Once Upon a Table Top

Last week we had the amazing honor of participating in the 13^th Annual Once Upon a Table Top Spring Event benefiting the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. We are so fortunate to have one of the premier pediatric hospitals in the nation in our own back yard. This fundraiser was focused on bolstering the amazing programs that elevate the hospital above the rest. Programs such as Music Therapy, Healthy Kids Express, Camp Rhythm, the Clown Docs, and many more that give families hope and help to make even the very sickest kids just be kids.

 

The event itself was one of the most creative, fun, and rewarding events Joya has had the pleasure of participating in. A wide breadth of local businesses, from florists and event planners, to bakeries and boutiques participated, showcasing their amazing talent and creativity. This year’s theme was “Once Upon a Tabletop”, and each tabletop designer was challenged with creating a masterpiece table design based on a popular fairytale or children’s book. This made for a whimsical, bright, and enchanting variety of beautiful tables. We were overwhelmed by the attention to detail and creativity each designer displayed. From Little Red Riding Hood to The Secret Garden, each table was a unique, fanciful work of art.

 

We brainstormed for days to determine which children’s book we would feature at the Joya table. We wanted something that was a favorite of ours, and one that also spoke to our brand. After much consideration, we landed on “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. I’ve always adored the inspiring message of the Dr. Seuss classic often reserved for high school and college graduates as they venture out to make their stamp on the world.   As we re-read the book, we found that the message can easily be translated to our core mission at Joya: to empower women in all walks of life to go out and make a difference in the world.   Our mission at Joya is to support women’s causes around the world; causes like the Bali Life Foundation, which provides food, health care, shelter, and job training and interview skills to homeless women and their children. The children receive education, and the women are given job training and opportunities to create an income to support their families.

 

Another major platform of the Joya brand is travel. We travel the world to seek out artisans to create our exclusive collection. We took our love of travel and the message in “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” to create a vintage travel inspired tabletop. We created an inspiration board on Pinterest (what did we do before Pinterest?!?) and we were off to the races. Below are a few detailed photos of our finished tabletop, as well as a few of our favorite details and helpful tips we discovered along the way.

  

We incorporated vintage suitcases, cameras, globes, and books as part of the tabletop and to create a layered platform for the floral. 

 

Local florist Flowers to the People created our amazing hot air balloon centerpieces, which stole the show! I love the attention Bridget put into the selection of each bright flower for the baskets, as many look like they jumped off a page of a Dr. Seuss book!   

 

We created this vintage looking city sign using recycled scrap wood. Each city depicted is a place where we source and design Joya products.   

 

The color palette was plucked from the vintage map fabric we purchased on Etsy from a seller in the UK. I love the soft pastels that we pulled from the inspiration fabric and used in our china, linens, favors, and floral.  

 

One of the easiest and most impactful projects were these candleholders. We used simple glass cylinders and wrapped them in map paper we found at Paper Source to create votive holders. The flickering light through the map paper was gorgeous! 

 

Here's a look at our other favorite tables...