BACKDROPS

For a donut-themed bridal shower put together by blogger Elsie Larson, a giant chalkboard filled with descriptive doodles served as the backdrop of the food spread.

The design concept touched all areas of Skylight SoHo's 15,000-square-foot interior, including the hallway, which Target remodeled into a Parisian-style boulevard with lampposts, painted illustrations of buildings, and trees surrounded by benches.

The backdrop for the green-colored red-carpet arrivals area was a vertical living garden, which the organizers have created at previous iterations of the auction. This year, for the first time, the press wall incorporated found branches alongside palm fronds, moss elephant ears, phalaenopsis, air ferns, clovers, cabbage, Boston ferns, pitcher plants, staghorn ferns, asparagus ferns, busy ivy, English ivy, and lemon leaf. Many of the plants were replanted after the event.

Filled with white pillows and a hookah pipe, the setting from Carnegie, designed by Gensler, resembled a hookah lounge.