A Holiday Wonderland on a Tabletop

When I retired from flowers a few years back,  I kept one client. We usually do just one event a year - a client appreciation luncheon.   This year, she asked me to work with her on the company Christmas party.    I was thrilled that she asked.  I love doing flowers for her, and I love Christmas, and I knew it would be a whole lot of fun.

It was.  In fact, it was probably the most fun I've ever had while working with flowers.  

The event was held in the Presidential Suite at the Westin Hotel in Seattle.  It's a beautiful space, and the view from the suite is outstanding.  The twinkling lights of downtown make the perfect backdrop for a holiday party.

My client has a lot of props to work with, so we met prior to the event to pull a few pieces for the 20 foot table we would be decorating.  We chose a few trees, candles, and baubles and had a great brain-storming session.     

I left our meeting feeling really inspired, and began charting out the plan.  I ordered all the flowers, selected containers, and began making the non-perishble  details for the party.   

Setting up the party was an all-day affair.  A lot of the pieces were made in advance, but the assembling of all the elements still took a great deal of time.

The table scape was lush, and packed with many little details.  I really wanted to create something special for the guests - something rich and layered and filled with surprises to be discovered while they dined.  

In the center of the table, we placed a large acrylic tree.  The branches were decorated with mercury glass icicles and moss nests occupied by sparkly little birds.   When illuminated by the candles beneath, the tree looked like it was made of ice.





We also placed several wire trees with little pearls on their branches down the center of the table.  The branches disappeared,  leaving the pearls to hang in the air.



Our friends at Choice Linens provided the linens for the event. They did an amazing job draping our gigantic table.



The flowers on the table were thick.   Black Magic roses, hydrangeas, cymbidium orchids, amaryllis,  greens and berries filled the mercury glass vases.













Low and tall candles in birch and mercury glass ran the length of the table and illuminated the display.



Tucked between the candles, trees and flowers were little vignettes built inside birch tubes.  The scenes inside were little woodland creatures exchanging miniature christmas gifts.   Little "fires" were made using twigs and faux votives.

   


















In addition to the floral displays on the 20 foot table, there were many other flowers placed around the suite.






And of course there were poinsettias.  You can't have a holiday without poinsettias.




I was there when the guests arrived, and everyone seemed to really enjoy this display.  It was fun to watch them circle the table,  discover the details, point them out to each other, and smile.


I took SO many pictures of the event  - too many to put in this post - so if you would like to see more, you can visit this Flickr set.