Urban Earth Design Studios: January 2010

Urban Earth was the Design Sponsor of the Wedding Lunch at the recent Special Event tradeshow and conference held here in New Orleans January 12-15. Our lunch was for 550 guests and was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Riverside Hotel. 180 of those guests were VIP and given special seating consideration. Our keynote speaker was Darcy Miller, editor of Martha Stewart Weddings. Entertainment was one by of our favorite local bands, The Soul Rebels, represented by Mothership Entertainment.

Here are a few shots of our room and tabletop design concepts, along with a few thoughts about our approach.

Our theme: Un Jardin d'Amour: The Painted Landscape. We divided the large room into three nature-inspired themes: river and water, meadowland garden, and an elevated woodland plantscape. The look of each section was very different so we used some common elements and textures to tie it all together.

First, we looked at the whole room as a design element. We are tired of events where the room is an endless sea of big round tables set on a grid, each with a single centerpiece plopped into the middle. Banquet furniture, if it's not provided by your venue, is something you likely have the rent anyway, so mix it up a bit and use different sized and shaped tables and play with them. We had a big room with a big guest count and everyone had to have a seat so it took a lot of furniture. And, since we were at a large convention-oriented hotel property, we had access to a large amount of staging so we could "go overboard" a bit with the raised tables, but you can do it on a smaller scale too with great effect.

The outer tables on each side of the room were set on risers at two different levels- our Woodland Plantscape. The long tables were our Meadowland Garden. The inner rounds became our River.

Woodland Plantscape

Half of our elevated tables featured 5' tall stylized trees of Red Twig Dogwood, each with a different collection of live and cut botanicals at the "roots." Succulents, purple violets, Dutch Hydrangea, black Ti Leaves, After Dark Agonis, and purple Cauliflower were included in the mix. The other tables featured a single double-bloom Lady Slipper Orchid presented in a 24" tall glass cylinder topped with a moss sphere and a ring of Red Twig Dogwood to hold it all in place. On both tables we used battery operated LED lights. Normally, we don't like the cold light these give off, but in this it looked a bit like moonlight and worked with our theme.

Meadowland Garden

Tables ranged in length from 18' to 66' comprised of doubled 6' banquet tables. We love long rectangular tables. Centerpieces were dramatic in presentation, but simple in content and construction. Plate glass bowls in three lengths were filled with red Dutch Tulips. We chose to use Hydrangea as the medium into which the tulips were set. The result was a centerpiece with all organic content - nothing that will sit in a landfill forever. The container is recyclable or reusable so nothing went to waste.

River Theme

Guest were only seated at 72" rounds. Unseated 60" and 36" rounds were interwoven with the seated tables and used only for decor elements. The result was a single winding centerpiece that surrounded or passed by you. Nothing was just plopped in the center of the table. A different coordinating linen was used on each size table. The tables also overlapped each other as they flowed through the center of the room. This is our twist on the bridal head table. This was on a large scale- this table was nearly 90' long- but you can do it on a smaller scale, too. We used a lot of glass bowls in three sizes stacked atop one another and incorporated floating candles, glass pebbles, and botanicals. Lavender Dutch Hydrangea, hot pink Garden Roses, and blue Delphinium worked their way along our river to create the look of froth, bright warm contrast, and flow. A touch of light green Romanesco Cauliflower became the "rocks."

Photos by Alisha & Brook info@alishabrook.com

A big thanks to Patrick and Chase with See-Hear Productions for their lighting and sound expertise. We couldn't have done it without you.

We enjoyed the very disntinct pleasure of getting to know three wonderful designers in the Wedding Gallery, just adjacent to the Lunch. The design challenge given to them was to create a wedding setting based upon one common element: Wood, Metal, Glass, and Paper. Frank Andonoplas from Chicago had the metal challenge; Sasha Souza from Napa Valley designed using wood; and Janet Flowers from Rockville, MD designed with Paper. Each gallery was beautiful, unique and very interesting. Unfortunately, the designer designing with glass was unable to participate at the last minute.

Tariq Hanna with Sucre' here in New Orleans did four fantastic cakes- each based on one of the four elements noted.