Pastels and Metallics

Start with the table, because this is where the look lives. Powder blue linens get dressed up with silver chargers and silver florals, long tables glow under light that ripples like a swimming pool, and mirrored surfaces bounce every candle back twice.

Go all silver and it reads cool and a little futuristic. Bring in blush and it softens instantly, especially with one sculptural chrome piece, like a candleholder that curls down the table like a ribbon, doing all the talking.

Paper and linens are where pink gets to be soft. Napkins drip with long fringe, envelopes get fringe and a wax seal, the cocktail menu sits on ruched rose fabric and a pink glass heart stands in for a place card. Keep the shade dusty and the finish matte, and let the silver on the table bring the shine.

Skip the low, lush arrangement. Centerpieces here are objects: a blue wax candle melting down the table, jelly candles with cherries on top, pearly lilac clusters spilling out of footed silver bowls and anthuriums on stems so long they look drawn. One strange, beautiful thing per table beats a dozen pretty ones.

The bar follows the palette. Coupes hold blue jelly cubes with a rosebud set inside, cocktails come blush and frothy, crowned with raspberries or stamped with a lipstick kiss, and cherries get dropped into textured pink glass that catches every bit of chrome around it.

Dessert is where the pastels turn translucent. Poached pears sit in footed silver cups on a powder blue cloth, jelly molds wobble on silver trays and cherries are served one at a time on silver spoons. It’s playful, a little retro and made for close-ups.

The cake is the loudest thing in the room, in the best way. Blue cakes come studded with silver dragées or wrapped in crumpled foil, silver buttercream is piped thick and crowned with cherries, and pink cakes go glossy, ruffled and tied up in ribbon like a gift.

Some are frosted to look like poured metal, one is mounted on the wall like a sculpture, and every one of them is meant to be photographed before it’s cut.

Beauty takes the metallic cue literally. Think a silver flick of liner, frosted lilac lids, glassy skin with highlight on the collarbones and pink chrome nails. It’s glossy and cool-toned, and it photographs beautifully from the ceremony to the last dance.

For guests and after-party changes, the palette shows up in smoky blue feathers and pale pink slip dresses embroidered in silver. Let the shoes do the heavy lifting: pointed slingbacks in powder blue or beaded pink, crystal-dripped grey satin and a pastel pony hair mule.