Posted: 16th December 2015
Back in August we held one of our favourite events of 2015 with Dove Beauty, organised by Beauty Seen PR. One of the highlights of the event were the breathtaking floral creations from florist All For Love London who put together a stunning flower chandelier in the centre of our Council Chamber.
We’ve been lucky enough to catch up with Ruth, the owner of All for Love London who has told us exactly what it takes to create her amazing designs.
What was the brief you were given for the event?
I was told the flowers were to decorate 41 Portland Place for the showcase of a new hair care product by Dove, aimed at the over 50’s market. The event was centred on the theme ‘Youthful Vitality’ so they wanted the overall look and feel of the event to be elegant, with an abundance of flowers, and above all in keeping with the brand colours and the product’s packaging. Everything was to be purple and white and the ceiling piece required a fading effect to match the design of the product bottles.
To avoid detracting from the ceiling chandelier display, we decided to keep the table arrangement flowers very simple and clean using different sizes and shapes of clear glass bottles with single flower stems in. Olive trees underplanted with lavender and soft eucalyptus were placed at the main entrance and either side of the lectern from where the speeches were given. Single sprigs of lavender were placed on the napkins, which were dip-dyed to match the fading theme of the product packaging. Finally, we created a large floral, mantelpiece arrangement to offset the chandelier and create a stunning backdrop for the main speakers at the event.
How many hours, flowers and crew did it take to create?
Two florists and two extra crew members arrived at 41 Portland Place the night before the event to hang the mechanics of the chandelier and complete the large mantelpiece in the main room. We also dressed all of the other fireplace areas with the bottles as well as the bar and the coffee table pieces so all that was left to do in the morning was the chandelier. It takes a lot of care and time to assemble the chandelier so we needed to make sure we had every second to complete it in time.
On the morning of the event four florists and two crew members arrived at 5am on site and got to work straight away on the chandelier. There were about 1000 stems of Delphiniums to hang in total, so we had no time to waste. In order to create the soft, raining down ‘dripping’ effect of flowers we had to measure them all out so they hung perfectly next to each other. Most were hung individually but we bunched some up in groupings to fluff it out in places at the end. In total it took six of us three and a half hours to complete the piece.
Were there any challenges you faced?
The main challenge was without a doubt working out the mechanics of the chandelier. A lot of time was spent on this before the event with my amazing production company, Pollen Crew, the lovely Beauty Seen events team and the clever engineers at 41 Portland Place. The biggest test was making sure it was 100% safe, as people would be dining directly below it. There was no room for error!!
In the end, the piece was suspended from one single iron hook, a metal carbine and a couple of lengths of metal chains. We had weight tested it and there was no reason it wouldn’t work but it still kept me up at night worrying! Luckily I have the honour of working with the fantastic event support guys at Pollen Crew who I trust implicitly with this sort of stuff. Once they assured me it was secure, I knew not to doubt them and that the chandelier would remain in place – 6m above the floor until the end of the event, and even longer if it had to!
The chandelier piece was an absolute dream to design and create and it is without a doubt my favourite and most loved creation to date.
Please contact Maddie on 020 3176 2182 to discuss your next event.