Following the success of A Royal Masterclass with Karen Tran at The Lanesborough in London 2018, the Wedding and Events team at The Savoy Hotel approached Planned for Perfection to bring world renowned Floral Designer Karen Tran and her flower masterclass, back to London in 2019, this time, to London’s most iconic hotel….

Karen Tran Master Class London

The Karen Tran Masterclass is notorious worldwide and excited students fly from all over the world to learn how to create Karen’s signature masterpieces, listen to Karen’s incredible journey to becoming the undisputed Queen of Flowers and take the first steps into the wonderful world of luxury weddings and events…

With the help of the Savoy weddings team (Thank you Sasha & Penny!) we planned an inspirational three days for Karen and her students, who all enjoyed a masterclass like never before, in the heart of London.

Guest speakers included Kylie Carlson, founder of The Wedding Academy and The Wedding CEO Club, a pop up demonstration from exquisite jewellery designers, Boodles of London and the hotels infamous Head Butler, Sean Davoren, who gave everyone an insight into working life at this most prestigious venue…

During the three day event, students experienced the five star treatment that hotel residents and guests enjoy at the Savoy. We had arranged for the welcome lunch to be served in the private dining room at Kaspers, the Oyster bar & seafood restaurant located in art deco-styled dining room at the hotel and on the first evening, a delicious dinner was served in the Pinafore room, one of the private dining rooms at The Savoy, with Karen and her UK team, so that we could all get to know the students.

The following day, after a morning of building the epic flower displays, lunch was served at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, one of oldest traditional English restaurants in London, before the students and florists continued with the masterclass set up. It was all hands on deck for the next 36 hours and everyone worked so incredibly hard to ensure everything was ready for the show stopping “Evening of Opulence at The Savoy”

Karen’s masterclasses are infamous for culminating with the most incredible gala dinners to showcase the beautiful designs created during the workshops. As part of the Karen Tran experience, all students are invited to the gala dinner, so that they can see the flower journey for themselves - from conditioning and pruning the thousands of flowers to building the epic designs… to then witnessing first hand how all aspects of the styling comes together for the VIP dinner that we we had planned.

An evening of opulence in London

The Karen Tran gala dinner is one of the most anticipated events in the UK wedding and events industry calendar and those invited to the evening received a personalised boxed scented paper rose, designed by stationery provider Ananya Cards. The guest list included wedding industry influencers, event experts, bloggers, media companies, wedding planners and industry VIP’s from around the world, with a waiting list for spaces at. The gorgeous River Rooms at The Savoy were transformed with thousands of flowers - it was quite literally breath taking! We are incredibly proud to have planned this event for Karen for the second successive year and, as always, behind every talented event planner is an army of incredible suppliers that help us to bring mood-boards to life:

Karen Tran

Luxury London bridal designer boutique Browns Bride gifted Karen a fabulous designer wedding dress for the evening, which was accompanied with the most stunning jewellery from Boodles at The Savoy. Hair and makeup was beautifully styled by Gemma Sutton, who is always such a joy to work with.

Let them eat cake

International wedding cake designer Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium made the most exquisite 8-tiered white and gold cake for the event. The cake was over 6ft tall and covered with white sugar rose appliques and sugar flowers, each meticulously handcrafted by the Queen of cakes! The cake was a masterpiece, which took centre stage on the dancefloor during dinner, sitting on a bed of pink flowers and perfectly framed by the floral tunnel connecting the two rooms.

Flowers

As at previous London events, the wonderful team at Wild About were Karen’s support florists. Leanne and her team helped to create the exquisite floral structures, dramatic pillar installations and incredibly beautiful table centre pieces for the evening dinner. A luxurious and elegant colour palette of whites, creams and blush filled the room, including an stunning 14 foot x 18 foot floral tunnel and archway, which linked the dining room to the party room and each pillar was wrapped in gorgeous cascading florals. Gold pedestals and opulent floral table runners adjourned the long gold mirrored tables dressed with thousands of roses, hydrangeas, tulips, peonies, and phalaenopsis orchids

Entertainment

Guests were welcomed by “White Bloom” performing characters from Dream Performance, and enjoyed a Champagne, cocktail and canape reception with entertainment from performing Ballerinas from Sophie Adams Ballet Company and an impressive ariel performance by La Luna.

Once dinner was announced, guests were greeted by the ultimate Show Band The Function Band, who, as always have guests on their feet as soon as they start performing. We love working with this band – they are so much fun, incredibly talented and always fill the dance floor at any wedding or party they perform at!

Not only was the event captured by our photographer friend and industry colleagues Stuart Wood and Chris from Perfect Moment Films, artist Lucy McLoughlin Live Event Artist attended to paint artwork momento’s of the evening.

Delicious Menu

The Savoy has a reputation for delicious food and what better way to serve the incredible five course menu than on divine tableware from Whitehouse Event Crockery which were dressed with napkins from www.just4linen.co.uk and placed on top of bespoke gold mirror table tops from Luminaire Events, who also provided the lighting, sound & production for the evening. White and gold chairs were provided by www.eventdecorhire.com who supplied the same chairs to us later in the year for a most stunning wedding in the Cotswolds. 

The menu was delicious…  with English oyster and black pearls to start, followed by seasonal English white asparagus, wild garlic hollandaise, Iberico ham. The most delectable Saffron risotto with spring edible flowers was then served, before the main course of Lotus flower wrapped steamed mini halibut fish, pak choi and sesame dark soya sauce. Ending the meal with strawberries and cream, vanilla orchid panna cotta, strawberry, elderflower and buttermilk ice cream, which was divine. Tea, coffee & petit fours followed before a heart warming speech, full of gratitude from Karen for all of the hard work from the planning team, suppliers and the students for their dedication and committment in creating another successful London event.

Next UK Karen Tran Masterclass

Needless to say, Covid 19 has put a stop to the 2020 Karen Tran London Masterclass, but do watch this space for announcement of future dates!