About Southern Picnics
Serving Raleigh, Durham, and surrounding areas
Southern Picnics has been featured on various luxury brand websites
Experts in Curating Picnic Experiences
4+ Years in Business
We’ve been curating luxury picnic experiences since 2020. We’ve worked with hundreds of people to make their celebration special and would love to work with you!
100+ 5-Star Reviews
There’s a reason we have the most five-star reviews of any picnic company in Raleigh. We hold ourselves to an exceptionally high bar when it comes to customer service, and this quality of service is reflected in our reviews.
Award-Winning
We’ve been recognized as WRAL’s Event Planner of the Year for four consecutive years, demonstrating our excellence in delivering luxury picnic experiences.
Awards & Recognition
We are always appreciative and honored when our hard work is recognized. Below are some of the ways we’ve been recognized recently. Browse all of our media mentions.
WRAL’s Event Planner of the Year
Southern Picnics has been named WRAL’s Event Planner of the Year for four years in a row, in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 in the WRAL Voters’ Choice Awards.
Raleigh Magazine’s Favorite Things
Southern Picnics was selected as a top curated experience in Raleigh Magazine’s Favorite Things List in 2021.
Raleigh’s Most Inspiring Stories
In August of 2021, Voyage Raleigh Magazine recognized our owner, Angela Byrnes, as one of Raleigh’s most inspiring stories.
About us
A picnic with Southern Picnics is unlike any other.
Our goal is to take your breath away as you walk up to your picnic.
We offer beautifully curated picnics tailored to your needs, including intimate gatherings for 2 guests, larger celebrations for 4-20 guests, and romantic proposal picnics.
Our small, intimate picnics for two guests are classic Americana-style. As you walk towards your picnic, you’ll step back in time. Décor items from the 1950s and early 1960s are sprinkled throughout your picnic. Mixed amongst the vintage items are seasonal floral arrangements that we hand-select and arrange to enhance your picnic setup.
In addition to our vintage décor, we also utilize some select modern, upscale décor from companies like One Kings Lane, Spode, Juliska, and Scully & Scully.
For our larger group picnics, the decor is more modern and utilizes upscale designers like Juliska, Amanda Lindroth Design, and Mark & Graham. Group picnics maintain our signature assortment of flowers but feature elevated tablescapes, meticulously designed and curated to reflect a truly luxury picnic.
Every picnic experience features fine glassware and premium cutlery - never plastic - ensuring a refined and eco-friendly experience for our clients.
We take pride in making sure your picnic is a flawless and memorable experience. From the moment you are greeted, we want your experience to be extraordinary.
Partnering with women & minority-owned local businesses
It’s important for us to support the local Raleigh community. That’s why we partner with women and minority-owned businesses located in Raleigh to curate a picnic experience.
Everything from the charcuterie to the photography is created by another small business in Raleigh.
Meet the owner
My name is Angela and I started Southern Picnics in the Fall of 2020 as a way to enrich and support the Raleigh community.
I fell in love with picnicking in 2018 while visiting Prague. My husband and I picked up a basket of charcuterie from a restaurant and spent hours on the banks of the Vltava River enjoying some bubbles, delicious food, and each other’s company. We stayed there on a grassy patch alongside the river, sprawled out on a plaid blanket, talking and laughing until it turned dark. It’s one of my favorite memories together.
Upon returning home to Raleigh, I bought my first picnic basket to recreate that lovely afternoon right here in Raleigh. After many picnics in parks all around Raleigh, and hardly seeing anyone picnicking in them, I decided I wanted to share this almost-forgotten way of spending time together. And so, Southern Picnics was born.
Our History
September 2020 - Southern Picnics is born! Our very first picinc was for a couple that had to delay their wedding due to Covid, but still wanted to do something special on their original wedding date. We were so honored to set up a romantic picnic in Midtown Park for this couple and help them commemorate the day. This couple later married and we hosted them again in 2023!
October 2020 - We host our first group picnic, a 15-person birthday picnic.
November 2020 - We begin a partnership with On Board Charcuterie to provide fresh, seasonal charcuterie at our picnics.
December 2020 - We expand our picnic set-ups to include a limited-edition vintage Christmas picnic. Christmas picnics are adorned with unique Christmas decor from the 1940s and 1950s and come with a tree and a sleigh.
March 2021 - We host a free Daffodil Picnic photoshoot to thank the community. Local photographer Sarah Leying, graciously took free professional photos for all attendees.
April 2021 - Our team begins to grow! We hire our first Event Planner.
June 2021 - We partner with Midtown Events and the North Hills Summer Concert Series and award a winner each week a front-row luxury picnic at the weekly concert.
September 2021 - Our team continues to grow and we hire a second Event Planner. We also hold our first proposal picnic! She says yes!
November 2021 - We partner with Yelp to hold a pop-up picnic event for their Yelp Elites. Yelp Elites joined us for an afternoon of picnicking, charcuterie, and a painting lesson by Joy Worthy Co.
January 2022 - We are awarded the 2021 Event Planner of the Year award in the WRAL Voter’s Choice Awards.
April 2022 - We expand our partnership network and begin working with Reg & Kala Photography to offer 15-minute and 30-minute photography sessions at our picnics.
January 2023 - We are awarded the Event Planner of the Year award in the WRAL Voter’s Choice Awards for the second year in a row.
August 2023 - We partner with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and award a winner at each Jazz in the Square concert a free picnic.
October 2023 - We partner with Reg & Kala Photography to offer fall mini photography sessions.
January 2024 - We are awarded the Event Planner of the Year award in the WRAL Voter’s Choice Awards for the third consecutive year.
February 2024 - We expand our partner network to include Fleur La La, a local Raleigh florist run by Katie Shelto. We work with Fleur La La to provide Valentine’s floral arrangements.
May 2024 - We launch our large group picnic offering! They maintain our signature assortment of flowers but feature elevated tablescapes, meticulously designed and curated to reflect a truly luxury picnic.
January 2025 - We are awarded the 2024 Event Planner of the Year award in the WRAL Voter’s Choice Awards for the fourth consecutive year.
February 2025 - We expand our partnership network and partner with Graze Charcuterie to offer additional charcuterie options at our picnics.
