We do cut flowers and props for weddings, parties and events on occasion. I particularly enjoy creating a landscape to celebrate a specific moment, and that moment only. A beautifully imagined and executed event enchants the eye from that first moment, and can provide a framework around which great memories are created.
A good client participates in a one a year fundraiser for the educational programs at her synagogue. Participants create a Passover table around a theme of their own choosing. Tickets are sold, both to a luncheon, and an evening event.
My client has a big love for her part in this event. We may meet in November preceeding this late February event. We will meet three or four times subsequent to that, in order to have a plan in place. She also has a highly critical eye, and is willing to do what it takes to get every detail just to her liking.
My part in this? Part advisor, part fabricator, part problem solver, part fifth business. Fifth business? This is the one person in the opera who knows the relationships between all of the main characters, and keeps the audience apprised. When I am good, I am the fifth business. I try to anticipate the what will fit in and frame the space, what will go together quickly, what will represent the theme, and what will create a mood.
Most importantly, I realize that events belong to the people who host them-not me. I have certain skills with flowers. I have certain skills with designing spaces, working with color, creating visual interest, and proportion. But an event is never about my skills. It is about people who congregate and interact over a special celebration.
I think the toughest job any floral or event designer faces is figuring out how to work in such a way that the people involved, and that cause for celebration, shine.
My client thought long and hard about the theme for her Passover table. Every detail is thoughtful. Every detail contributes to the whole. Each object makes reference to the history, the holiday, and the theme she took so long to create.
Best of all, there is so much of her here. The objects she treasures are the foundation of her expression. There is a very clear story being told here-about both Barbra and Rashi’s vineyard.
I like the opportunity to participate in events that tell a story. A real story. Jenny went just before the tea to take these photographs-I was determined that we would do this.
Our photographs are by no means professional. But a visual story about the relationship over which this table was forged is a story the both of us want to remember.
