It seems we have another Royal Wedding under our belts. As I write this William and Kate are probably winding down from their day of pomp and circumstance.
This Royal wedding I spent watching on my computer via CNN. It was a surreal experience since I watched the previous Royal wedding while I was living in England. I was 11 years old when Charles and Diana were married. Watching the festivities of William and Kate’s wedding brought back the memories of when Charles and Diana were married. It was fun, exciting and people were celebrating as if it was one of their own getting married. Streets were closed and block parties popped up. Pubs were filled with people and everyone decked out their homes, businesses, cars, bikes, and anything that may move and could be covered in banners, ribbons, balloons, etc. They made the day a nation holiday. Everyone was off and if they were working they were still celebrating the Royal wedding. At 41, 30 years later, I did not think much about William and Kate’s wedding. I heard about it, saw all the media about it, talked about it but never really sunk in. As I watched all the festivities I was envious that I had not made the trip to London or the very least to England to spend it with my family which were celebrating in numbers. Instead I sat on my stool in my shop at 7:00am watching it on my computer. How things have changed in 30 years, I am older, grayer and a different person then I was 30 years ago. I never thought I would be doing what I am doing now and this time I am alone and it just doesn’t feel the same. I feel a certain emptiness with a bit of ”if I had only thought about going”. Why didn’t I think about it? I have yet again missed out on another major part of history and where did I spend it? Working. When did I become this person? The workaholic who thinks about nothing more than business, growing the business and making sure the margins are good. Oh yeah, I remember, when the economy slowed to a mere simmer.
Were not hoppin anymore. I work 7 days a week to try to keep an income coming in. Although I have to cut the schedule I am not sure my employees understand the amount of work I take on when I call them off. They just complain. I am re-creating my business in the hopes I will be sitting pretty as things turn around. But in order to that I must make changes. Changes that will hurt people’s feelings, changes that some will not understand and other changes that I have more support then one can handle. Changes in a business can be difficult, I work with people who do not welcome change. It up-sets their world and I am always shocked by that. As designers I would have thought any sort of change for the better would be welcomed but not with this group. They take it personally, like nothing you have ever seen or could understand. I have learned that I can no longer tell my employees I am making a change instead I have to gradually do it. I have to sneak it in or make it their idea in order for it to happen. It takes so much work sometimes that I wonder if it is worth the effort.
With business being the way it is I find I have must take on any work that comes my way, but I am thankful to be multi-faceted which allows me to work in many different fields.
A client of mine called me months ago and asked me to come over to her home. She was planning a party and needed my help. Come to find out that she had decided to host her own William and Kate party. But not only is she hosting a party but it’s a sleep over for her and her girl friends. I should note here the women who were invited to the sleep over are all in their 60′s. She is excited and you can tell she is vested in this as she opens her trunk to expose all of the treasures she has been collecting for months. It was a treasure trove of goodies. Everything from ribbon to frames, mugs to pictures of the prince and his bride. It was truly a remarkable treasure this side of England.
The furniture been removed from a room she referred to as the “man cave”. Her idea of a man cave and my idea of a man cave is certainly a little different. Her man cave is decorated with amazing art work, furniture, fabrics, pillows and is properly accessorized. The walls are painted a light butter color and it is very comfortable and lovely. Not the man cave I have seen before. She had three queen size beds brought into the space and had two more flat screen TV’s installed. She also had a special HD cable brought in so they could be assured to see the wedding in flawless quality. However, with the addition of the new TV’s this required the cables to be pulled across the walls from one TV to the next. This caused an eye sore which is one reason she called me. We needed to somehow hide the nasty cables and soften the room up. My client had purchased most everything and anything that had a sparkle or glitter on it. She found frames, candles, beads, garlands, fabric, pillows, you name it.
I enlisted the help of my good friend Amy Granger. Amy and I have a great relationship. She is a graphic designer and works out of my shop. Her talent levels are amazing and she blows my mind away me with all she can do. I knew bringing her on would be great for me because she could see things in a different manner and shed some light on things I was getting blocked on.
My client had purchased a bunch of fabric, it was her idea to use the fabric in some fashion to cover the cables. As you can see below we used it to soften the area behind one of the TV’s but also to hide the cables that ran up and around the doors. We also used fabric to give an “entrance” to the “man cave”. Adding the fabric around the entrance to the room really help pull the project together. As I was adding ribbon and bows to the corners of the doors Amy was trying to find another use for a piece of fabric that we had left over. She managed to use it as a table-cloth and covered a side table by one of the beds. Adding the fabric to that little table really brought the room together and seemed to polish off the room. The next task was for my client to have the beds made with linens and accessories in soft hues of blue and pink.
My client wanted a dinner fit for a king. Lisa Peterson a well-known cater here in Boise was brought in to prepare a first class dinner. A butler was hired to come in at 10pm in coat and tails to waited on the women hand and foot all night until the following morning. A special cocktail was concocted which was certainly assured to make for a very giddy evening. A lovely 4 course dinner which was laid out on her grandmothers table linens, the finest silver and the most incredible china and crystal. It was certainly set for a princess.
And least but not last, flowers. Who can have a party without flowers? If the princess is spending $1.3 million on flowers then my client should have some for her party, right? The table linen which is 75+ years of age is a pale blue with the slightest silvery damask pattern on it. We placed little crystal vases down the center of the table and my client draped pearls around the vases. We used the palest of pink roses in the vases and added the very fragrant freesia (a favorite of mine). On the side board is the most amazing piece of pottery I have ever seen. It is creamy in color with animals painted on one side and people painted on the other. My client wanted hues of blue . We put large hydrangea blooms cut directly from the plant with greenery to make it fuller and lovely.
The crystal, sliver and china were top-notch and really set the stage for something so very lovely, elegant and sophisticated. This was truly a first class event.
In the living room she wanted color, deep dark reds in a vase that could handle height a room that could handle color.
Downstairs she has this amazing wire basket. It looks vintage and well taken care of. She places it on a coffee table, we put succulents with moss in it. It will go from the coffee table to outside on the patio once the Idaho weather warms up. I loved the basket and LOVED how it turned out with the succulents in it.
I loved how everything came together. This was certainly my client vision and I believe it turned out better then she anticipated. I was happy that she was happy and I I think all of our hard work all paid off. The eye to detail was amazing. When I was there helping place the arrangements she had friends there lining up the flatware on the table to make use everything was lined up probably.
I have yet to spent to my client about how things went. I am sure things went very well. She had everything planned to the minute and with the company she was keeping I am sure they all had a blast.
Another Royal Ceremony is over and now it is time to move forward with our lives. It was fun to watch the new age of Royals get married. I still wish I had gone but I was there in spirit.
