One dress size more and another holiday season under my belt, I welcome the New Year by attending the first of the 2011 design/décor conferences. The 2011 Special Event conference took place in Phoenix, AZ this year. I don’t know about anyone else but this attendee happily welcomed the 75degree temps versus record low temps and record high snow-fall in New York. Here are some takeaways from the conference:

First and foremost – Colour – TPTB (Pantone) have decided the 2011 Hot color of the year is Honeysuckle! So don’t be surprised when every single design and wedding magazine you pick up is saturated with it.

getmarried magazine deems textured fabrics on “timeless white” accessorized with a mixture of onyx, gold and pearls, this year’s Hot wedding look. Now I don’t know about the honeysuckle but I absolutely agree with getmarried mag. This combination of elements provides an elegance, class and chicness you rarely find these days. It’s somehow a very understated and powerful look at the same time.  Check out the 2-page collage in their 2011 spring issue or www.getmarried.com.

The lighting features and booth displays are always spectacular at these conferences. But then it doesn’t take much to impress me. I was mesmerized by the new snow machines. Of particular interest to me was the fpi booth.  Fortune Products Inc. offered a variety of new lighting products as well as upgrades and new twists on some already existing ones. Check out their 2011-2012 Product Catalog or www.fortuneproducts.com.

The main event at this conference is the wedding gallery. Here, a host of designers featured a variety of gorgeous designer wedding gowns and tier cakes.  Once I was able to tear myself away from the wedding cake display, I made way onto what became my most favorite part of this event…the wedding showrooms. In this area there were at least ten wedding setups that ranged in style from classic, to modern to my personal favorite of them all, old Hollywood. You just can’t beat a look that includes elements like black and white photos, brushed silver floral vases, white leather pants and hundreds of lavender Mokara orchids. The white leather pants were what the bartender was wearing, and they are all he was wearing – but they really made this room complete! But I digress…whether you are a bride-to-be or an industry professional this is one conference that is worth attending. You get great insight into what’s to come in the wedding world!

With a new year comes one of my most favorite seasons – Spring! Spring time offers a variety of beautiful flowers. A few of my favorites are ranunculus, tulips, anemones, magnolia, allium and a whole host of others which come in a vast array of colors. Our spring feature this month is the Red Parrot Tulip. The parrot is my favorite of all tulips because the petals appear to have been painted on with a brush, creating a dramatic rich look and is locally grown by our own farmers. Whether it’s regular tulips, French or parrot you can never go wrong with this flower!

Little known fact: Tulips are the only flowers that continue to grow after they’ve been cut!

Figure 1 Red Parrot Tulips, Red/Yellow Alstrameria, Bear Grass

The holidays are here again. Whether we’re celebrating Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas or Kwanza, with them comes an air of tumultuous sentiments. This is because the holidays mean something different to all of us. For some it is a joyful time we look forward to because we get to see our family, friends and loved ones over food, drink and merriment. For others it’s a time of great sorrow, whether it’s because we’re spending it alone or with someone other than the person we’d like to spend it with. Or maybe we’re just a bit frazzled because we aren’t sure we’ve purchased the right gift, spent enough money on it or brought the appropriate dish or bottle of wine to dinner. Either reason leaves us with a distinct feeling of dread at the upcoming festivities.

What I’ve found over the holidays without fail is that no matter what you do or how hard you try, you’re never going to make everyone happy. It’s virtually impossible and is basically a general rule which applies to all things in life. We might as well eliminate that illusion right off the bat. So how do we survive it, get through it or even rise above it without losing what’s left of our sanity? Since my career change into floral design I have found that bringing flowers or plants are a sure crowd pleaser. A nice floral arrangement or poinsettia is always a fun and festive gesture. Of course there will always be the party-pooping-sniffle-head who happens to be allergic to everything under the sun, including its rising. But unless that person is the host, I tend to not worry about it.

Flowers make a statement. They add life, color and fragrance to any room. No matter how succulent that turkey appears to be or how shiny that glazed ham is, a beautifully chosen centerpiece will always make your table setting look that much more festive and inviting. Centerpieces happen to be a favorite of mine because of their versatility. Whether it’s the traditional glass vases of various shapes and sizes or the timeless silver mint julep cup in staggered heights, these arrangements allow us to tie together the table and dinnerware as well as the assorted linens. You can never go wrong with the classics when it comes to holiday florals. However, I find it interesting to stray from the day to day of it all. Thanksgiving happens to be one of my favorite holidays. I can stray the farthest in my floral choices because autumn flowers come in such a vast array of vibrant colors. Here I’ve chosen purple and mango calla lilies, coupled with brunella lilies, south African rubies and mullet; all placed in a square glass vase lined with purple ti leaves. Ti leaves are one of nature’s special creations. Whether in purple, red or green they allow us to bridge the gap in times when we are unable to find just the right container that will allow us to tie everything together and they are a lot less expensive than any vase.

Average sized centerpieces are great when you have lots of space but what happens when you don’t? Let’s face it, tables of 10 and 12 are large but are usually occupied by countless water and wine glasses, silver and dinner ware, not to mention grandmas side dishes. Or what happens when you have tiny gaps of space that aren’t being utilized? I say utilize them! Simple silver mint julep cups in staggered heights filled with purple and mango calla lilies accented with South African rubies and fern can fill those spaces with elegance, style and little pops of color. And guess what, they take up minimal amounts of space. Before you know it you’re dinner table is complete with all the necessary elements of a holiday dinner.

Now that our holiday table is complete with all the trimmings and fixings we can move on to other areas of the room that could use that little splash of color. Fireplace mantels, coffee tables and random ledges provide the perfect vehicle for such placements as it will tie the rest of the room in with our table. A simple window box style glass vase filled with all the elements of our table arrangements with just a few extras like hypericum berries and curly willow give us the added width, depth and height needed to fill up the space. The shape and length of calla lilies have this magical ability to reach out and fill in the negative spaces.

Our holiday theme all complete and festive like, we can digress into the question that’s been plaguing us all for years – whether we’re willing to admit it or not! Why is it that when dietary-challenged guests show up for the festivities we must all suffer the consequences of their nutritional issues. Whether it’s grandma trying to regulate her salt intake or grandpa calculating his cholesterol level, somehow we all must pay the price and are denied the ingredients that will make our food enjoyable-tasty even. What I want to know is, would the consumption of these various ingredients hurt anyone? Would a dash of Lawry’s season salt really catapult theses guests onto the fast-track to cardiac arrest landing them in an early grave? I think not, especially if they’ve been adhering to these diets as they should have been all along.

What I find most appealing about the holidays is most people’s willingness to throw caution to the wind and indulge in the festivities – because it’s what I do! I say eat, drink and be merry. Then eat some more, drink even more (as long as you aren’t driving) and be even merrier. Spend a little more on that very special gift, buy the better ingredients to make your holiday meal that much more authentic and special. This is what the holidays are all about; indulging in the over-excesses of life that we deny ourselves throughout the rest of the year because it simply isn’t wise, or acceptable or politically correct. In short, live a little! You have 49 other weeks in the year to be a spendthrift. The holidays are like everything else in life – they are what you make them! Why not make them enjoyable? And when they roll around the following year, the ones who dread them might not as much anymore and those who look forward to them will do so even more.