Just this past April, guests entered the whimsical world of Ally in Wonderland at The Merion in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.  Designed to evoke an enchanted storybook garden, the ornate ballroom was transformed into a magical place to celebrate Ally’s bat mitzvah!

[Photos courtesy of Universal Party (above) and AVI Photography]

As Ally’s guests arrived at The Merion they were greeted by a large illustrated seating book sitting on a table dressed with Moss Green Taffeta linens.  Below, the guest of honor was seated with her friends at a large “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” feast table placed at the head of dance floor.  Tall red rose topiaries alternated with whimsical hat stands and funky tea pots.  Each place setting had its own playing card placemat and gilded Chivari chairs had a rainbow of colorful cushions.  Ally was seated in the center of the table on her own gold throne that the Queen herself would be jealous of!

The ballroom was alive with color!  The ceiling was lit with deep midnight blues, vibrant purples, bright yellows and deep greens to evoke dark nights and mystical forests.  Event Designer, Arlene Bluestein, worked with a floral palette of papaya, orange, coral, deep pink, magenta, fuchsia, green, grape and garnet red.  Formal green topiaries were placed in urns and versailles boxes and flowering cherry branches offered tree-like shadows.  We incorporated the client’s assorted Alice in Wonderland props into the designs which included Mad Hatter top hats, oversized gold pocket watches and oversized playing cards.

Our production team built colorful floral trees and wired hat holders for the dinner tables.  But our sign-in “door” was a huge hit with the kids!

“I’m late, I’m late” pocket watch table numbers were big and bold to help guests find their way to their dinner tables.  Below, even the sly Cheshire Cat made his appearance felt at the bat mitzvah celebration floating in and out of the room at will.  Here, he’s landed on the dance floor for all to see!

All the details on this event were right in tune with the festive theme, down to the “drink me” water bottles and take home “tarts with hearts” favors.

Guests danced all night long to groovy spins of All Around Entertainment.  The large stage backdrop All Around designed was a multi-media presentation extravaganza including giant screens that showed the event logo, the photo montage from Luria Visuals and cool special effects.  At one point, the entire room seemed to spin and swirl as if we were all falling down the rabbit hole!

The talented pastry chef at The Merion created this incredible topsy turvy cake complete with a miniature version of “Ally in Wonderland” sitting on top!  She drank too much tea!