Fabulous festival theming and styling for a corporate event!
25 June 2014
Everyone visits a festival at one time or another – from the glamorous Goodwood Festival of Speed and the classic ‘Vintage’ (by Wayne Hemingway) or music festivals such as Bestial, Glastonbury and Reading. To notorious festivals with celebrity attendance such as Coachella or the crazy creative atmosphere of Burning Man as well as the young and visually beautiful Secret Garden Party, there really is something for everyone.
This summer we are seeing festivals incorporating an array of concepts varying from Michelin star restaurants being hosted in fields alongside glamping and celebrity favored affairs with emphasis on the fashions, boho chic and sixties glam. The diversity of festival as an idea and theme means that decorating a corporate event or space shouldn’t be too difficult!
First take into account the space that you have to work with as this can be a deciding factor to many styling ideas. Is there a stage area? What lighting is available? Is there an outside space as this can open up more options? Another factor to consider is whether there is formal dining to take into account and what needs to be achieved at the event, for example, dinner or speeches.
Next you need to decide on a theme, are you going to go for a full rock festival stage with moving lights and big stage effects, or a pretty garden party feel with fairy lights and colorful hanging lanterns. Festival theming for events allows the stylist to be extremely creative as the boundaries of design are being pushed through exciting yearly festivals.
Props can be a great way to get across a festival theme such as using tall brightly colored silk flags. Various types and designs are used at all festivals and can be a great way to give height and define areas and can also incorporate branding and slogans if required.
Color is also very important in delivering a festival theme and is dependent upon what type of festival you wish to style. For a dance tent feel, think neon’s and electro luminescent and bright colors. This could work well for table center designs, i.e. vases full of glow sticks, and other small props, which also helps if the venue doesn’t have pin spot lighting available for the tables. For vintage glam, think neutral and natural colors with faded floral prints, 1930’s and 40’s mixtures of ‘mismatched’ vases full of country flowers, and shabby chic style mismatched furniture. Also think banqueting style long tables dressed with hessian and country flowers in jam jars or go for hay bales covered with patterned fabrics for a boho seating and plenty of vintage bunting strung around the venue. For a more modern summer garden festival style you can concentrate on pastel color palettes and interesting bespoke art installations and projections.
Table and seating arrangements can really add a style element to the delivery of festival theme look.
For a glamping feel consider using brightly colored wellie boots filled with flowers as center pieces, mixed with patterned table cloths, brightly colored furniture. Fake grass is great for covering props or seating cubes and giant fake flowers and butterflies are great for bringing the theme through.
Lounge style décor with low seating creates a chill out feel, with low hanging lighting and incense burning to recreate a dusky summers evening, with an almost Asian influence for a more relaxed feel. Tent poles can be used as central point to create a ‘may pole feel’ (if not to heavy) draped with fabrics, ribbons or bunting.
With all this considered there are many possibilities in which to style and theme your next corporate event, whatever the venue or style of festival. Techniques can vary from simple center pieces to extravagant draping and funky furniture. If stuck for inspiration create your own pintrest board, this helps define your look and creates a mood board to be used to send to you client or suppliers that you working with.
There you go a few top tips for creating your own festival theme, from the team at Partridge Events!