138th Infantry Regimental Ball
This past weekend I had the honor of designing and handcrafting the faux floral arrangements and laser engraved commemorative glasses, as well as assisting with the registration portion. Here is a little behind the scenes of how the faux floral arrangements came to be!
The initial design of the tablescape was limited to what the venue was able to provide- black tablecloths with white dinner plates and silver utensils. The main colors for the 138th Infantry Regiment are a beautiful almost sky blue and gold, and the US Army is black and gold. The gold was proving to be a clashing element due to the silver utensils. Due to the ball being in July, it was assumed the color theme would be red, white, and infantry blue, however, red was not an important color to the infantry regiment specifically. After a few mockups, the design choice was to leave the gold and red, and utilize infantry blue and white.
Once the colors were chosen, then came time to find the perfect balance of flowers. My Mother In Love and I stumbled upon a wholesale flower district in my city that I had never seen before! It was floral heaven and smelled like it too. We were distracted by the mecca of flowers and didn’t take the opportunity to create a mock arrangement, and my brain wasn’t satisfied without seeing it, so we ventured to Hobby Lobby to play around in the fake flowers and vases department. This is where we determined that we would use white roses, white calla lilies, white daisies, white gladiolus, blue hydrangeas, and blue delphiniums. We also added in greenery and fillers, like eucalyptus and baby’s breath.
Once the design was finalized, it was time for math. The organizer was determined to market the ball to maximum capacity, and we received over 350 RSVPs and ticket purchases. Our venue was able to provide 40 round tables of 8-10 people, with 18 chairs being at the head rectangular tables. This meant, at minimum, I needed to create 40 unique arrangements plus the head tables, and then several statement pieces for the room. Calculating the exact amount of flowers became tedious as I tried to balance the Fibonacci sequence for each arrangment. For those who don’t know, floral arrangements become more appealing to the eye when the Fibonacci sequence is utilized! I was able to create 3 statements pieces, 2 smaller statement pieces, plus 40 table arrangements with the amount of flowers ordered.
Once it came time to arrange, I followed my heart on what flower to lead with and let shine. The roses were mostly elegant filler due to their size, but the calla lilies were for added elegance. The gladiolus and delphiniums increased the height, but I had to be careful that they weren’t so tall the seated members of the table wouldn’t be able to see each other from across the way. I found I was typically placing the tallest piece at around 9-10 inches. It proided appropriate scale while not being in the way for conversation. I secured each flower by dipping the end into a hot glue pot before placing in the foam. I did indeed burn myself with hot glue a few times, and still have the scars to prove it, but the arrangements came out exactly how I’d envisioned them. To save cost, we placed the floral foam/arrangement directly on the table, so it was important that the foam was covered by the greenery and hydrangeas. For transportation and storage we laid them horizontally and stacked them inside of a 27 gallon tote from Home Depot. We ended up with 6 totes total and will be able to pull them out next year for cost effective continued use.
Overall, the ball was a massive success. Two of the laser engraved glasses are shown in this picture with crossed rifles, a symbol of the infantry. We also used “138”, the crest, and the title of the event as text to laser engrave into the commemorative glasses. We provided 388 engraved glasses as a gift to every guest. Hope you enjoy the pictures and a peak behind the scenes!
