5 Ways to Soften a Space - Golden Gate Club

The Golden Gate Club in San Francisco's Presidio is situated in such a lovely place. The only drawback is that it can feel a little corporate; it's lacking the cozy, personal factor. To solve this problem we (at Loop) did a couple of things in our overall design. 

1 -  We mixed the tables up into 3 different shapes; this made the space less uniform and therefore more personal and interesting. 

2 - Another important design element was the linens we chose; they had an opulent feel, raising the bar of elegance without looking out of place. The linens were a silk from Wildflower Linens. The color we chose as well as the nubby characteristic of silk kept it earthy, but very refined. 

3 - We also added a lounge area that made things more cozy.

4 - The space was warmed up with some lighting from Got Light? 

5 - A final element that softened the space was adding very large manzanita branches in large copper containers around the edges of the space. We hung glass vases with candles on the branches to create a twinkle.

The bride had very fond memories of elegant dinners at her Grandmother's table, and what we created was an updated version of that. The bride collected mixed pieces of silver that we used for the centerpieces and the china and silver we chose was sophisticated yet understated so as not to overwhelm the venue. The plates and wine glassed added the clean modern touch that was needed to balance out the look. Rentals from Classic Party Rentals.

The flowers were soft and feminine with a mix of woodsy vines to invite the outdoors in.

Winter Table

I  am a fan of Winter Solstice. It's close to Christmas but without all the pressure. It signifies the days are getting longer. And it's at a time of year that I love here in Northern California. It starts to rain, and the hills and parks start to turn green, the mosses on the trees get wooly, and streams pop up where there were none before. For the last couple of years, we've had a solstice dinner at our house. Here are some photos from our table this year.

Table Design - Dawn Ranch Wedding

This is from a wedding Loop did last summer up at Dawn Ranch in Guerneville, CA. It was a three day event with 4 meals so, we wanted all the tables and design to be distinctive. These photos are from the Sunday brunch buffet. We chose to have a charger on the table with the napkin to add more interest to the table. We chose the fun striped linen from La Tavola as it is so very Sunday brunch-y. The chargers and other tabletop items were from Classic Party Rentals.

The super sweet, (yes, sorry, pun intended) favors were given away on Sunday so it was easy for the guests to depart with them. The labels on the honey were designed Olive Route and the planner for this three day extravaganza was Alison Events.