I wanted to start a new series of blog posts called Common Mistakes. I’ve found that what being an “expert” means is making 30 years worth of mistakes and learning from them. Everyone will make a mistake now and then (of course, we’re only human) and the thing you have to do is try to minimize the damage, and fix it (in whatever way you can) right away. And of course, learn from it and try not to make it again.
Today, I wanted to share some common mistakes regarding centerpieces on tables:
- Choose the appropriate mixture of tall and short centerpieces based on your client’s requests. I’ve had some clients tell me their guests MUST be able to see each other across the table, while some clients are more comfortable indulging in the visuals to establish the right mood for their event. Make sure you listen to your client and deliver the right combination of dramatic and functional.
- That being said, be careful that your tall centerpieces are not too wide at the base to block each guest’s view. As you can tell, I love making tall centerpieces because they are a great way to add drama to a room, but be careful that the base of the centerpiece is no wider than 5-8 inches. The worst thing that can happen is having a host or hostess ask you to remove the centerpiece from the table because they can’t see each other or their guests.
- In conjunction with above, when creating tall centerpieces that look like they defy gravity, please make sure you secure your centerpieces properly. I learned this lesson the hard way 15 years ago when one of those dramatic centerpieces dramatically fell right on a guest’s head. From then on, I made sure I tested all the centerpieces we installed to ensure they were secure.
- Do not choose flowers that are too heavily scented for a centerpiece. As we mentioned in this post there are some flowers that, if used at a table, will compete too much with the fragrance of the food. Some common flowers not to use are: Casablanca lilies, gardenias and tuber roses.
As I said, I love learning from my mistakes. Please tell me about some mistakes you’ve made and what you learned from them–the worst the mistake, the better!
On 02-04-10 Nicole Mulvany (RSVP Shindig) says:
Love this post! After ten years of event design and planning I still have to get the tape measure out sometimes and make sure height, width, etc. it’s going to be okay!
On 02-04-10 Barb says:
Oooooh great ideas! Thanks for sharing all the tips of the trade. The best way to learn, is from our mistakes
On 02-04-10 Finishing Touch · Great Insight from Preston Bailey says:
[...] came across this entry about “Learning from Common Event Mistakes” on the fabulous Preston Bailey blog, and I think it is so insightful that I should share it here. [...]
On 02-04-10 Terrilynn says:
Thank you so much for being so transparent! It’s awesome to know that someone with your expertise has had bumps and bruises along the way. It encourages the “newbies” that mistakes do happen, but to learn from them (quick) and move on!
On 02-05-10 Dominique Houle, créations florales says:
Now this is what I call an intelligent blog. Thank you for your tips. Some of them are so obvious especialy when food and wine are 2 very important things in a wedding or an event. I don’t understand floral designers that still make this mistake, using heavily scented flowers.
On 02-05-10 camilla svensson burns says:
Preston – you are my idol! Thank you for sharing your creativity and expertise. It is comforting to know that everyone makes and learns from their mistakes.
On 02-05-10 Jacqueline Sellers says:
Forgot to create one.
On 02-06-10 Jennifer Sparksman says:
During an event that I was managing, we had a last minute addition to the live-auction. I was careful to get the details of the offering and add the description to the auctioneers script. However, I overlooked getting any sort of collateral (certificate) to give the bidding patron nor did I assign a person to transact the bid at the table. This occurred because I didn’t update my own production schedule!!! At the end of the night, the bidder came to the table to pay and thankfully, I received him realizing my mistake immediately. He had paid several thousand and received….nothing! I thanked him and apologized for my mistake and made sure that my ‘follow up’ was over the top! In the end, the patron never claimed his prize – he had simply wanted to donate – but I know I will never make the same mistake again!
On 02-06-10 Michael says:
I love this topic… Let’s be honest; who hasn’t gotten a little over zealous with hanging candles? We all want our florals to be hot, but not actually on fire!! Be careful and test your layout for combustibility, b/c even a little fire is sure to cause a great big ruckus. And soot is terrible to remove from pristine table settings.
On 02-07-10 Gail says:
Don’t forget the smell of wet moss. It looked beautiful and gave a woodsy aura to the arrangement, but didn’t work well with the food.
A question. I went to a lovely party where the centerpieces defied gravity. The tables had cloths on them and the centerpieces were placed on top. Birch saplings soared about 4 feet into the air with full floral displays at the top. There were smallish floral displays at the base of the saplings. I spent the evening trying to figure out why the centerpieces didn’t topple over. I would have screwed the saplings to the table, but there was no indication that holes had been cut in the cloths.
What’s the secret?
On 02-11-10 Alida says:
For one of our first weddings we hung chandeliers over 5 of the tables. When we realized the chains were not long enough to hang the chandeliers as low as we wanted, we decided to zip tie the rest of the way down. In a rush..one of our guys ended up securing one by winding wire and winding tape—when we returned for tear down we were told that it had fallen onto the table during the event! It was terribly humiliating and we were surprised we didn’t get a complaint from the client when we called to apologize for the accident.
I now take ceiling height into consideration! And I always think “do I have enough chain to hang the chandeliers???” Always make sure who ever is setting up understands the importance of safety when hanging/rigging anything! I will never forget that day!
On 06-14-10 Ani says:
Oh boy, just yesterday, the church arrangements had not been secured to the pews because the previous ceremony had ended late. So before I had the chance to do that one of the guests who arrived early knocked the arrangement to the floor. I didn’t have an extra arrangement to replace it with and the arrangement had completely fallen apart. Had some flowers to fix a minor problem, but no floral foam. I guess it would be a good idea to bring foam along as well. Never thought about that. Such a bad experience, about 15 people saw it crashing to the ground.
On 07-16-10 Frequently Asked Questions: Have you ever made a dumb mistake? | PrestonBailey.com says:
[...] short answer? YES. We all make dumb mistakes, and as I’ve mentioned before the most important thing is to learn from them. So, what are some of the dumb mistakes I’ve [...]