pure whimsical

The dining area on the top deck can seat 18 in dark green leather banquettes and Louis Ghost chairs.

High Style Rentals showed off its collection of colorful rentals on the show floor, including the bright yellow Jasmine chaise and Lord’s chair, and the purple Tiffany tête-à-tête.

Ruth Fischl’s booth showcased the linen and prop rental company’s patterned laser-cut material, which comes in the form of a rentable gazebo or can be applied to floors, tabletops, and lampshades.

Caterers report that pies filled with seasonal fruit are becoming a popular dessert item at events. These latticed fruit pies are by Tip of the Tongue Caterers.

8. Spectacular night view for your event

#1 Parade, Walk, Festival & Holiday Event
Drawing two million visitors for six days of events each summer, the Boston Harborfest includes the popular Chowderfest and Parade of Ships. Next: June 27-July 4, 2013

Accommodations at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay are accessible only by water. The 58 pool villas are situated on the beach front, on the hillside, and over rock formations in which private swimming pools have been crafted.

The Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa, located on a private island, has 120 suite-sized villa bungalows—including the over-water bungalows that are the country's signature draw. The two 3,400-square-foot Presidential Suites located at the Nui’s northernmost point have features like private plunge pools on the lower deck, expansive living rooms, two bedrooms apiece, bath tubs that appear to hang over the lagoon, and hot tubs on the top decks. All over-water bungalows have windows in the floor to the lagoon below.

When winter begins, a team of snow-builders, architects, designers, and artists from all over the world gather in the town of Jukkasjärvi north of the Arctic Circle to create each year's vision of IceHotel under the direction of the IceHotel Art & Design Group. It's built of ice and snow—the first and the largest such property in the world. The snow is sprayed on huge steel forms and freezes. The forms are removed, leaving free-standing corridors of snow in which dividing walls are built in order to create rooms and suites. The property's concepts originate from the river Torne, the arctic climate, the northern lights, and other local characteristics. More than a hotel, the property bills itself as "an ephemeral art project."

At the Four Seasons Hotels Thailand Chiang Mai, the Ratree Bar and Lounge has a casual Thai-style ambiance and decor in rich blues and woods, with mirrored accents.

In 2011, Vikram Chatwal opened his second Dream property in New York. The Dream Downtown has the whimsical design its name implies. Frank Fusaro of Handel Architects handled the overall design, a multimillion-dollar renovation of a modernist building designed by Albert C. Ledner in 1966.

The Pantone Hotel in Brussels, designed by Michel Penneman and Olivier Hannaert, has a distinctive hue on each colorful guest floor. A white canvas provides clean space for bright colors to pop. Guest rooms have photography by Belgian photographer Victor Levy.

The main building of Santa Monica's new silver LEED-certified Shore Hotel has an open-air, U-shaped design, which surrounds an outdoor pool and patio under a distinctive, steel-trestle roof. The main building also has a three-tier sky bridge that connects it to a second collection of rooms that afford Pacific views.

The Morgan Hotel Group’s first Mondrian property in New York made its debut in 2011 with a design inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film La Belle et la Bête—the romantic French fantasy also known as Beauty and the Beast. In SoHo, one block east of Broadway, the 270-room Mondrian SoHo joins the Mondrian in Los Angeles and Mondrian South Beach in the hospitality company's portfolio of design-minded boutiques and carries the same artsy sensibility as its sister properties.

The Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan is nestled in the jungle above Bali’s Ayung River and has a lily pond on its rooftop.

The lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey has a cascading crystal light fixture evocative of champagne bubbles or a fisherman’s net being pulled from water (depending on your Rorschach-like interpretation).

The brand-new Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai has an indulgent 41st-floor spa with sweeping city views from floor-to-ceiling windows and curvilinear poolside lounges.

The restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort Marrakech, Bleu d'Orange, is awash in colorful traditional design including luxe, spice-colored throw pillows.

At the Clift hotel in San Francisco, the lobby is centered on Philippe Stark’s signature “Big Chair” with Louis XIV embroidery on imported French silk. Overall, the lobby’s collection of chairs, tables, and lamps, including other pieces by Dali and Ray and Charles Eames, is valued at more than $1.5 million.

Philippe Starck is behind the whimsical and surrealistic interiors at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills.