Centerpieces

Rows of paper rectangles spelled out "in" words at the Boston Brigham Women's Hospital "In Party" fund-raiser in September. Upon closer inspection, the centerpieces listed facts about the programs the fund-raiser would benefit.

At the American Ballet Theatre's fall gala in New York in October, organizers topped tables with glass bowls lit with single candles and draped with black star calla lilies.

Matthew David Hopkins of 360 Design Events placed bowls of floating candles atop vegetative green roofing tiles at the 9/11 Memorial benefit.

David Stark’s table designs at the fall gala for New Yorkers for Children included high and low glass containers filled with moss, ferns, and candles.

Clover Chadwick of Dandelion Ranch in Los Angeles created a sculptural arrangement using succulents.

At MoMa’s Party in the Garden in May, designer David Monn topped tables with leafy topiaries and low arrangements of dianthus and viburnum.

Van Wyck & Van Wyck produced this year's Friends of the High Line benefit in New York. The centerpieces consisted of small burlap sacks filled with air ferns and other plants, which guests could take home with them.

At Chicago’s Harris Theater gala in June, Bill Heffernan used centerpieces of ferns and freesia as part of the event’s moonlit-forest look.

In September, Los Angeles floral designer Eric Buterbaugh set topiary balls on beds of wheatgrass at the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Foundation luncheon celebrating the Nancy Short lecture series.

Fox celebrated its fall television lineup with a casino-style event in Los Angeles. YourBash! and Sada's Flowers collaborated on the event's shabby chic look, which included simple arrangements of succulents decorating the tables.

Sutra International Design used leafy branches to make centerpieces that resembled miniature trees for the Palm Beach Heart Ball in February.

At the Lowline "Anti-Gala," producers Van Wyck & Van Wyck topped tables with centerpieces comprised of potted rosemary, mint, geranium leaves, and olive branches.

For the island-themed CTIA Wireless Foundation’s Achievement Awards dinner, held in Washington in July, florist Volanni used banana leaves in tall, thin glass cylinders.

For a holiday event for Herbalife, Sterling Engagements designed tabletop vignettes using metallic and glass objects in visually interesting and varied shapes.

At a screening of the James Brown biopic Get on Up in Washington in July, André Wells incorporated such objects as old-school-style microphones and records into floral centerpieces to channel the movie’s musical premise.

Floral and event design company Amaryllis hosted an industry New Year's Eve party in Washington where a golden bust surrounded by an orb was part of an effort to weave in some statement-making European flair.

For an event for Munchkin baby products in Los Angeles in November, Jeannie Savage of Details Details used toys on the tabletops to "evoke childhood memories," she said, for the bloggers, event planners, and influential mom guests in attendance.

At the Miami Heat Charitable Fund annual gala in January, A Joy Wallace Catering, Design & Special Events created a tropical-looking table with centerpieces comprising Mokara orchids, calla lilies, and roses with accents of blue thistle—all built around a 3-D acrylic cube that encased replicas of the three Miami Heat championship rings.

For the 2010 St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School's sports-theme benefit in Washington, held in the school's gymnasium, centerpieces were oversize versions of athletic objects by commercial sculptor A.J. Strasser.

The Bafta Los Angeles Tea Party, held on Golden Globes weekend in Los Angeles, used various decor pieces and objects to advance its British theme—including a Union Jack-splashed tea kettle holding white roses.

During Golden Globes weekend this year in Los Angeles, W hosted an event at A.O.C. in celebration of its picks for so-called "Hollywood It girls." Covered glass dishes on the tabletops provided feminine flair alongside pink blooms.

At the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund gala in Bradenton, Florida, in 2007, coffee beans filled cigar boxes on high-top tables to match the event's tropical theme and mood.

In what could be described as a meta interpretation of a traditional floral centerpiece, David Stark used twine to create flower-shaped centerpieces at the Museum of Arts and Design's Visionary Awards gala in New York in 2007.

At the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design benefit in New York in 2012, David Stark's installation for Benjamin Moore used real books and hand-made pop-up books to highlight the concept behind the brand's slogan: “A whole new chapter in paint color technology is being written.”

In September, the renovated Riverside ballroom at Austin, Texas's Radisson Hotel & Suites Downtown opened with a food-centric event that saw produce contained in veggie cartons as decor.

Rock candy made for a more budget-friendly and unexpected—not to mention edible—centerpiece at Chicago's Children's Ball in 2008.

At the Elle Women in Hollywood awards this month at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, long-time producer Caravents worked with Elle event director Katie Crown on the overall vision and event design. Blush tones in details from the linens to the roses created a feminime feel along with graphite mirror runners with clear cylinder vases.

At Diffa Dining by Design's New York iteration in 2013, Kenneth Cobonpue placed plates and cups in organic shapes on a spare wood table. The minimalist setting allowed eyes to focus on the living centerpiece: a cluster of moss topped with bowls that held live Betta fish.

Killy Scheer of Scheer & Company created an eclectic artist’s workshop filled with volumes of books, paint brushes, tassels, feathers, and single candle sticks.