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Brides-to-be and other planners of large catered events can now get a real-life idea of how their table linens will look on the big day, thanks to design centers set up at French Lick Springs Hotel and West Baden Springs Hotel. The two hotels, located one mile apart in the town of French Lick, Indiana, and part of the French Lick Resort Casino, were both built in the early 1900s on the site of springs reported to be curative.

Each design center features tabletop vignettes for weddings or other events, and each hotel offers different vignettes. “We cater each hotel to a different kind of bride,” says Melody Karr, acting director of catering for French Lick Resort Casino. “French Lick seems to appeal more to the younger bride, more trendy, kind of outside the box, whereas brides who choose West Baden tend to be more traditional.”

The 246-room West Baden Springs Hotel has a “European boutique feel,” Karr says, while the 443-room French Lick Springs Hotel has a modern casino attached to it.

The colors reflect the mood and tenor of each hotel. French Lick’s design center is more likely to display brighter colors, says Karr. “We might have a table that’s hot pink with a sheer striped overlay, bright-colored chair covers, and chair ties in orange and green. At West Baden, we concentrate more on golds and ivories, more muted colors.”

Each design center is located on a main level and has numerous windows that make it visible to passing guests, thereby subtly promoting each hotel as a venue for a large catered event. Both design centers house a few small tables set as they would be for an event. “During the sales process or when we work with brides to finalize their details, we take them there,” says Karr. “It makes them feel like we’re in their space, talking about their wedding.”

Table vignettes are changed periodically and include different place settings of china and crystal, complemented by silk flower arrangements executed by the in-house florist. During the winter holidays, dark greens, golds, and burgundies are often featured.

Linens help make a statement or set the mood in a space, Karr says, especially if the room is not architecturally significant, as is often the case with ballrooms. On the other hand, settings like West Baden’s lobby, with its opulent marble and mosaic tile floors, might require the table settings to be more muted.

Before the design centers were created, the resort stocked several sample tablecloths but discovered it made more sense to use a swatch book and show how tables could be set, Karr explains. If a bride or other party planner is uncertain about a linen choice, the resort can order samples of full-sized tablecloths and create a mockup. “It helps them make a decision. For example, we had a bride recently who was sure she wanted it to look one way, and we didn’t think it would produce the appearance she hoped to convey. So we rented the linens she wanted along with something we thought she would like so she could compare the two. She said, ‘You’re absolutely right, this is fabulous.’”

Most brides don’t take an off-the-shelf approach to the design center’s offerings, Karr says. “Most of my brides aren’t going to choose brown because I say brown is the trendy color. The majority have an idea of at least the color scheme they want.” Where the tableaus are most effective is in upselling, giving planners the idea of adding on. Showing a layered vignette “plants that seed for them to say, ‘Wow, I can do just that much more.’”

For any catered event, the hotel provides a basic ivory or forest green tablecloth and napkins at no extra charge. But most brides or party planners choose to add colors or textures such as pin tucks, table runners, chair covers, and chair ties, which can run an additional $8 to $15 per person. Few ever choose a plain white table. “It just doesn’t make a statement. Color is in—and lots of it. We’re also finding more and more people mixing colors.”

The sky is the limit when it comes to tabletop design. For example, Karr coordinated a wedding where the bride asked for two tablecloths on each table, chair covers, and three chair ties per chair. The finishing touch was a small vase for holding fresh flowers secured to the back of each chair. That one came out to $25 a person—a nice upsell indeed.

Beth Rogers is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B

FASHIONABLE TABLES WEAR BROWN

The fashionably dressed table often takes its cue from the runways of Paris, New York, and Milan. Other influences come from the world of interior design.

Mary Kerr, VP of operations with Tablecloth Company in Paterson, New Jersey, notices that the trend of brown used in tandem with a pastel such as aqua or light pink is going strong, although those colors appear to be dying down in home décor.

“Our colors follow home décor about a year later,” says Kerr. “Brown used to be our least-selling, and now it’s in the top 10.”

Echoing Kerr, Jean-Philippe Krukowicz, VP of sales with Garnier-Thiebaut’s North American operations, located in Arlington, Virginia, says, “The color of now is brown.”

Milliken & Company, one of the world’s largest textile manufacturers, has 24 colors in its Damask line, as well as the ability to custom dye textiles. According to Brenda Burris-Drake, merchandising and marketing communications director, Milliken’s most popular color is brown, followed by gray. But greens are gaining.

“Celery gets a lot of good play now,” she says.

The other color on the horizon is yellow, Kerr predicts. “Yellow is coming, bright lemon yellow.” The evidence? “I just got the latest Pottery Barn catalog, and the cover was yellow. And when John McCain became the presumptive Republican nominee, his wife wore a lemon yellow suit.”

PRINTS NOW
“What’s not in,” says Kerr, “are peach and mauve. When I joined [Tablecloth Company] 11 years ago, those were hot-selling colors. And people are using prints sparingly. They’ll put a solid underneath and use runners or overlays in a print to give a seasonal accent. The number of prints we carry is a lot less, and our competitors have also reduced the number of prints they carry.”

The idea that prints don’t seem to be as popular is borne out by Milliken’s Burris-Drake, who says, “We are, however, seeing a lot of interest in patterning and strong geometrics.”

Milliken has two new patterns in its Damask HD line—a satin square and a satin stripe. “They go either casual or formal,” says Burris-Drake, adding that the two are often used together. A striped tablecloth might be paired with square napkins or table runners.

In an economy where people are trying to rein in costs, embellished pieces such as those with sequins “and anything out of the ordinary,” says Kerr, “are used more as accent pieces, whereas in the past they might have taken it to the floor.” People with smaller budgets can use white, ivory, or black tablecloths that drop to the floor and then layer on smaller pieces to customize their tables.

Textures, Kerr adds, are another big trend, whether the fabric is embroidered or crinkled. Pin-tuck fabrics and sheer overlays are popular for weddings.

Garnier-Thiebaut, which works with many hotels such as Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, and Park Hyatt, as well as restaurants including the French Laundry and Joël Robuchon, sees a growing demand for pure linen. Krukowicz says the company is selling more runners in either pure linen or metis (a blend of linen and cotton).

Garnier-Thiebaut, which presents two or three new collections annually, recently introduced Heritage 1833, commemorating the year the company was founded. “This collection,” says Krukowicz, “offers classic designs and elaborate finishings such as mitred corners and hand stitching.”

BLACK IS BIG TOO
Other colors selling well for Garnier-Thiebaut include gray, aubergine, and orange. And Krukowicz has noticed an uptick in black napkins: “For about the past nine months, I have never seen so many black napkins … we are working with a lot of hotels and restaurants that are adding them.” Krukowicz surmises that the practice of using black napkins to eliminate lint traces on dark clothes is going strong.

As noted previously, brown is hot and has nearly replaced black, but nothing ever completely dethrones black, says Burris- Drake, adding that black always works well with its antipode, white. Black bottoms are coming back, she adds. Kerr agrees, saying Tablecloth Company is seeing a resurgence in black and white together, both solids and prints. The company just introduced a print featuring a white background with a black damask pattern.

Kerr says lace, which used to be big for weddings, is “out, out, out.” However, she may be looking into the wrong crystal ball. “Lace is a trend I just noticed on the runways this morning from Paris,” says Burris-Drake, who forecasts that black tablecloths covered by white lace will soon be coming back.—BR