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Tis the Season to be Styling

It’s that time of year again and we’re in the middle of planning an array of Christmas parties and events for our clients. What’s great about Christmas is the opportunity to really go to town on the event styling and push the boundaries. In terms of creating that initial ‘wow’ factor for your guests, great decoration is key.

Here we’re always trying to be creative as possible and usually try to move away from the traditional ‘expected’ styling and opt for something a bit different.

Trends relating to recent pop-culture are always popular, especially those tied to specific era. You can really bring a party to life with vintage props and accessories, staff styling and perhaps even having a walk-in wardrobe to allow guests to get involved. To give a couple of examples we’re loving at the moment, ‘A Grimm Christmas’ could feature animal furniture, velvet chaises, burlesque performers, candied red apples, flaming cocktails and black truffles, whilst ‘Gatsby Glamour’ could have chandeliers, vintage trunks, a station clock projection, caramel sugar sticks, a giant gramophone, waitresses in flapper headdresses and cocktails served in teacups!

Or if you prefer a twist on tradition how about a ‘Neon Snowglobe’ theme which could feature clean white furniture glittered hanging stars, neon lighting, fluorescent cherubs, bright pink jellies and meringue pops or an ‘Alpine Warmer’ including stags heads, chalet styled staff, roasted chestnuts, fur rugs, vintage skis and hot chocolate cocktails.

Of course costs vary greatly on events, but depending on the budget, decoration can involve just a few well-placed props to a full-scale production. It’s always the little touches that make a difference such as a clear glass jars filled with festive sweets to match the event styling, stunning lighting to highlight quirky props, or a subtle nod to the theme.

We Heart Pop-Ups

This summer has certainly been a busy one for us, and one kind of event that we’re being asked to produce more and more are pop-ups, which are becoming incredibly popular across many sectors from food to fashion. Here at Wonderland, we love them!

So why do a pop-up? Well looking at some of the ones we’ve been involved in this Summer, the advantages to a brand or business can be seen.

Pop-ups are any temporary event or store that only open their doors for a fixed period of time, which can create a great deal of buzz around the occasion. This also creates an air of exclusivity for guests attending, as the people right there at that moment, may be the only ones to ever to have that specific experience, before it’s gone as quickly as it popped up. During the Olympics we had a request from Eurostar to create a pop-up dining space to entertain their VIP guests between their trips to the stadium. Instead of booking a room at one of London’s numerous restaurants, the company wanted to really wow their guests and give them a special experience. You can imagine their surprise of being taken to dinner, only to pull up to a secret warehouse location in the heart of Hackney Wick, with only a staircase of storm lanterns leading the way.

Following the trail, guests were lead into a transformed pop-up ‘restaurant’ filled with all sorts of vintage sports equipment, beautiful flower centrepieces in silver trophies and a swimming pool ceiling installation.

This kind of exclusive one-off experience can leave a great lasting memory on guests and can be a serious talking point. 

Pop-up events can often involve taking over a space that you wouldn’t always think of using for an event, so this usually allows for a lot of creative license. Again during the Olympics, we produced The Book Club Basecamp in Hoxton, which involved us taking over a graffiti covered car park opposite the popular Book Club and turning it into a crazy, neon themed outdoor bar and Olympic hub.  This is what we started with:

Over the next two days (in thankfully glorious sunshine), we transformed the space installing an outdoor bar, shed installations including an English country garden, mini golf hole, a British gentleman’s club house, a paddling pool for the daring Shoreditch crowd, neon union jack ping pong tables and plenty of big screens to catch the sporting action.

This event was hugely popular over the Olympic period and attendance was high, with even a few celebs popping in to take a look. Again this shows the attraction of the temporary nature of pop-ups. Guests can’t say, ‘Let’s just go next week,’ it’s a now or never experience.

For creating brand awareness and buzz, there is a real advantage to doing a pop-up event and they can be a great marketing opportunity. Most recently we did a pop-up exhibition for The Marketing Store. They wanted to do something different for their new and existing clients and thought a pop up would be a great way to reach out to new audiences, as the environment is unfamiliar and therefore sparks curiosity. For this client, we took over the empty Nichols and Clarke building in Shoreditch to create an interactive walk-through exhibition. This again was a hugely creative production job, including installing a living wall, an indoor Hampstead Heath, and a fresh herb bar, to create some real talking points amongst clients and something more engaging than a run of the mill conference or meeting.

Watch this space for more Wonderland pop-ups!

Lipsticks and Moustaches charity event

We’re super excited to be working alongside F.R.O.D.O on the styling for the upcoming Lipsticks and Moustaches charity event.

On the 5th of October The House of St. Barnabus will be transformed to celebrate everything vintage with live 40’s style music, powder room, prohibition cocktail bar and much more.

This really will be one glamorous evening with a surprise behind every door and we can’t wait to get our creative juices flowing!

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Wonderland's pop up installation in Shoreditch has been featured on the we heart website. Click here for the full article.

"It’s quite amazing what you can do in a car park these days. Park cars (of course), build swanky flats on them… or, decorate and regenerate by throwing a two week long party. The clever clogs behind The Book Club – The Mothership Group (who also look after The Queen of Hoxton) – have collaborated with Wonderland Events to create Basecamp.

The outdoor bar, kitchen, and playground for adults on the rather hip Leonard Street promises (I’ve been, and it’s definitely delivered) fresh food, games, the Olympics live, pints of cocktails and The Book Club favourite – Ping Pong tournaments. Inventively decorated, it has a beachy/festival vibe with inflatable pools, balloons, sheds and deckchairs. It most definitely befits the playground feel, with colour and silliness to boot. Partly covered under a canopy, it’s ideal for our particularly erratic summer and there is a wonderfully fun make-shift vibe to Basecamp. The contrast between the old spray-canned streets meeting bright young trendy things for the 100 metre race and BMXing is very London.

Open now until only 10th August, there are some excellent events planned; including Beer Pong Slam Jam and Robo Pong, hosted by The Social Athletics Clubs. Street Kitchen are offering freshly prepared food on site, I had the crispy chicken on a teeny bed of crushed potato with bacon and lettuce which was stupidly delicious, and exactly what you needed to soak up your Pint Mojito!

With GB’s medals rolling in there couldn’t be a more exciting time to be in London, so head on down to TBC’s Basecamp for fun-times and ice-cream."