Christmas is a feast for the senses and what better time of year to go all-out with your floral decorations
We visited the Hayford & Rhodes team at their Christmas showroom to talk Christmas floral trends and to get their tips on how to decorate your venue, or even your home, this Christmas time. Get ready to be inspired and discover how you can create a Christmas vision – without a Poinsettia in sight!
“Christmas is one of our favourite times of year at Hayford & Rhodes. It’s such a creative time. It’s our job to not only offer traditional Christmas themes (red, green, gold…), but to create concepts that are completely outside the box of typical Christmas designs.
One of our themes this year is ‘Oceana’. We created a Christmas wreath for a client made from glam glitter lobsters, crabs, crustaceans and hand painted oyster shells, a waste product harvested from the restaurant kitchen, and everyone went mad for it. It goes against every Christmas tradition on the planet, and we love it. Oceana Christmas goes against the grain, combining a palette of cool, fresh, calm colours, Persian blue and ice tones with a rich undercurrent of emerald greens and a giant splash of fun with whales, sea snails, octopi and mermaid shells. If you chose this look for Christmas this year, you must fully commit: don’t be afraid to make it luxuriously maximalist with a huge wow-factor. It’s kitsch, it’s tropical, and we’re pretty sure you won’t regret ditching traditional red and green.”
“Another one of our favourite themes is ‘Ice Cream Christmas’. We created a Christmas wreath from fresh green foliage and pale pink Hypericum berries and the Ice Cream Christmas theme is inspired by this, combining a palette of gelato-style pastels in mint green, lemon sorbet, blue raspberry and a touch of strawberries and cream. Think ice cream; think gelato; think sherbet.”
“We’re asked to decorate and dress a wide range of spaces for Christmas: From huge banqueting halls to small corners of a room in a private residence. Whatever size space you have to decorate, even if you’re limited to a window frame and window sill, you can always make it the focal point of the room for Christmas.
We challenge anyone to not feel a burst of happiness every time they see a beautifully hand-made wreath. And who says they must always be outside?! If you don’t have the ability to hang a wreath on your front door, you can hang it on an inside door or on a wall. That’s our motivation when we design our Christmas door wreaths, to make them Instagrammable and most importantly, instant bringers-of-joy. You can go minimalist with our Nordic Wreath; kitsch with our Pink Coco Wreath or full-on maximalist traditionalist with the red and green hued Ruby Door Wreath.”
“Christmas floral trends may come and go but we’re not sure if we’ll ever fall out of love with Nordic-themed Christmases. The beauty in this minimalistic yet stylish trend is the simplicity and focus on natural, understated colours and textures. The key is having a big, beautiful and healthy tree, with neutral, under-done decorations. Clear or slightly frosted glass and metallic accents will give a crisp, frosty-morning feel to your Christmas. A Nordic style Christmas isn’t full of colour, but it’s still a very warming theme. Walking into a Scandi-style themed room at Christmas should feel comfortable, minimalist and chic. Traditional Christmas themes can get overdone very quickly and can ‘shrink’ any space: The secret of Nordic room decoration is that any size space feels cosy and intimate without being cloying.
If you don’t have room for any kind of tree, use foliage from Fir, Eucalyptus and Cypress to dress your space, and keep all real materials away from direct heat (and of course open flames!) as they’ll wither and brown very quickly if they’re too hot. You can adorn most spaces: Mantlepieces, windows, mirrors, picture frames, furniture and even doorways. You can make a table your entire Christmas focal point: Using foliage, table wreaths (see our website for ideas) and low-level lighting (votive candles, tealights, lanterns…)
Adding metallic touches such as a dark bronze, antique or rose gold and pewter will add Christmas sparkle without being gaudy or over the top. Once you’ve finished styling your tree or space, turn on all available lights: Everything looks great in delicate candlelight/ tealight/ fairy-light, but if it looks too ‘done’ in full light, reassess what you really need. Of styling, Coco Chanel once said, “look in the mirror and take at least one thing off”. The same principal applies to decorating: Look at your space and remove one thing. “
“If you’re entertaining over Christmas and need a focal point, a huge seasonal bouquet in the centre of the table is perfect and easy. Our winter bouquets are focused around Roses with high-quality dark, dark green foliage. If you’re going all-in red and green, dark red Roses with Eucalyptus and Cypress keep it classy. Place in the centre of your table, and artfully place around the base low-level lighting to cast a warm glow. To finish the look, add some sprigs of red berries and even some fruit – fresh figs are perfect for this – and maybe some pine cones. Perfect!”
At Evolve we regularly share news about latest venues, styles and events on our blog and social media. You can visit our blog here and follow us at @evolveevents.
To get more ideas or help with your event talk to the team on 020 7610 2808 or email info@evolve-events.com
For more information about Hayford & Rhodes and insights on Christmas Floral Trends visit their website here or follow them on Instagram here.