Gala decor

For a speakeasy-inspired wedding, Seattle-based boutique design studio Matthew Parker Events, devised lighting fixtures made of hats from a party supply store, decorative ribbon, corded wire, and filament bulbs.

For its XO Cafe Noir party in November, Patrón Spirits Company tapped designer Abel McCallister Designs to create four chandeliers, each made of empty liquor bottles and embellished, black lampshades.

For the Museum of Modern Art’s film benefit on November 15 in New York, the celebrity arrivals backdrop wasn’t a step-and-repeat of logos but rather a wall of 20,000 fresh crimson-colored roses.

The 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards gala in Los Angeles had a striking but simple look, with bunches of upside-down calla lillies hanging overhead. White furnishings were arranged in lounge-like formations.

For the National Ballet of Canada's "White Hot" gala in 2009, Three Event Planning & Design topped the dining tables with tall cone-shaped plexiglass towers that projected different colors onto white mannequin heads at the base of each structure.

Karl’s Event Services (917.449.3844, karls.com) in Belleville, New Jersey, recently developed a custom mezzanine-level option to be incorporated into clearspan structures, intended for extra seating niches or V.I.P. areas.

Tent companies cite an increase in requests for the Arcum tent, which has an arched beam and provides an alternative look to the traditional clearspan structure. Hollywood Tentworks in Pacoima, California, constructed an Arcum tent at L.A. Live for the 2011 N.B.A. All-Star Game.

Eric Warner's table for Aesthete Ltd. had a subtle equestrian theme. LED tea lights and globe lights hung from stirrups and horse bits, and horse motifs appeared on the plates and the art hanging from the walls.