Decorating

September 4, 2015

Dr Pepper Theme

For a recent wedding in Chicago, Truffleberry Market catering created Dr Pepper theme cupcakes for a couple who had bonded over their love of the soft drink on their first date.

Photo: Colin Lyons Photography

Fire and Ice Theme

Limelight Catering in Chicago recently created miniature Baked Alaska desserts for a "Fire and Ice" theme event in Chicago. The "flamed-to-order" desserts comprised stacked strawberry ice cream and dark chocolate cake wrapped with toasted meringue.

Photo: Erika Dufour for Limelight Catering

Musical Theme

Chicago's Jewell Events Catering recently catered a dinner for a musical instrument company. For dessert, the catering firm's custom cakes division created an edible harp. "The cake designers working on the project utilized fondant to give the cake a realistic look and feel and built it according to the exact specifications of a real-life harp," said a company rep.

Photo: Courtesy of Jewell Events Catering

Be Inspired PR hosts and produces the Tassels and Tastemakers event twice each year for event and wedding industry professionals, plus media, bloggers, and other influencers. The most recent iteration on March 25 brought a Western theme to Carondelet House in Los Angeles. Beth Helmstetter Events designed the dance floor, where string lights hung above denim sofa seating and rentals from Found Vintage Rentals.

Photo: Troy Grover

In March, Old Navy invited an all-ages crowd to celebrate spring at Fig & Olive in Los Angeles with the brand's style ambassadors Emily Current and Meritt Elliott. The so-called “On the Road” event had an Americana road trip theme with a colorful map motif. Collaged maps comprised a decor wall that also served as a photo backdrop.

Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

At the Los Angeles premiere for last summer's A Million Ways to Die in the West, projection mapping depicting time-lapse scenes from a desert illuminated the façade of an adjacent building. On the opposing wall was a projection of a moon and night sky.

Photo: Doug Hac

Held in a transformed parking lot venue, the premiere party's theme evoked a county fair. Props included a 1920s-era stagecoach.

Photo: Doug Hac

In 2013, Target feted its collaboration with charity organization Feed Projects with a rustic Americana-style event at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Wheatgrass flats, wheat stocks, and Mason jars topped wooden farm tables

Photo: Nilaya Sabnis

With the tagline, "Where the grass is greener," the March 2013 gala dinner and auction for the Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School had a garden theme. Rather than using live plants, Peggy Young & Associates covered the Santa Cruz, California, school with artificial turf, including the dining tables and the auction display where guests searched for items amidst the faux grass.

Photo: Courtesy of Peggy Young & Associates

Creating a garden within a garden for the Chicago Botanic Garden's Summer Dinner Dance on June 21, HMR Designs hung birdcage chandeliers strung with white lilies and covered poles with trellises in the dinner tent. Banners decorated with botanical prints of flowers added to the look.

Photo: Courtesy of the Chicago Botanic Garden

It may have been warm outside when Absolut introduced its Orient Apple vodka flavor in 2011, but that didn't stop the brand from turning an indoor gallery into an apple orchard. The New York launch event involved 7,000 square feet of sod, live trees, and barrels of apples, as well as picnic rugs and tree stumps.

Photo: Gustavo Campos

Best Floral Design for an Event or Meeting

Amusement Park-Theme Bar Mitzvah
Submitted by Penncora Productions Inc.
Inspired by a teen’s love of amusement parks, the ceiling in the main dining room of the bar mitzvah featured trussing designed to resemble roller coaster tracks. Petah Bashano Floral Design adorned the tracks with elaborate all-white floral cascades. Orbs with glowing tea light candles accented the dangling arrangements, offering an elegant interpretation of an amusement park theme.

Photo: Courtesy of Penncora Productions Inc.

Best Use of Video at an Event

AltaSea Preview
Submitted by Megavision Arts
AltaSea—a project that will transform the Port of Los Angeles’s public waterfront into a marine research campus—created an immersive multimedia display to introduce the concept to the local community. A multiscreen 360-degree video showed viewers the history of the port, while additional imagery was played in synchronization on 31 screens made of tension fabric. Images of sea life were also projected onto the floor and ceiling.

Photo: Courtesy of Megavision Arts

Pinecones and tree branches decorated the taco bar at Deutsch LA's Studio 54-theme holiday party, held at Hangar 8 in Santa Monica, California, in December 2014.

Photo: Sherri J Photography

The seasonal greenery also appeared as table decor, along with lanterns and goblet-style votive candlesticks, complementing the rustic vibe of the dining space.

Photo: Eric Rademacher

Tree stumps served as vases for white amaryllis flowers as well as candleholders and added a contrasting element to the glittery sequin linens at the corporate gathering.

Photo: Elizabeth Bruneau