Centennial Parklands Dining Expo - Tables #3 - It's not just about the bride

Now we have to reveal, it doesn't happen very often, but we think it's lovely when it does: a couple meet with us and ask for their wedding to be styled in a way that reflects both of them, in colours they both love, with touches both feminine and masculine.

Sometimes it is not always just about the bride, and the groom gets a say too (oops, did we just dare to write that?!).

So this was the inspiration behind this look we showcased at the Centennial Parklands Dining Expo - to come up with a design that was pretty without being girly, a design we could "man up" with a touches of beautiful pale camel suede and chocolate leather, while retaining a chic, contemporary look that is not at all gentleman's club.

We covered the table in a luxurious pale camel suede overlay from our hire range, and dipped into our hire depot to style the centre of each table with a chocolate ceramic ribbed vase filled with a pretty and soft arrangement of deep blue hydrangea, velevety dusty miller and the Australian native berezillia, added a delicious cornflower blue milk glass vase, a posy of oh so pretty thistle (though I was not thinking that when dealing with the thorns preparing said pretty posty) in an amber frosted glass vase, and a scatter of the same amber glass votives aglow with candlelight.

The cream, latte, chocolate and cornflower blue colour palette flowed through to the "vintage duo" stationery from our range - used for everything from the framed table number to thank you cards atop each gift box and menus tucked into each place setting alongisde napkins held by chocolate leather napkin rings.

We love, too, how it is a look that would work well, whatever the season, or whatever the event - be it wedding, private celebration or a corporate dinner to celebrate the end of another great working year.

Enjoy x

All decor items available for hire from Form Over Function. Stauionery by Form Over Function. Form Over Function styling and flowers captured with beauty and grace by Photography by Anliette.

Centennial Parklands Dining Expo - Table #2 Vintage Romance

One of the joys -- and challenges - of styling a whole lot of different looks for the one venue on the one night (as we have to when we take part in an expo at Centennial Parklands Dining) is how to create different seasonal looks to encompass the moods and colours flowers offer at different times of the year, only we're attending flower market on the one day, in the one season, to gather all we need to style the tables.

But the flower gods of Tasmania smiled upon us this February and supplied us with these delicious pink peonies - a flower we would normally only have access to in late October through to early December.

Combined with the fact we had access to blackberries in season, rosy crab apples picked fresh from a tree growing at the gate of our favourite farmer's property on the outskirts of Sydney, watermelon hued dahlias and lusicious velvety celosia in shades of sunset pink, we were a bit excited about designing this arrangement for the very new cream and vintage glass footed flower stands now on the shelf in our hire range. (This was their very first outing. They would also make excellent cake or sweet stands for a dessert buffet, as as there's a lovely cut glass plate under all those delicious flowers, but we digress.).

For this romantic, vintage setting we placed a large mirror at the centre of a table clothed in cream linen, added a crystal cut plate filled with rosy crab apples to the side of the main centrepiece, scattered glass votives with a fleur de lys embossed pattern around the mirror and before each guest. Cream napkins were held by a beaded cream napkin ring and a cream gift box tied up in chocolate and dusty pink striped ribbon, with fresh blackberries as a top knot, were at each place setting.

Etched wine glasses carried the vintage feel through to the tableware, and cream and chocolate stationery, with pink caligraphied names, from our stationery range finished off the look.

Cream anyone? Would you like one lump, or two?

Enjoy.
x

Form Over Function flowers and styling captured with grace and beauty by Photography by Anliette.

Centennial Parklands Dining Expo - Table #1 - Summer Bridal

Now we don't have anything against white in here -- honest! -- but as we sketched and plotted and designed away to come up with six new looks for the latest showcase at Centennial Parklands Dining, we could not help ourselves in wanting to create a traditional bridal table that was everything but.

And here we share the results with you.

With a venue set within one of Sydney's living, breathing garden treasures, it was was hard to resist bringing the colours and textures of the outside in.

We dipped into our hire range to cover the table in a bold yet earthy mix of green, white and chocolate stripes, lined the front edge of the table with a collection of white ceramic vases and flower holders placed before each guest, and created vivid green and crisp white arrangements featuring hydrangea, succulents, calla lilies, very young privet berry and more.

Before each guest glowed one of our white crete votives, and the summertime feel continued through the use of paperlace white glasses and tumblers from our hire range.

A fan was added at each place setting - pretty and practical for a summer wedding - as well as a menu from our Bohdi range of stationery.

And the best thing about this design? It would be just as perfect for a private or corporate celebration of any sort.

Enjoy.

More looks unveiled tomorrow.

x

Form Over Function styling and flowers captured with beauty and grace by Photography by Anliette

white ceramic vases, trays and holders filled with structural and beautiful summer blooms, berries and plants

calla lily nestled within a spray of young privet berry

one of our white footed vases filled with an arrangement of white callas, hydrangea foliage & lotus flowers

the vase seen from the other side: the lotus pod is what is left once the lotus flower, seen here in pink bloom, has opened up and lost its petals

Could this summery and beautiful creation from Faye Cahill Cake Design be any more perfect for this setting?

old fashioned snapdragons in a moderrn setting

fans for cooling, and pretty floral glasses to keep that summer feel running right through to the tableware

Wedding styling and planning: it's all in the delicious details

The secret garden wedding

We get to work in some of the most spectacularly beautiful locations, but the garden we had the privilege of visiting and working in last week (we added chandelier magic to the wedding marquee), is a vision which keeps dancing in our heads, and we wanted to share just a touch of its beauty with you.

A case of no names, no pack drill, we can't reveal its location, nor share some of the vistas which could give away the identity of this extraordinary parkland with woodlands, manicured lawns, traditional formal flower beds, sculptures and touches of whimsy here and there, fields of flowers, orchards, a vineyard, a potting shed we would be proud to call home...and more...but we can share just a touch of what we saw growing and in bloom in but a small pocket of this floral wonderland ... it was all I could do to stop myself from grabbing the flower scissors, get picking and start arranging...so I captured beauty on the end of my iPhone instead.

In flower at the moment are artichokes, tiger lilies and delphinium (literally 2m tall), calla lilies in jewel colours, delicate lace cap hydrangenas, rare breeds of lavenders, dahlias (the most beautiful specimans we think we have ever seen), and more, more, more. We were a tad glad that the massive beds of hellebore were not in flower because that may have been a temptation-to-pick just too hard to resist.

We hope you enjoy the tour through just a little corner of this national treasure.

x

x

artichokes

calla lilies

calla lillies

cosmos

dahlias

dahlias & deplhinium

one of the fields of flowers

lacecap hydrangea

dhalias

tiger lilies & delphinium

tiger lilies & delphinium

Rebecca & Nick - Real Weddings Summer issue 2010/2011. Centennial Parklands Dining.

Form Over Function got married

springtime wedding #1 - ali & sam



bridesmaid bouquet



ceremony backdrop flowers

 No, really, it can't be July since we showered a little picture love our blog's way?!

Ok, promise to make it up to you this week as we play serious catch up on the lovely things we have been up to in the past few months.

We tried to be all 2010 on Friday and do a day in the life of a wedding for Ali & Sam on our facebook page (sneak peeks of which you see here), but the iPhone refused to play when it came to uploading images (and it wasn't us being techno-illiterate promise), so here we are on a chilly, grey Sunday morning in Sydney, blogging instead, and thinking how great it was the sun shone down on such a lovely, lovely couple on Friday when they married under a stunning weeping willow at Centennial Parklands.

And those extremely large ducks you see looking oh so cute as they take a walk through the park with Ali & Sam? Let me tell you, they were tres scary up close and personal when I was setting up the ceremony flowers by the lake (even armed with a candleholder on a stake to gently try to prod them away from me, just in case they got too close, it was scary). But who can blame the proud new parents? There were little ducklings everywhere ('tis Spring after all), and they were just being protective.

Ali + Sam

Proud parent ducks & Sam + Ali

After the ceremony, Ali, Sam and their guests strolled to Centennial Parklands Dining where the wisteria around the restaurant is in spectacular bloom, for a reception that was all about fantastic food, wine, friends and dancing. Ali opted for a classic, and classy, combination of navy & cream for the day, so we dressed the tables with beautiful midnight blue tablecloths, and created centerpieces with a collection of beautiful cream ceramic vases and bowls filled with the best spring has to offer: hyacinth, jonquils, freesia, ranunculus, roses and carnations (now, now don't turn up your nose, they are such a beautiful flower used in massed arrangements like those shown here). Adding her own touch to the tables, Ali used etched silver tin hearts tied off with cream and navy ribbon as the place cards for the guests.

When we arrived towards the end of the night, it was evident no-one wanted to leave. Now we know that's always a good sign of how much fun was being had. We'll share a few more of our happy snaps below, but really look forward to sharing Cameron Bloom's beautiful images in the not too distant future with you. x


cream ceramic bowl with ranunculus and more



navy cloths, cream ceramic vase with spring blooms



hyacinth, jonquils, ranunculus, carnations, roses & more



centennial parklands dining - a spring setting

Centennial Parklands Dining #5 - Table 4, please take your seats

As much as we try to be in denial at Form Over Function, it's winter (to state the obvious), in some ways we should be grateful, for winter is the season that brings kale into glorious bloom in delicious shades of mauve, purple, cream and pale sage green. Who would have thought a relative of the cabbage could look so, so beautiful in a floral arrangement? It's also the season for privet berries to turn deep purple-black, and together with fragrant lavender, roses in mauve hues and lovely, lovely velvety dusty miller, it's a season which gives us the scope to make up gorgeous textural arrangements like the one shown here.

From our hire range we combined delicate beaded votives before each guest, beautiful taupe dupion silk overlays with an aubergine silk organza edge, beaded aubergine napkin rings, menus from our fern stationery range, and we placed a large mirror centerpiece under the flowers and pale aubergine fabric lantern to reflect all that lovely warm glow.

It makes for a cosy and intimate feel, and who could ask for more when it's cold and grey outside, and you wish it wasn't?

Enjoy.

x

Photography by Luke Jarvis.