I think it must have started with the linen. A piece of natural linen that is a docile member of my growing textile stash. I remembered the extra bamboo plates leftover from our welcome party —  to show that you don’t always have to rent plates and whatnot to have a lovely table setting; and two, to keep things relatively neutral. Next up was a gorgeous golden ochre yellow, a long time favorite, that I’d hoped to incorporate through the flowers.

I’m a glutton for contrast – bright and bold, colorful and full. This would be an exercise in a little more restraint. Yellow and neutrals: calming, quiet, and pretty.

Alas, the flower shop had something else in store for me. They had beautiful date pods (golden, check!), burgundy dahlias, but it was the ‘Quicksand’ roses that had me in. Dusty, with pink and purplish hue, they were lovely. Adding in some winter white peonies, red ranunculus, scented geranium leaves, ‘Leucadendron Plumosum’ (aka: coned plumosum), privet berries, and ‘White Majolika’ spray roses, we were done.

I found that putting together a the main elements in a group and seeing how they interact was critical. It not only let me see how things relate to one another, these pictures would help me later when I was putting everything together — what goes with what, to keep me on track with my original ideas. Here’s the original grouping:

I was thinking about how to pull together a client’s rehearsal dinner and wedding reception centerpieces and remembered Martha Stewart Wedding’s (magazine) article about doilies – and went on a hunt for something along the same line – but in color. [And not exactly doilies. Die cut paper, really, is what I was after.] Michael’s had the lace-like scrap-booking paper that worked well as a background to each place setting. It was a natural evolution to include the purple and tan vases, the metallic gold of the votive holders helped bring things together. The napkins brought a much needed pattern to the whole assembly, while blending with the overall palette.

Much more pictures tomorrow – but what do you think? Is there any other information you’d like to know?