In this entry to our “Behind the Design” series, we’re taking a look at the art of striking a balance: building off a single point of inspiration, our goal for this design plan was to take a classic wedding aesthetic and update it with a refreshing twist. My name for this setup came from TikTok, of all places: I kept thinking about a video where someone was talking about how an unexpected pop of red looked good in pretty much any color palette, with accompanying examples that each took me aback with how much I loved the effect: thus, “Suprise Red” was born.
Inspiration from European Ceramics and Tilework
My collaborator Alex Ferreri shared an image of some ceramics that she had saved (above, to the left), which I loved as well. As often happens when a client comes in with a key image of inspiration, I spent some time with it trying to distill why it worked as well as it did, and what about it could be translatable into a new design. Immediately the contrast between the red floral and the classic blue-and-white tablecloth stood out: each stood strongly in their juxtaposition, rather than trying to fade away and let the other shine.
With the help of a few image sources (never underestimate the power of the Pinterest algorithm!), I sought out more examples of this color story and was struck by an image of a church in India (above, to the right). Here the contrast played out even more strikingly with an expanded palette of orange-red and ice blue. Armed with this color vocabulary, I put together this mood board to begin the process.
Balancing the Tablescape
Creating harmony was the top pirority when putting together this plan. The second priority? Avoiding choices that felt a little too “Stars and Stripes Forever”, given the other connotations of a red, white and blue color scheme. To help balance these needs, I chose to begin with an aesthetic that felt a touch more Scandinavian, with some cleaner lines that helped break up the pattern and color we wanted to feature.
Linens and Chairs: The options at Nuage Designs were perfect for this base layer. Their Stockholm Chairs’s blonde tones and rounded lines brought a fresh feeling to the setup, while the Wedgewood Charleston linen was just about as classic as they come: a delightful blue and white nature-themed pattern with a weight heavy enough to anchor the tablescape on it. The Oxford Red was then our perfect “pop” to layer between the place settings and menu cards.
Tabletop: The Festive Frog was an easy chose to build out the tabletop elements. Using their woven chargers, Frida plates, and brushed Navy & Gold flatware, the busy colors and patterns were broken up by relatively neutral-toned pieces that still brought in texture and visual interest — one of my favorite ways to level up the sophistication of a tablescape. The vintage textured glass goblets were one of my personal favorite touches, adding a whimiscal note that didn’t compete with the vibrancy of the rest of the table.
Surprise Red!: Our floral and stationery elements is where the red could really sing: Atmosphere Events Group and Lively House and Home, respsectively, completely nailed the brief and brought in a really robust color palette of bright red and ice blue that knitted everything together perfectly. We kept the floral vessels and place card holders extremely neutral, using white ceramics to let the rest of the pieces truly shine.
Showtime
The day of the shoot, Chicago provided us with delightfully warm temperatures and sunshine, but a signficant lack of clouds to diffuse the light on this beautiful day. What resulted was a lovely dappled effect that let Alex Ferreri and Lydia of Morning Light Film Co. play with shadow in a way that I found incredibly interesting: at least in my opinion, when used correctly, shadows build a sense of depth and realism that make an image feel more of a specific place and time, with a bit more authenticity. Leaning into shadows in detail shots like flatlays and tabletops are very exciting to me!
When the gallery finally came back, I was delighted how everyhting came together, and have a few images to share with you here:
Final Thoughts
With the “Surprise Red” tablescape, we balanced tradition and boldness, creating a design that was both classic and fresh. It was a very rewarding exercise in building a larger plan off of one seed of an idea, and refining designs using the different visual vocabularies available to us in order to strike this balance.
To learn more about collaborating with Savoir Fête, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
