Making a Spectacle

Floral centerpieces are still a popular choice, but they have moved beyond simple arrangements. “We’ve all been bored by bland floral décor,” say Liz Bastian, co-owner of Bastian Skoog. “If you are going to put in the care, the effort, the cost of fresh flowers for an event, you may as well make people raise an eyebrow, do a double take, laugh, think, react.”

When Bastian and Skoog create their memorable floral designs, they take inspiration from an event’s theme. “We have incorporated food products, such as artichokes, wheat, or lemons in arrangements for culinary events, or grapes into floral arrangements at wine tastings,” says Heidi Skoog, co-owner of Bastian Skoog. “We have used interesting and unusual containers, such as gallon paint cans as vases, at an event for interior designers.”

Tables aren’t the only place where vivid floral designs are popping up. Bastian and Skoog have used “gel gem” vases filled with flowers, which attach to restroom mirrors with suction cups. For the reception area of one event, the pair used a 3-by-3-by-4-foot freestanding Lucite tray of floating blossoms and candles. They’ve also created diminutive arrangements for hors d’oeuvre trays that are passed among guests. “It added an interesting scale and thoughtful touch,” Bastian says.

Food for Thought

Caterers have grown accustomed to requests from event planners to produce visually impressive elements. “Memorable food is all about how you present it and prepare it,” says Bill Kraemer, owner of Kraemer’s Catering in Burnsville.

For a chamber of commerce event at Buck Hill in Burnsville, Kraemer’s Catering created a fire-and-ice theme. “We took aluminum slabs and suspended them by cable from the 20-foot ceiling over the buffet,” Kraemer recalls. “A huge floral arrangement, about 7 or 8 feet wide, sat in the middle of the aluminum arrangement seven feet up in the air.” Blue lighting on the aluminum highlighted the “coolness,” while a martini station built of ice and a “luge track”—down which the drinks poured into glasses at the bottom—completed the icy look of the evening. For the fire portion, Kraemer’s team prepared dishes such as bananas foster to create dramatic flambé.

Ice sculptures are enduringly popular, but event planners have gone beyond the frozen swan you had at your wedding. The Event Lab has incorporated company logos and video screens into ice blocks, while Bastian Skoog has produced floral arrangements within ice sculptures. Mary Jo Stromberg, catering manager for Simple to Grand in St. Louis Park, recalls one of the most amazing ice-sculpture spectacles she has ever seen. “When we opened one of our stores, the theme was ‘A Celebration of American Food and Music.’ The artist created [ice] sculptures of musicians with instruments [from a second-hand store] that he froze into them,” she says. “These sculptures were fun and exciting and set the visual tone. It was really a ‘wow.’”