Trends 2013

For the ESPN ESPY Awards preparty in Los Angeles in July, DNA Events set up a golf-inspired display of doughnut holes on toothpick tees on an AstroTurf-covered table.

For a fund-raiser in Boston, the Catered Affair set up a doughnut-on-a-stick bar, where guests could top their own treats with colored sugar, candy, and more.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art's most recent ArtEdge Gala in Chicago, Jewell Events Catering set up a Pegboard that held chocolate, cinnamon-sugar, glazed, and old-fashioned cake doughnuts.

Juicy Couture's Gold Coast boutique in Chicago threw an in-store shopping event for customers last year. Truffleberry Market served passed bites, including salted caramel mini doughnuts on hot pink zebra-printed trays.

Abigail Kirsch in New York repurposed a plate display rack by turning it on its side to hold smoked cheddar-glazed mini doughnuts dusted with peanut brittle.

Evoke, the event design and planning company based in Washington, D.C., designed this doughnut wall out of Pegboard, with 1,200 wooden golf tees holding chocolate-glazed, cinnamon-sugar, and powdered doughnuts. A server with a step stool is on hand to pull doughnuts off the wall. Design Cuisine executed the concept.

Vietnamese-inspired eatery BonMi caters for parties of six or more. The Complete BonMi package costs $15.65 per person and includes bánh mì-style sandwiches (with a choice of vegetarian or non-vegetarian filling), green salad with pickled vegetables, a variety of bagged crunchy snacks, and healthy sweets made with dates, almonds, and dried fruits. Summer rolls and house-made beverages are also available.

At the 2011 fete, ballerinas performed an excerpt from the ballet The Great Gatsby just before the live auction and DJ began.

Entertainers dressed as 1920s flappers served as greeters.

Live musical acts are borrowing inspiration from the evocative 1920s period. Costumed entertainers took the stage at a collaboration between the New York Botanical Garden and Stephen Starr Events in March.

A Great Gatsby-themed wedding planned by Swank Productions Inc. featured escort cards arranged inside of a vintage card catalog.

The Chicago zoo’s July benefit had a theme inspired by The Great Gatsby. Designers from Frost and Event Creative aimed to bring an East Coast-mansion feel to HDO Productions’ dinner tent, stringing bunches of chandeliers over the dance floor.

In celebration of the upcoming film, the Plaza recently transformed its champagne bar into a Moët & Chandon pop-up. The space holds an old-fashioned champagne cart, meant to resemble a fixture at one of Gatsby's parties.

A Perfect Event and BBJ Linen recently collaborated on a Great Gatsby-inspired birthday celebration in Chicago. Customized, mini champagne bottles stood in for place cards at each setting. BBJ's pearl-strewn napkin rings evoked the fashions of the jazz age, while A Perfect Event's ostrich-feather place mats, orchids in silver dip-dyed glasses, and gilded Moroccan votive holders "added true Jay Gatsby excess to the tables," said Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event.

Revel Decor recently brought in 1920s-style decor for a photo shoot with Carasco Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago. BBJ provided Art Deco-style linens while Okyne Medialab brought in sepia-hued lighting.

For the photo shoot, Hall's provided vintage-style champagne glasses, including a coupe adorned with polka dots.

At a 1920s-style private event in Chicago, Jewell Events Catering served a blackberry-champagne sorbet intermezzo in a cored apple. The palate cleanser was presented on Hall's Gothic Gold china set on gold Sunburst chargers, with Amber glassware; Private Label Linen created custom, Art Deco-style linens.

Toronto's AdBall, held at the Mod Club on January 31, had a Great Gatsby theme. Performers dressed in period garb entertained on a digital runway created by 5th Element Events; later in the evening, the runway held a fashion show that featured ad industry bigwigs as models.

Event Creative designer Meredith Treinen brought an East Coast look to the Ivy Room for the spirit's launch party in Chicago last summer. Decorative elements included fresh wheat in birch containers, blue hydrangeas in wood boxes, and votive-filled Mason jars. Lighting cast leafy projections on the walls.

The Joffrey Ballet's 2010 spring gala had a modern look, with abstract fabric sculptures that hovered over the cocktail tables and formed a barrier between the reception area and dinner tables.

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.

White decor dominated the ballroom at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles for Elle's Women in Hollywood awards in 2009. The space, which was decked out in white furnishings, linens, and dinnerware, had splashes of color in the form of floral centerpieces.

At the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award after-party in Los Angeles in 2010, white flowers topped the tufted bars.

For Diffa's New York Dining by Design benefit in 2004, Robert Rufino of luxury jewelry company Tiffany crafted a towering centerpiece of white feathers and strings of iridescent beads. The structure was surrounded by small bunches of white flowers at the base. Other touches included marabou boas, which draped the backs of the chairs, and a white rug.

Hospitality brand Nikki Beach hosted a V.I.P. pop-up lounge for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009. The space on the 18th floor of the Park Hyatt was outfitted with flowing white curtains and white quilted leather furnishings, and white-lacquered bamboo was used to divide the space.

The Giselle gala at the Harris Theater this year boasted all-white decor with large, transparent cubes that were suspended from the ceiling in the dining area. Ferns and white freesia dotted the table tops.

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.

At Tourism Toronto's client reception in 2007, a three-tiered acrylic structure that was accented with wild white flowers and green vines served as a display for all-white chocolate sushi bites.

Diffa's Chicago Dining by Design benefit in 2010 featured an all-white display by CS Interiors, with white bird-shaped props at each place setting and fluffy white pillows on chairs.

For New York's first Dîner en Blanc at the World Financial Center Plaza last year, guests were asked to wear white clothing and bring a list of items—including white plastic folding chairs and square tables, white tablecloths and napkins, white dinnerware.

In 2006, nonprofit art organization Performa instructed its guests to wear white—the combined "canvas" of their outfits served as moving screens for colorful video projections produced by Gerrit Vooren and Brian Miller of Reels4Artists.

For a fun spin on a summer favorite, LoLo Event Design has caterers serve passed bite-size ice cream cones and ice cream sandwiches.

Last fall, Tori Spelling and J.C. Penney celebrated the launch of Spelling's line for kids, Little Maven, at a family-friendly event at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. Banners strung between treelike posts decorated the outdoor area.

On the first day of the conference, passed breakfast selections included smoked salmon on miniature bagels.

Guests also noshed on yogurt with fruit and granola. The miniature parfaits were passed on trays decked in cute, checkered napkins.

Other vendor-passed breakfast selections included compressed watermelon salad in cones, deviled eggs with bacon and smoked paprika, mini "St. Francis" quiches, assorted danishes, plus "super food" bubble smoothies in flavors such as pomegranate and honeydew.

Colorful tubes held breakfast-smoothie shooters.

One server, dubbed the "Rocket Man," had a backpack filled with coffee.

Lunch on day one was served family-style and presented on a lazy Susan. Food options included assorted artisan rolls and pita triangles with hummus, olive tapenade, lemon thyme, and olive oil.

On the second day, guests sat down to a "Napa-style picnic lunch." Snack options included baskets of rolls, pitchers of pink lemonade, and Mason jars filled with cookies.

Day two had a packed schedule, so guests who couldn't sit down for lunch had a grab-and-go option.

Guests filled small bags with Bavarian pretzel sandwiches with roasted turkey, honey mustard, and spinach.

Grab-and-go options also included Mason jars filled with Italian pasta salad.

Monochrome weddings are getting an updated twist lately, as seen in the table and setup by Edge Floral Event Designers. Think understated—even rustic—furnishings that allow details like flowers and wallpaper to pop without looking overdone.

The rustic look has moved into the realm of total refinement, as seen in the setup from Simply Chic Events, which came complete with reclaimed wood and an Edison-style bulb chandelier.

The ever-chic black-and-white motif gets new energy with the help of dramatic metallic accents. At the setup by Events in the City, a gold sparkle wall and gold glitter flatware add festivity to an otherwise preppy look.

If the ombré trend extends to wedding confections, why not to corporate events too? The good-luck cake from TipsyCake at Poladora launch party blended from white to green.

Mexican themes lend themselves to such whimsy and colorfulness. The table from A Perfect Event shows off a well-executed, conversation-starting example.

Flowers are no longer strictly contained by vessels. Sofitel Los Angeles let blooms trail from an oversize arrangement—a similar look to the Recording Academy's Bollywood-inspired after-party for the Grammys.

Planners may already have seen this theme evolve: chandeliers, chandeliers, chandeliers. At the Wedding Salon showcase Premiere Party Rents hung one from a wedding canopy. For corporate events, the ceiling treatments can be hung from tent ceilings, above food stations, or over an arrivals carpet.

Illuminated chandeliers are eye-catching additions to weddings and corporate events alike. The floral and crystal chandelier installed by Karla Conceptual Event Experiences and lit by Frost Florida, packed a punch in purple.

Live musical acts are borrowing inspiration from the evocative 1920s period. Costumed entertainers took the stage at a collaboration between the New York Botanical Garden and Stephen Starr Events.

Lamb kebobs and Mediterranean couscous with rose tea sips from Mary Giuliani Catering & Events in New York.

Shepherd’s pie with a gougère cup, horseradish potato puree, English peas, pearl onions, and braised beef short rib paired with a mini shot of Guinness from Boutique Bites in Chicago

Roasted calabaza and chorizo tartlette with spiced goat cheese and candied walnut served with a “Not Hot” toddy with sparkling apple cider, Maker’s Mark bourbon, orange, lemon, fresh mint, a touch of honey, and a dash of cinnamon and clove from Creative Tastes Catering & Event Production in Miami

Brulée cinnamon French toast with seared fois gras, ice cider gelée glazed with choice of cape gooseberry, bing cherry, blackberry, or apple coupled with Antolino Brongo Cryomalus ice cider from Kindred Spirits Catering in Toronto

Harissa shrimp with mango dip paired with a shooter of mango lasse from East Meets West Catering in Boston

Arancini de riso with butternut squash, sage, mascarpone, and brown butter pancetta vinaigrette paired with a pumpkin martini with cream liqueur, vanilla vodka, pumpkin spice syrup, and garnished with whipped cream and a cinnamon stick from Choura Events in Long Beach, California

Thai-style local skirt steak tacos with cilantro, onion, sour cream, and sriracha paired with Phoebe’s Fall Pilsner brewed by Eat & Smile in Washington

In keeping with its coastal theme, Disney Yacht and Beach Club convention center is offering a pan-fried soft-shell crab sandwich with chipotle mayo.

The Waldorf Astoria Orlando's velvet pillows are actually made from chocolate mousse topped with an edible "diamond" made of sugar.

At the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, food is art and vice versa. The catering department can affix hors d'oeuvres to paintings of food for an unusual display at receptions.

The Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center has created a green tea moelleux, topped with Midori melon liqueur gelée and served with fresh cream.

Rosen Shingle Creek's Tobias Flats restaurant can create a flatbread station for events. Menu choices include the McIvey flatbread, topped with Florida rock shrimp, pesto, fresh mozzarella, and oven-roasted tomatoes.

Puff 'n Stuff Catering added a dragon berry mojito to its bar menu. The cocktail starts with either Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum or Skyy Dragon Fruit Vodka, blended with crushed raspberries, dragon fruit, lime, and mint, and garnished with a sliver of dragon fruit.

Toasted pumpkin bread serves as the base of the Peabody Orlando's new fall root vegetable crostini. The topping is diced and caramelized parsnips, carrots, celeriac, and sweet potatoes, mixed with tomatoes, goat cheese, thyme, cloves, and cinnamon.

Cuisiniers Catered Cuisine and Events offers a new take on the classic B.L.T.: a rye crostini topped with bacon marmalade and heirloom tomatoes served with micro arugula and house-made mayo.

Upper Crust Catering and Cakery is a new full-service catering company based in Kissimmee. The company offers a variety of cake pops, such as these made with chocolate banana cake coated with dark chocolate ganache and Frangelico simple syrup, and then dipped in dark chocolate.

The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is using contemporary nesting tables to create eye-catching catering displays. The tables can be set up in a variety of configurations. When they are not being used for events, the tables serve as furniture in the hallways of the hotel's newly renovated meeting area.

Charcuterie selections hanging from a steel bow, by Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek in Florida