How to Make a Celebration Truly Unforgettable
The art of creating a celebration people will talk about.
There are celebrations, and then there are celebrations - the kind people remember long after the party has passed. The ones where guests arrive expecting something enjoyable and leave entirely wowed.
The best celebrations I’ve created have never been about budget. They’ve been about vision. About having a clear idea of what you want to create, and then attending to every detail until it comes to life.
This is what I do as a food stylist and creative director - conjure moments that tell a story and feel abundant, beautiful, considered. Here’s my approach.
Begin with a concept, not a checklist
Before venue, menu, or guest list - establish your concept. Not the occasion (that’s logistics), but the atmosphere you want to create.
I take inspiration from art - my first love before food. My Courtauld and Sotheby’s background means I think in composition, colour, light. What would this look like if Vermeer painted it? A luscious Pre-Raphaelite garden scene? A Degas ballerina tablecloth?
Once you have that singular vision, everything cascades into place. The palette, music, flowers, textures - all serving the same idea.
Abundance creates drama
Years styling for Country Life taught me: abundance is theatrical.
One cake is lovely. Three cakes of varying heights with figs tumbling between them is spectacle. Flowers massed abundantly - almost too much - stops conversation.
Drinks table with vintage coupes, citrus fanned, herbs in profusion, ice cascading from silver buckets. Cheese resembling an entire Norman dairy with honeycomb dripping onto slate. Pudding tables with pavlovas, tarts, croquembouche. Flowers gloriously excessive - Constance Spry meets Cotswold cutting garden.
You can conjure this economically through clever composition. But it is about drama.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing.
Details are everything
Small exquisite details transform celebrations.
Velvet ribbons in jewel tones from VV Rouleaux. Fabric-covered menus in Liberty print. Linen napkins from Fiona Finds, properly pressed. Table layers - antique damask, silk runners, beautiful fabric creating texture.
Cake stands at different levels. Stacks of beautiful books. Candles in groups of three, five, seven - beeswax tapers in vintage brass or Sophie Lou Jacobsen holders. Overhead lights off, always.
Fresh flowers everywhere. Signature scent - Diptyque Feu de Bois. Beautiful serving vessels - wooden boards, vintage transferware, heirloom pieces.
Create moments
Arrivals matter. Welcome drinks poured, music playing, every candle lit. One surprise - string quartet, show-stopping cake, unexpected speech. Mark transitions - dim lights, shift music, move spaces. Something participatory - Polaroid camera, group toast, collaborative playlist. End intentionally.
Do something unexpected
Long lunch stretching into evening. Midnight supper after theatre. Historic estates, glasshouses, transformed homes. No assigned seats. Dessert at midnight in gardens. Progressive meals through rooms. Food on antique mirrors. Flowers suspended from ceilings. One extraordinary element - insane cheese course, spectacular dessert table, impossibly lush flowers.
Cohesion is elegance
Work within tight colour palettes - my signature blue florals with silver, or dusty pinks and terracotta, or jewel tones with gold. Commit entirely.
Invitations telegraph aesthetic. Table continues it. Flowers reinforce it. Ribbons echo it. Food plating considers it. Smooth silk against rough linen. Odd numbers. Varying heights. Balance without symmetry.
Make it personal
Create celebrations that could only exist for that specific person. Build around favorite paintings, beloved places, cherished eras. Eclectic guest lists. Meaningful music. Food they genuinely love.
Handle practicalities beautifully
Designated coat space. Concealed bins. Proper flow. Pristine powder rooms with Diptyque and Aesop. Temperature control. Plenty of everything. Seamless dietary requirements.
Hire help. Prep the night before - steam outfit, set table, cook ahead. Day-of should feel calm.
Document - photographer, style key moments, beautiful guest book, group photo, video of empty space.
What people remember
Not what you spent. How they felt.
The unexpected detail. Perfect ribbon. Painted name card. Candlelight like a painting. Feeling welcome, delighted, seen.
You’re creating sensation, not event. Memory, not party.
Care profoundly, prep thoroughly, enjoy alongside guests. The final ingredient is you - present, joyful, celebrating.
That’s when pleasant becomes unforgettable.
That’s when people think: “I’ve never experienced anything quite like that.”
And isn’t that the whole point?
