Deck The Halls With Rose Petals

When it comes to holiday entertaining, the right atmosphere and décor are key.

Preston Bailey, floral and event designer, shares his tips for creating a shimmering red and gold holiday dinner table.

"My goal in planning any event is to elicit an emotional, even passionate, response from the guests while inventing an environment that is meaningful and personal for my client," says Bailey.

Bailey's signature design touch is to use flowers at the center of all his creations. For Preston the bottom line is to keep the presentation simplistic, integrate vivid color, and leave guests with a little something to remember.

The following ideas are from his book the "Ultimate Holiday Dinner Table":

How To Make A "Floral Cocktail"

You will need:

1. Mold/foam to hold petals - Preston used green styrofoam cut into an oval with a flat bottom
   
2. 1 stemmed drinking glass
   
3. Straight pins & clear craft glue
   
4. Quantity of loose petals - Bailey used velvet-finish rose petals
   
5. Decorative berries - Bailey used Brunia berries; cranberries, etc., also can be used

Method:
Step 1 - Starting at the bottom using straight pins, layer petals around mold row by row with each row overlapping the other. Following the nature of the rose that starts with the larger petals and decrease the size as you go up.

Step 2 - Glue berries at top to finish

Step 3 - Place on top of glass - you're done!!!

The Ultimate Holiday Dinner Table

Inspiration: This holiday is a time of giving, so the idea is to work into the décor several elements that double as gifts for your guests. So when some one says, "Oh, how darling." You can say, "You are welcome to take it home!"

Bailey says you can never get enough at this time of year, and he suggests using silk petals to create flowers for the table.

• Table for 8 to 10, 6' long by 48" wide
• Use lots of rose petals everywhere to cover gift boxes, candleholders, table runners.
• The centerpiece: large round red rose petal treatment. Base done with fresh green lemon leaves folded and pinned with fresh cranberries, layered onto a Styrofoam base with a raised rose petal top.
• The candleholders: same layered petal treatment repeated
• The floral cocktail - see the instructions above
• The napkin rings: decorated with red rose petals

While growing up in Panama, Bailey was surrounded by colorful tropical flowers, but never paid much special attention to them. After coming to the states in 1969 to study accounting at Pace University, he stumbled upon a career as a fashion model and a men's clothier in the 1970s. He began designing with flowers informally to make extra money back in the early 1980s after two interior designer friends put him to work for a few of their Park Avenue clients.

Twenty years later, Bailey has turned himself into a million dollar enterprise with his New York based company, Preston Bailey Entertainment and Set Design, and his first book, "Preston Bailey's Design for Entertaining."

The 53-year-old self-taught floral and event designer took the entertaining world by storm in 1998 when he created the Russian winter wonderland wedding for Joan Rivers' daughter, Melissa (Melissa and husband John Endicott are now separated). From there, he earned gigs with Liza Minnelli (wedding and Halloween party), Oprah Winfrey (launch and one-year anniversary parties for O Magazine), Matt Lauer's wedding, "In Style," "House & Garden," and "People" magazines.