Meet Ashley Casoria + Lauren Camino | Professional Picnickers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Casoria + Lauren Camino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley Casoria + Lauren Camino, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
It all started back in 2018! Lauren had this vision for her birthday to host a backyard, floor-style seating celebration. It turned out beautiful! Fast forward to 2020, Ashley was brainstorming ways to celebrate Lauren’s birthday (amidst Covid and restaurants only accommodating smaller groups) and she remembered the genius “picnic” idea that Lauren had executed two years earlier. This time, we hosted the party on the beach! Within days, our personal social media accounts were flooded with friends and acquaintances asking “who did you hire for this” – and, it was us! After being furloughed from her job in marketing, Ashley was eager to launch her own business, and of course, Lauren was her first call. And just like that, The Little Gatherings was born! We believe that people were so interested in finding ways to still celebrate special moments, but outdoors, in the fresh air, with more space to move. The overnight success of TLG was definitely our Covid silver-lining!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The Little Gatherings is so much more than a picnic company! We are two sisters, learning to work together to chase this dream, amidst the differences in our personalities and work-styles. We couldn’t be more honored to co-own this business together! One of our absolute greatest joys in life is curating special moments for others. This has been a passion of ours our entire lives, and now we get to do it daily for our clients! From proposals, to birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations of life – we have had the honor of helping so many others create special memories. A pop-up picnic business is lots of hard work – cue the bruises and heavy lifting and some tears along the way! But we wouldn’t change it for the world. This business has helped us both grow so much. We adore working with our clients to ensure that their picnic is everything they dreamed of. From helping them select flowers and color schemes, to ensuring they have food + drinks covered, we work so hard to make sure that every picnic is a dream.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

This is such a fun question! Being born and raised Fort Lauderdale girls, we feel like we know this city well.

Upon their landing in town, we’d take them to grab lunch and drinks at the beach! We love S3 on Ft Lauderdale Beach – great food and a great view! We’d also ensure a beach day (or two!) while they were in town. There’s nothing like the sand on your toes and the salt water on your skin. We’re Italian, so no trip would be complete without dinner at our favorite Italian spot – Cafe Martorano. Throughout their stay, we’d be sure to stop by some of our favorite little places in town – The Wander Shop is a must (cutest clothes and best vibes) and we’d stroll Las Olas Blvd. Grab a coffee and some fresh flowers at Ann’s, and some charcuterie + wine at Louie Bossi’s.

The best way to round out this trip, would be to curate a TLG Picnic for our friend at our favorite little hidden gem along the water – Colee Hammock Park. This is one of our favorite spots to set-up our picnics, a quaint little park with a beautiful view. We would do charcuterie + wine here, then head over to Greek Islands for their final dinner in town.

And last but not least, we’d end their trip with a drink at Elbo Room – our absolute favorite Ft Lauderdale dive.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

We have two very important, female owned, small business role-models, who launched before we did and have mentored us and helped us immensely. Chelsea at Finding Light Photography and Heather at The Grazing Girls! These two rockstar business-owners (and moms!) work so hard and are always encouraging us as we navigate through the ups and downs of owning our own small business.

And if we may, we’d also love to shout-out another small business owner bestie who has recently launched her mobile spray tanning business, and who we are so proud of. Marissa at The Bronzing Babe. Another female business owner (and mom to twins!) who is chasing her dream – we’re so excited for what’s in store for her.

Website: thelittlegatherings.com

Instagram: @thelittlegatherings

Image Credits
@anniecooper.photography @florserra.photography @alittlestoryphotography @solmiophotography