Looking Back: Centerpieces

The most important thing, for me, about centerpieces is that they need to provide a sense of drama. I think of creating a centerpiece like creating a piece of art on a table.  Centerpieces fit into two categories: low & high.

For low centerpieces, I always like using a profusion of flowers. Use flowers that work together in the same color family, all purples or all reds for example, as opposed to too many colors in one arrangement, which can be distracting and less dramatic.

The benefit of a low centerpiece is that it enables guests to see each other across the table and allows an intimate experience. The benefit of a high centerpiece is that it serves as additional room decor and provides high drama.

Here are some tips for creating your own centerpieces: 

• Think beyond flowers. In the picture above, using a tall black rod as a candleholder made the illusion that the candle was floating in the room. If you pair this with a beautiful low centerpiece, it brings a balance to the table. 
• Flowers can have opposing fragrances. Be careful that the flowers you use don’t have a scent that could conflict with the food.  Some examples of strong fragrant flowers are: gardenias, tuber roses, Casablanca lilies, and paper whites (narcissus). But just because you can’t use them at the table doesn’t mean you can’t use them in arrangements around the rest of the room. Certain clients request their favorite fragrances, so it’s always something we need to balance and pay attention to. 
• I suggest using some low and some high centerpieces--it gives the room more of a flow across the space and it can be more cost-effective (lowers centerpieces are less expensive). The correct height of an average low centerpiece is when it’s low enough that you can see the person sitting across from you at the table. For an average high centerpiece, there are no rules (sky’s the limit). 

Do you have any tips or tricks for creating a dramatic centerpieces? Please share in the comments.

Looking Back: Frames

One of my first clients was Christie's in New York City in 1983. I was fascinated to see old master paintings in these wonderful, traditional frames. Since then, this interest has evolved and become a part of my design aesthetic. The idea of frames, and using them in non-traditional or surprising ways, has become a signature design concept for me.

You may notice I’ve used the same frame in a few pictures in this post. I went to an antique shop one day and found these beautiful baroque frames just sitting there. They became a part of my collection, and have served as a background for many takes on the framing concept.  The frames are about 5ft by 6ft high.

How can you use frames in your own designs? Here are a few tips:

Tip #1: Find the right frame.  Depending on your design, you may want to use large, ornate frames or small, minimal frames. Don’t be afraid to mix and match. Look for circular and oval shaped frames in addition to the traditional rectangular and square shapes.

Tip #2: Don’t be afraid of 3-D. Take unusual objects and frame them. We’ve framed everything from flower arrangements to candles. You can take dolls and frame them in a child’s room or you can take fresh herbs and frame them in your kitchen. Look around at what you have and you’ll probably find  many things you can stick in a frame!

Tip #3: As with so many of the other design tips I’ve given—pick a theme. This technique can  produce a very eclectic look. What you don’t want to happen is to have it look messy or confusing. Choose one color or one type of object to frame to give it a consistent and purposeful look.

Do you have any tips on what to do with frames? If you have any great pictures where you’ve framed something unique, feel  free to share those too.

Looking Back: One Design, Three Different Celebrations

Through the years, I’ve had the lucky opportunity to work with certain clients not just once, but sometimes twice, three times or more. Maybe it follows the progression of their lives—wedding, christening, anniversary--or maybe it’s a special annual event. One extraordinary client has hired me to design her holiday party year after year. We covered some of the previous designs for her parties in this post about choosing your color story.

Notice the progression of the design; the pictures in today’s post are from the first year we designed for her. This was also one of the first years we used printed images to look like projections to enhance the walls of the event.

 One unique aspect of these events is that they are thrown in a backyard in a brownstone on the Upper east side. All you New Yorkers will understand why this is so unusal—most folks don’t have backyards in Manhattan! In NYC, most hostesses have many social obligations and this hostess created a clever way of entertaining disparate groups--business, family, friends—in one location.

 As we said before, the importance of a classic, timeless design came in to play here. We were fortunate to have a backyard where she could keep the decorated tent up for three days. This way she covered all her social obligations in one space that fit up to 50 people.

Here are some tips for throwing your own multi-purpose celebration:
Tip #1: Pick a space where you can keep the decorations up over a span of 1-3 days. If, for example, you’re planning on hosting a lunch with your girlfriends on a Thursday, dinner with your family on Friday and a cocktail party with your co-workers on Saturday, pick a space large enough and versatile enough to be kept decorated throughout that entire weekend. It can be your backyard, a spare dining room, or even somewhere surprising like a garage or pool house (depending on how clever you are in decorating the surroundings).

Tip #2: Choose a color scheme or theme that is versatile enough to suit all different groups. With this event, we used a screenprint of winter trees to serve as a classic backdrop for the parties. The subsequent years, we chose a monochromatic scheme in classic Christmas colors.

Tip #3: Don’t be afraid to re-use the same decorations each year in a different way. This is a great way to be cost-effective, but still achieve your dramatic statement. For example, if one year your color theme was all red and you purchased red ribbons to decorate your napkins, save them to use for next year in, say, a candy-cane colored theme.

Do you have any tips for using one space in different ways? Let me know in the comments.

Looking Back: The Importance of Classic Design

I’ve been in this business for 30 years and I spend so much time looking forward (planning for the next project, keeping track of the newest technology in event design) that I rarely get a chance to look back and evaluate the past projects I’ve accomplished. There’s a lot one can learn from the past (and I get such joy from reminiscing), so I thought it might be nice to do a weekly series where we discuss past events and lessons learned or tips that came from working on them.

This week, I wanted to begin with a discussion about classic design. There are so many things clients have to worry about when planning their event, and one of those things is trends. What’s the popular color for this year? Is this flower “in” or “out”? Well, I’m here to tell you—it’s less important to worry about trends and more important just to focus on good design. I know it sounds simplistic, but if your design is strong, it will have a timeless quality that you can’t reproduce with kitschy of-the-moment trends.

In most of the events I design, especially weddings, I always focus on giving my clients a timeless experience. That way, they can look back 15 or 20 years and still experience the same feeling of amazement and charm as they did on that day. The pictures you see throughout this post are of events that happened 10, sometimes 15 years ago. Would you have been able to tell if I hadn’t told you?

Here are three tips to help you achieve that classic look:

#1: In creating the bridal bouquet, I tend to go with all white flowers to match the dress. If you use colored flowers, the bouquet tends to compete with the dress and people focus more on the flowers than the bride. Using all white will also keep that bouquet looking fresh in pictures—even 20 years later.

#2: Tuxedo trends come and go. I always suggest my grooms go with the most classic style available. If you’re not sure what I mean by classic, think Cary Grant.

#3 Same goes for the bride’s wedding gown. I always advise my brides to pick a classically styled dress. Not only will it add even more elegance to the event, but it will prevent her from looking back and saying, "What was I thinking?"

Do you have any tips you’d like to share on how to achieve that classic look? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.