Platinum New Year’s Eve Wedding

December 28, 2013December 28, 2013 / Alycia Nichols / 40 Comments

This past week or so I have been missing the rip, run and raucous roar of the years I spent as a professional wedding designer. Thank goodness I have this blog to purge those feelings because Lord knows my body could not go back to that kind of grueling, back-breaking (literally!), sleepless schedule.
(Click on any photo to enhance/enlarge it and see details up close.)

INSPIRATION: Sparkling silver & white Christmas tree napkin created by my friend & neighbor, Barbara.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said it like 100 times before, but I feel compelled to say it again: I have the best neighbors anyone could ask for!!! I was working on this tablescape for my winter 2013 “Art of Tablescaping” class that I teach through MCC-Longview, and up pops Barbara with these FABULOUS napkins!!! Her gift made me reevaluate the table and want to add design elements that would give it a little more zing. So I tore the tablescape down and started over!

The table is covered in a beautiful 90″ x 132″ platinum pintuck tablecloth from YourChairCovers.com. The diamond shape of the pintuck cloth fits right in with diamonds for a wedding!

This is a tablescape that – minus the napkins – could easily fit into any month of the year for a rehearsal dinner or wedding reception. For a Christmas or New Year’s Eve wedding reception, the napkins are spot on!

The place setting begins with a 13″ silverplate charger. The china used here is Easterling “Majestic” that my Mom gave to me a few years back. It’s staid design of dove grey rimmed in platinum with a white center to break up the concentration of color seemed perfect.

Each place setting has one of Barbara’s sultry, shimmery, beautiful napkins topped with a Moravian star. To see other tablescapes with Barbara’s napkin designs, click HERE and HERE. For the tutorial on how to create them yourself, click HERE for the YouTube video or HERE and scroll down to Tablescape Tip #31 for a step-by-step photo tutorial.

International Silver “Royal Danish” flatware, another gift from my Mom, is paired with Fifth Avenue crystal steak knives.

Mikasa’s “Jamestown Platinum” stemware is perfectly matched with the china.

The centerpiece is a mix of high and low with 29″ silver Revere candlesticks and multi-faceted candle holders in different shapes and sizes. I used rhinestone-studded wax pillars to add shine up high.

I gradually amassed this collection of faceted candle holders from Hobby Lobby and Home Goods over the years. Note how the glow of one of the votives on the table casts light beneath the rose ball. (To see another tablescape using some of these faceted votive and candle holders, click HERE for “Princess Pink Birthday”.)

The dining chairs are covered with silver satin universal chair covers recently purchased from LinenTablecloth.com. I love the way the so beautifully drape down the back of the chair! I used a fancy ornament hook to affix an embellishment of a pewter glass ball ornament, a clear glass ornament, and one of the Moravian stars which enhances the 3-D look.

The buffet behind the dining table is dressed with a huge faux evergreen, pine cone and white orchid arrangement in a beautiful mercury glass pilsner vase. The height of the arrangement helps to bring balance to the tall candlesticks on the table. Other elements from the dining table are repeated here including the rhinestone-studded pillar candles, the faceted candle holders in various sizes and shapes, the rose balls, and the Moravian stars.

The top of the china cabinet also has a few elements repeated from the table and buffet. Faceted crown candle holders hold white rose balls.

Other wedding-related posts on this site:
“Purple & Pastel”
“Bling Wedding”
“Roses in October”
“Showered in Pink”
“Fairy Tale Wedding Shower – Princess & the Frog”
“Something Blue Bridal Luncheon”
“Autumn White Wedding”
“Fete Noir et Gris”
“Planning in Purple”
“Love & Orchids”
“Rhapsody in Blue”
“Dinner for the Ladies in Waiting”
“Tented Green!”

I’ll publish a fun, contemporary New Year’s Eve cocktail/dinner party post tomorrow that will also be featured on Cuisine Kathleen’s blog party, “Let’s Dish!”. next Wednesday anytime after 6:00 p.m. CST. Meanwhile, join me and other talented bloggers right now for fabulous Christmas and New Year’s Eve design ideas on Susan’s 276th edition of “Tablescape Thursday”!

Kaleidoscope Christmas – Multi-Color Kids’ Tablescape

December 11, 2013July 28, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 44 Comments

INSPIRATION: Christmas kaleidoscope party favors purchased at Pier 1 several years ago.

Last week I posted “Merry & Bright – Multi-Color Christmas“, a tablescape for six adults, as part of a three-part series on how to create multiple settings using many of the same basic elements. Today we have the kids’ version of that table, something that would be suitable for children probably 7+.
(Click on any photo and then click again to see fine details up close!)

The same bright 90″ x 132″ red tablecloth from LinenTablecloth.com covers the table from head to foot.

I always like to break up a profusion of bright color with a little white. Here I use white melamine dinner plates from Target. They are topped with small appetizer plates, also from Target, juxtaposed to show off their shape and color. The appetizer plates are great for serving child-size servings of certain foods.

The kaleidoscope party favor with its fun stripes and playful snowmen brings additional color to the setting.

White casual flatware rests atop fun Christmas tree napkins created by my friend & neighbor, Barbara. For a tutorial on how to make these, click HERE for the video version or HERE for the pictorial version, Tip #31. I first used these terrific napkins during the 2012 Christmas season for “Black Friday Luncheon”. Again…using the same element to create a totally different environment!

Sometimes kids like to pretend they’re “eating fancy” like the adults, so I picked up these great molded plastic stems from Old Time Pottery.

Barbara also created this beautiful quilted runner to complement the napkins! It’s the perfect piece to pull all the parts of the centerpiece together!

What else do Grandmas do but fill the grandkids up with sugar and send them back home? 😉 I made bubble gum balls, Pixy Stix and old-fashioned hard candies a part of the tablescape using brightly colored bowls to display them.

I bought these cool, contemporary lime green vases a couple of years ago at Home Goods. For this kids’ tablescape, they take on a fun look when filled with handfuls of the same wispy multi-color jingle bell thingies used in a more formal setting last week. This time I added a multi-colored jingle bell candy cane to the vase to up its fun quotient. I first used these vases in a springtime tablescape that can be seen HERE.

Santa hats on the dining chairs lend a more kid-friendly look to the dining room. I first used these fun chair cover hats from Dollar Tree during the 2011 Christmas season in “Sugar High Payback”, another kid-friendly tablescape. Just $1 each for these covers that really change the room up! If you don’t know Dollar Tree, you don’t know bargain shopping!!! 🙂

I always like to extend the look of the table to the buffet behind it, so three smaller lime green vases are filled with the jingly thingies. (Honestly…I just don’t know what other name to assign them!) I used three to add balance to the room. For instance, if I use 1 vase on the table, I tend to use two or three on the buffet. Here I used 2 vases on the table, so the buffet gets three. It’s part of that “Rule of Three” when you work in odd numbers. It really does make a difference to the mind’s eye!

The vintage tea cart in the room becomes a bit more kid-friendly with the addition of goodies that no kid can possibly resist!

Bennington the Butler (one of my favorite Bombay Company purchases of all time!) loves to get into the spirit. Here he holds a jingle bell candy cane like the ones on the dining table vases. This helps to extend the theme to the outer parts of the room. Bennington’s Santa hat mimics those on the chairs.

This idea came to me as I sorted through the scads of ribbon rolls in my ribbon room. It’s a very simple idea and can be done with fancy satin ribbons like this or with less expensive but equally fun lengths of curling ribbon. If you opt for the curling ribbon, be sure to curl some and leave some straight for a more 3-D look. Decorating with ribbon is a fast, inexpensive way to bring color, texture and movement to a room!

Not to be outdone by his counterpart, Bennington, our faithful butler Geoffrey dons a fun Santa hat and offers treats to young guests as they arrive.

I didn’t post a photo of last week’s skinny Christmas tree in the corner of the dining room, but notice that the gold wire trees seen in last week’s post have now transferred from the buffet to the base of this tree with candles added for more shimmer at night. The addition of the tiny Nativity scene keeps it all within the reason for the season.

I added to the tree these beautiful Hallmark ornaments from over the years that are a treasured part of our collection.

These fun Pier 1 ornaments from several years ago rest beautifully in the same mercury glass-lined votive holders used on the buffet last week. Notice how they take on a much more playful look as assembled here.

In a few days I’ll post the 3rd and final tablescape from this series. I think you’ll like the new look it takes on! Meanwhile, please be sure to join Susan for “Tablescape Thursday” and Cuisine Kathleen for “Let’s Dish!” where there’s a fun “magazine copycat” challenge going on this week!

More winter and Christmas posts on this site can be found at:
Merry & Bright – Multi-Color Christmas
Christmas Through the Red Door
Pink & Purple Chocolate Christmas
Black Friday Luncheon Tablescape
Winter Dinner
Contemporary Christmas: Fire & Ice
Celebrating the Season
Sugar High Payback
Cranberry Christmas
Cranberry Christmas Squared
Checkered Christmas – A Snowman Theme
Get Me To the Church On Time
Christmas Progressive Dinner 2011
Black, White & Red All Over Christmas
Frosty the Snowman
Warm Metal Christmas
Winter Brunch
After the Hunt – Gentlemen’s Winter Retreat
plus NINE additional posts on a single page under the “WINTER” tab!!!

Black Friday Luncheon Tablescape

November 18, 2012November 15, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 41 Comments

The upcoming week will be a wild one for many of us as we prepare for Thanksgiving Day. Clean the house (or just throw everything in a couple of closets and put a bear trap in front of them!), polish the silver (or just stand at your front door and dispense those eye drops the optometrist uses to dilate your eyes so no one can see the tarnish!), iron the linens (or come up with a convincing story that wrinkles are the new smooth), stuff that turkey (ick! gross!), get yourself looking gorgeous (see ironing lie above), and create the Thanksgiving table of your family’s dreams (no, seriously…you really have to do this!). A lot of work indeed, but it’s the NEXT day you really need to concern yourself with: BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!

Yes, ladies & germs, Black Friday! That special day when Americans are so filled with the Christmas spirit that we wear steel-toed boots and pack brass knuckles in our Gucci bags just in case we have to fight over that last coveted and way overpriced toy du jour. That day when we spew words at other shoppers that would make a sailor blush if they “steal our parking space.” The only day of the year that crawling out of bed before the butt crack of dawn to brave the cold and the crowds actually makes sense to us. Black Friday! And after all that early morning bargain shopping with your ~~S.W.A.T. team~~ girlfriends, you’re going to want a civilized break in the action to drop off packages (to make room for Round II, of course!) and have a nice lunch. Here’s a quick and easy Christmas luncheon tablescape designed to re-energize the group and perhaps coax you to put down your battering ram in favor of a fork. 😉

You can only fit four girlfriends in your SUV and still have room for all the packages, so this table is set for five in the library.

Lots of bright colors will rev you up after a morning of ~~guerrilla warfare~~ shopping for bargains. My inspiration for this table is the fun Christmas tree napkin borrowed from my friend, Barbara. It’s packed with both traditional and non-traditional colors in a fun & festive pattern. (Click HERE for a video tutorial or look HERE – Tip #31 – for picture and/or video instruction on how to make these fun napkins from a half circle of fabric!) A cheery red full-length tablecloth picks up the red in the napkin, while a modern turquoise acrylic charger from Crate and Barrel serves as ground zero for each place setting. The plates are a creamy ivory stoneware by 10 Strawberry Street.

Glassware from Home Goods/T.J. Maxx in turquoise, green and blue works perfectly with the color palette. Stainless flatware is kept simple.

A melange of “sugared” fruits, winter greenery, red berry clusters, assorted ornaments in turquoise and green, and pine cones is assembled in a citrus-green ceramic planter. Additional fruits and ornaments are scattered at the base.

Lunch is served from the vitrine. Nothing fancy…a heart-healthy salad with grilled chicken strips, assorted whole grain breads, iced tea (but not too much…bathroom breaks are frowned upon once back out there in the shopping trenches! ;-)), and cookies-to-go for dessert. A floral arrangement similar to the one on the dining table graces the corner of the vitrine.

Simple and to the point! Now, ladies, it’s time to arm yourselves with credit cards, bail money (just in case things get out of hand out there!) and Depends (remember…bathroom breaks are a no-no!), and scream that age-old battle cry: CHARGE IT!!!!!!!!

Have a fun Black Friday, y’all! 🙂

P.S. – For those of you in the Kansas City area, please tune in (or set your DVR) to “Better Kansas City” on KCTV-5 on Tuesday, November 20 at 9:00 a.m. (CST). I’ll be featured in a live segment about tablescaping for the holidays! If you don’t live in this area, I’ll post a link to the station’s website after the show so you can point and laugh at me then! 🙂