The Virginia Gold Cup is my absolute favorite event of the fall. This year’s Gold Cup is going on without spectators for safety and health reasons due to COVID-19, so we’re tuning in via Great Meadow’s Instagram and the livestream.
To celebrate, we’re finally sharing our Gold Cup spread from last year that hasn’t been posted on the blog yet. It is amazing, and I can say that because I had no less than 542 fellow hostesses to help this fall perfection come together. OK. Not really 542, but we had a crew.
Also, a special thanks to all of our friends for contributing some of their fabulous photos from the day for this post!
Our theme was a Virginia Fox Hunt – and we went all out. We had a lot to top. Our tablescape from the year before was full of pumpkins, seasonal accents, and orange buffalo check. The year before that was a festive foray into silver pieces, green equestrian tablecloths, and blue and white accents.
For this year’s tablescape, bold orange, gold, and shades of burgundy tied it together, even with all of our different dishes.
Rebecca’s beautiful antique fox hunting accessories and decor added such a special touch – and her fox painted apples? Adorable.
Everyone put together the most picture perfect cheeseboards, charcuterie plates, and dessert trays. We had a LOT of snacks to fit on the tables. Arranging our three fold-out tables into a horseshoe really helped us maximize our space.
Another brilliant idea? Rebecca stacked fresh pies from her favorite bakery in Middleburg on top of flat-top pumpkins. This not only gave us more space to pack in food (because there clearly is never enough), it also added height and interest to our table spread.
We, of course, had all the essentials of a good tailgate: pimento cheese sandwiches, ham and cheese biscuits, and Chick-fil-a nuggets. You just can’t go wrong with them, especially when plated in a silver tray.
Check out the Magnolia Stripes Amazon Store for sources for a few of these items in the “Kentucky Derby” list. Let me know in the comments below if you’re on the lookout for something in this post that I haven’t sourced and I’ll see if I can track it down for you!
Our favorite cocktail napkins, naturally, came from Caspari. We used a few different styles:
Stirrups & Silks (orange and pink colorway)
Stirrups & Silks (black and white colorway)
This is little square camping table (linked on our Amazon Store!) has been used so many times as our “bar” when tailgating for Gold Cup, football games, and polo. Our Jockey Silks tablecloth is 55×55 and it’s on sale right now for $36.00 at Pomegranate, Inc. Our champagne bucket was a fantastic snag from Black Dog Salvage the last time we visited.
If you’re new here, you can find all of our tailgate spreads here.
We had such a blast, as always. If you haven’t been to Fall Gold Cup yet and are thinking about it for next year, I have three big suggestions:
- Don’t forget to bring folding chairs, camping chairs, or somewhere to sit.
- Don’t be afraid to rent a larger vehicle for the weekend. It pays off to have extra space for friends and food.
- Definitely plan on shopping while you’re here. Most of the hats and feather plumes (they’re actually clips sold separately that you clip onto the hats) pictured here are sold at the Fall Gold Cup races. As long as you’re looking for chic outerwear, do not (do NOT) miss the fur booth. We walked away very happy campers with mink scrunchies, rabbit fur infinity scarves, and capes.
See you next year, Gold Cup!
This post may contain affiliate links, but all are tried and true Magnolia Stripes favorites. Thank you to Caspari for providing the napkins sourced and pictured in this post!
