Dylan's Christening & First Birthday

Dylan was being christened and turning one on the same day, and his family wanted the two milestones to share a single look rather than compete for the room. The venue was an event hall close to Walton-on-Thames, with a black starlight wall already built into one end - beautiful to work against, and a gift for an evening celebration.

The brief was soft, calm and a little bit special. Blue, but not a nursery baby-blue. Gold, but warm rather than glitzy.

One hoop, two milestones

A christening and a first birthday pull in slightly different directions. One wants quiet and a touch of ceremony; the other wants to feel like a party. Rather than split the room in two, I built everything around a single balloon hoop and a personalised backdrop, so the eye had one clear place to land as guests arrived.

The hoop wasn't an arbitrary shape. Dylan's mum had made gold hoop centrepieces for each table, and I wanted the main display to speak to them rather than sit apart - so the installation became a gold hoop too, dressed in balloons and set beside the arched welcome panel naming the occasion.

Building it in blue and gold

The palette did the heavy lifting. Sky blue, a deeper dusty blue, chrome gold and ivory, mixed across the hoop in different sizes and finishes so it read as organic rather than evenly spaced. Chrome gold is the balloon that earns its place here - a few of them through the hoop catch the light and tie the display to the gold of the table centrepieces.

The arched panel is a custom-painted sailboard, with Dylan's name and the wording applied in vinyl so the lettering sits crisply against the soft blue. The animals came from his invite - a rabbit and a lamb - and I brought them into the display to pull the whole look together: the lamb printed onto the backdrop, the rabbit as a painted cutout holding a little gift box at the foot of the hoop. That's the piece that tips things gently toward the first-birthday side of the brief. A few faux stems in soft blue and white are tucked in at the side for texture, never the focus.

First birthdays and christenings often land in my inbox separately. Combining them in one display is becoming one of my favourite briefs.

Install morning

The starlight wall meant I could keep the build focused. The hoop goes up first, balloons worked along its frame by hand and weighted so it holds its shape through the day. Mixed finishes go in as I build, not after, so the chrome golds sit where the light will find them rather than being dotted on at the end.

The arched panel is positioned next, then the rabbit cutout nestled at the base, then the faux stems threaded in last to soften the join between balloons and floor. A final walk-round before the family arrives is where the small adjustments happen - a cluster lowered an inch, a stem pulled forward - the things a plan can't quite predict until the room is lit.

Why I love this part

Combined celebrations are quietly one of the hardest briefs to get right. It would be easy to design two halves that don't speak to each other - a solemn corner and a party corner. The work is finding the one look that holds both, so a christening and a first birthday feel like the same day rather than two events sharing a hall.

Dylan's display did that with a single palette and a single installation, and by borrowing the family's own touches - the gold of his mum's centrepieces, the animals from his invite. The rabbit gives it warmth, the gold gives it occasion, and the blue ties it to him.

If you're marking two milestones at once - a christening and a birthday, a naming and an anniversary - and you'd love one considered look rather than two competing ones, tell me what you have in mind. I'll design the room around it.

- Laura