Dîner en Blanc: Toronto

Last night was the first inaugural Dîner en Blanc event in Toronto.

What is it? It’s a semi flash mob / semi group dining experience that has been around for over 24 years and was started by François Pasquier in Paris. Paris’ Dîner en Blanc now assembles nearly 15,000 people each year!

You may have heard of this, as the experience has now been adopted by many cities worldwide. This year, there are 24 cities hosting this event!

It’s a very secretive dinner where you have to dress all in white for the evening, complete with having to bring white dining tables, chairs, plates, etc. In fact, we saw a couple of ladies dressed in their bridal gowns! You never know where you’re going, but each group has a designated rendezvous point and then the site is revealed. This year, the site is at historic Fort York.

We were fortunate enough to be one of the thousand-plus people to be invited to this event. The waiting list for this year apparently has skyrocketed to over 3000! We had a lot of fun, and the initial rain didn’t detract us from enjoying the evening. We even brought white umbrellas!

You can either bring your own dinner or order from them in advance. For chairs and tables, you can rent or bring your own. As wedding planners, of course we brought our own table linens and chair covers!

Elton