Ideas

The June 25 American Academy of Hospitality Sciences' Five Star Diamond Awards ceremony took on A Midsummer Night's Dream theme, which saw Benny Ofer of Daniel Events design an enchanted garden with flower-covered stands and hanging grapevines inside the Addison in Boca Raton, Florida.

Inspired by Shaker culture, Fleurs Bella filled a raw New York space with tools, objects made from organic materials, aromatic plants, wooden doors, baskets, and other paraphernalia for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2007 Next Wave gala. One hallway was lined with willow and maple trees.

Channeling English gardens as a nod to the "AngloMania" exhibition, the 2006 gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute placed tables in mini garden plots, dividing the museum's Englehard Court using espalier apple trees surrounded by blooming bulbs of daffodils, hyacinths, and ferns. Moreover, grass covered the floors, 30-foot-tall spirals of wisteria vine wrapped columns, and the dining tables were bare willow wood.

After hosting the reception on the elevated park, the Friends of the High Line took the dinner portion of its 2010 summer benefit in New York inside the Phillips de Pury & Company gallery. The decor from Van Wyck & Van Wyck was designed to give the various rooms of the gallery a continuous look reminiscent of the High Line and included a 600-foot-long strip of foliage suspended overhead.

To create a lush, cocoon-like setting for the seating at the 2012 Two by Two for AIDS and Art gala and auction in Dallas, Todd Fiscus covered a banquette wall in boxwood-print slipcovers and topped it off with heather and hydrangeas.

The "Enchanted Forest of Curiosities" pop-up from Hendrick's Gin in December 2011 put moss-covered woodland creatures, fabric-draped trees, tree-stump stools, glitter-specked dirt, and fake snow in a vacant Brooklyn storefront.

During Fashion Week in New York in February 2012, Tommy Hilfiger fashioned an elaborate set that resembled a gated garden. The showing of the designer's men’s and women's collections at the Park Avenue Armory saw attendees seated at café tables, chairs, and benches, and a brick runway bordered with gravel and artificial maple trees.

Ronen Rental’s chalkboard bar features chalkboard panels set in an aluminum frame. The bar comes in two sizes: six feet long and four feet long. Available to rent in South Florida, chalk is included. The company can also make custom stencils for easy personalization.

For a corporate event held in one of the hotel kitchens at the Atlanta Hyatt, Steve Bales of Bold American Events & Catering built floor-to-ceiling chalkboard walls on which he personalized each guest’s apron by scrawling his or her name next to it.

The Southern-hospitality-infused welcome bash at the Engage! luxury-wedding business summit, held in June at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, featured a chalkboard map that outlined the various locations of the four-part event.

In early April, attendees were sent a pre-arrival package that included a welcome note and a metal luggage tag.

After picking up their totes, attendees headed to an area to be assigned their groups for the lunch roundtable and dinner dine-around. They selected a poker chip at random; each chip was printed with the name of one of the dinner locations.

Continuing with the gambling theme, guests also selected a playing card (designed by Tricia Hay) that revealed the number of the table at which they’d be seated for the luncheon and which speaker would be hosting the table. “Like at any meeting, people tend to want to stick with who they know,” says Rebecca Grinalls. “So doing a blind pull like this helps create organic opportunities for networking with new people without making it feel forced.”

The welcome totes also included a trifold vanity kit. Each day of the conference had its own corresponding pouch of items. The “Get Ready” section included bath salts, an aromatherapy candle, and a box of matches. The “Engage” pouch had a tube of mints, lip balm, and massage cream. The “Glow” pouch featured items intended for use at the gala event, like nail polish, a mirror, and a portable kit with Band-Aids, blotting papers, and fashion tape.

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

Alison Events Planning & Design arranged white dahlias in wooden trays as a display for escort cards at a birthday party.

For a wedding at Union Station in Los Angeles, Sterling Engagements displayed escort cards printed to look like train tickets inside vintage suitcases.

Fête printed seating assignments on vinyl and elevated it above a square birch bar.

Lindsay Landman Events placed a display of candles in white shelves behind a clear table holding escort cards.

A cirque performer helped guests reach escort cards suspended from the ceiling at a wedding designed by Gloria Wong Design and Jubilee Lau Events.

Table 6 Productions avoided the problem of making guests wait for drinks at their table by attaching escort cards to cocktails.

Poppies & Posies set up a display of cookbooks wrapped with patterned fabrics that corresponded to the table number displays. Wedding guests found their names on the bookmarks and sat at the table that matched the fabric.

Jes Gordon/Proper Fun applied a vinyl appliqué printed with guests’ names and table assignments to an illuminated structure from Taylor Creative Inc.