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Monday, March 9, 2015

BASH Tabletop Competition Recap

A few weeks back I shared a recap at the BASH conference in Phoenix.

I mentioned that I was among a select group of talented designers who were competing to win a feature with Eddie Ross and Hostess with the Mostess.  Well, I didn't win, but I had a blast designing a tablescape, submitting it, being selected and then having it come to fruition.....and hello....getting judged by Eddie Ross, Kim Stoegbauer and Jenn Sbranti! 

A little backstory about the whole 'come-together-ness' of this table.  This was a lesson in perfectionism or  maybe even just accepting that everything doesn't have to be 'perfect'. 

I have to say, I had a little bit of a hard time executing my tablescape when I started setting it up. I got off on the wrong foot by allowing situations out of my control to takeover what this experience was all about - having fun.  First of all two weeks before the conference, after trying to finalize details for my centerpiece with a vendor fell through, I had to come up with a plan B for my whole table.   This one thing along with just allowing time to get away from me, created a recipe for creative disaster! I had to find ways to still make my table look awesome without stressing myself out. 

I originally wanted my table to have Chivari Chairs with tulle chair backers Well, I couldn't afford the chairs, so, I opted for black linen chair covers.  I planned to make favor boxes with bows, didn't happen.  I wanted to print menus and have them folded inside a gold paper airplanes...didn't happen.  I REALLY wanted my table to have a gold shimmer overlay and satin napkins......didn't happen. There were other things that didn't gel as well as I would have liked; The glass items that I carefully packed and shipped to the hotel arrived in pieces. I ordered basic black table linens and was sent the wrong size.....I never took them out of the package until it was time to set up.....so, they were wrinkled!  I put my charger plates in my carry on bag, but when I pulled them out, it occurred to me that a few of them were different sizes.  I was rushing when I was packing and totally overlooked the sizes.   So, I ended up getting some the day before from the local Michaels.  When I finally, started setting it up....the craziest thing happened.....I completely zoned out. 

I was literally in a daze a complete fog.  My brain was FRIED!  You see, I'm that person that can think on a whim when last minute changes have to be made.  I just wasn't able to do it this time.  I couldn't get my centerpiece letters to stand up in the vases. I was mad at myself for not ironing the linens.  My gold overlay was the wrong size too - I ended up using it as a 'runner'.  The tulle that I'd purchased for my favors/treats were too small, I kept hanging my chair backers in the wrong order and kept having to re-hang them.  I didn't even get to add the white ribbon bows to my chairs so, the push pins holding up my custom die cuts stood out like a sore thumb (you'll see when you look at the pictures).  Despite getting help from a few of the other people setting up their own tables, God bless 'em, I ran out of time and didn't get everything on my table.  EEK! 

You know what?  It happens and honestly, no one would ever know that my table was not finished if I didn't say anything.  I just want to share that I really had to come to the conclusion that things do not always work out the way you want them to.  Sometimes your best laid plans might just fall through.  At the end of the day, you can only do the best you can do and come up with a plan B!

My point in sharing all of this is that I think sometimes as a creative person, it's natural to end up trying to achieve a certain level of perfection that might not always be feasible.....but hey, it's okay and not the end of the world! So, now that I put that out there.....I can move on.  All in all, I loved the entire experience - it was really fun, there was a lot of camaraderie between all the contestants. Each table was so different and unique and beyond stunning.  I would definitely do it all over again (knowing what I know now, of course....cause then my table would be perfect!  Hahahaaaa).

While I wasn't completely happy with how the table looked in the end (because I admit it, I'm a perfectionist...waaah-waaah)  the photos that Maria Healey Photography captured TOTALLY makes up for it.  Here's a look at my BEAUTIFUL table!





In case you were wondering, here is a look at the sketch I submitted for the competition.


Thank you to Maria Healey for the photos and my sponsors, Andrea Scatuccio and Sunny Duran.

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