It’s hard to keep our greenhouse and glasshouse obsession under the radar, but can you blame us? What’s even more obvious is our infatuation with Shop Terrain in Glen Mills Pennsylvania! What’s not to love about this house merged garden center and their focus on wellness, sustainability, and design? Featuring a dreamy hothouse situated within a fabulous garden shed and a tasty restaurant, chic café, and stylish shop on site, it is no wonder author and agriculture guru, Annie Novak decided this would be the spot to throw her trendy and green-inspired event!
There’s no ‘I’ in team, and the success of this fabulous and stylish dinner party makes that very clear. It took a team of event planners, designers, photographers, and chefs to carefully and meticulously weave together every last element to produce an event as spectacular as this. We consider ourselves quite lucky to have been given the opportunity to sit down with the fabulous Shop Terrain Team, who gave us some pretty noteworthy deets on the fabulous event they hosted for Annie. Check out the inside scoop on this inspirational and informative event that will leave you wanting more!
Words & Photography by Shop Terrain
Tell us a little bit about this event and why Shop Terrain was the perfect venue for this dinner party?
Annie Novak has been a friend of terrain since we first opened helping us celebrate our first terrain table celebration with other tastemakers a few years back. Annie’s book is all about modern farming, rooftop gardens and farm to table eating, all of which terrain and specifically our café stand behind. We knew that when Annie was about to launch her book we would love to do it in our special hot house.
Can you give us a few highlights from the dinner party?
"One of the best parts of the evening was welcoming a mix of old and new friends; the meal brought together lots of like-minded people. Everyone left feeling excited to have met one another, and to go into spring with the book. I hope it will be a useful tool for them as gardeners!" - Annie Novak
"We also had a lot of fun with the evening’s signature cocktail, the “Bee’s Sting.” It was a spin on one of my favorite winter cocktails, the Bee’s Knees, made with gin, lemon, honey, and a dash of hot sauce." - Anni Novak
Tell us about the venue in general?
The venue was our hot house situated within our celebrated garden shed (where we host weddings, showers, celebrations etc. Typically our hot house is used by our design services team to create one of a kind potted arrangements for the store and by customer request, but when it is not being used for plantings, we have hosted many of wedding ceremonies in the space with the live edge wall as the backdrop to the happy couple! The floor is gravel and the sides are glass with the live edge wall and beautiful glass doors opening into our garden shed where we hosted cocktail hour. The hot house can fit 30 guests for a seated, family style dinner and has the most amazing light!
What made the venue a great backdrop and setting for photos?
It is such a unique space that guests don’t typically get a chance to dine in under candlelight!
What additional types of events do you think it's ideal for?
All of the above – and more!
Favorite existing design elements of the venue?
The gravel floor! It is so unexpected and natural and instantly makes you feel comfortable and at ease.
Any special drinks or eats served at the party?
The food was all an inspiration from Annie’s book and our Head Chef. We used chillies and honey from Annie’s farm to make the cocktails and small bites! The meal was vegeteraian – but you would’ve been fooled – it was so good you didn’t miss the meat!
Anything from Shop Terrain (product-wise) that was woven into the dinner party?
We always have our signature globe lights up in the hot house!
Credits
Venue: Shop Terrain | Installation Designer: Matt Muscarella | Author: Annie Novak
Read more in The Rooftop Growing Guide.
