, and we got to talk to him and be on a segment on the local news! He spoke little English, but it was still fun to chat and tell him how much fun we were having! He also got to try our Georgia peach wine that we brought, which he thought tasted very good!