A day here · Stafford, Houston
A baby shower in orbit: Jazmine and Zechariah in The Dome
Most baby showers pick a colour. This one picked a place — somewhere above the atmosphere — and then built it, moon and all, in the room upstairs.
Why the Dome was the right room
Jazmine and Zechariah were expecting somewhere between forty and sixty guests. That is the number that breaks most venues: too many for a restaurant’s back room, not nearly enough to fill a three-hundred-seat hall without the photographs showing it.
The Dome upstairs is about 2,000 sq ft and we market it at eighty guests or fewer. At their number the room read as full and generous rather than half-empty, which is the entire difference between a shower that photographs well and one that does not.
It also has its own large marble bar, which meant a mocktail station without renting one in, and its own chandeliers, which meant the ceiling was doing work before anybody hung a single balloon.
Thirty seconds of the room
Filmed on the day, upstairs, in the room you would book.
The theme, done properly
Space is one of the most-attempted baby shower themes and one of the most often thin. It usually amounts to a few star balloons and a rocket on the cake.
What made this one work was committing to a single palette and then layering texture inside it. The balloons ran dusty blue, sage, sand and chrome — four tones, no primaries, nothing that fought. Then cotton-wool clouds along the floor, a lit crescent moon you could sit inside, and a marquee star above it for height.
The details carried the same discipline: a white baby carriage, blocks spelling BABY, an astronaut cut-out standing guard, and a welcome sign in the same palette rather than a generic one.
The photograph they will actually keep
Every shower produces a hundred pictures of decor and one that ends up framed. Here it was the two of them, in front of the astronaut, before the room filled up.
That is worth planning for rather than hoping for. Ask your decorator to have the backdrop finished thirty minutes before guests arrive, and take ten of those minutes for yourselves while the room is still quiet and the balloons have not moved.
Three things worth copying
Pick four tones and stop
Dusty blue, sage, sand and chrome. A restricted palette makes an inexpensive garland look designed; an unrestricted one makes an expensive garland look like a party shop.
Build something with height
The marquee star and the moon are what lift the backdrop off the wall. One tall element does more for the photographs than a dozen table centrepieces.
Size the room to the list
Sixty guests in a room built for eighty feels warm. The same sixty in a room built for three hundred looks like people did not come.
What a shower like this costs
The Dome is $1,200 daytime, $1,500 evening and $2,000 for a full day, and it is the same price on any day of the week — so a Saturday afternoon shower costs no more than a Tuesday one. Add a $200 cleaning fee and a refundable $350 deposit. A $300 security fee applies only where the event runs into the evening or alcohol is served, which most daytime showers will not need.
Banquet tables, Chiavari chairs and linens are included, and you are not tied to an approved supplier list and there is no markup on your food bill, so the decorator, the baker and the caterer are all yours to choose — and if you would rather not choose, we will recommend people who know the room, or take the whole shower on an all-inclusive package. Only one event runs here at a time, which is why their decorator could be in the building building a moon while the room was still empty.
More detail on the room and the format in our baby shower venues guide.
Jazmine and Zechariah’s baby shower was held in The Dome at The Hendrix, 1250 Texas Parkway, Stafford, TX 77477. Photographs are stills from the film taken on the day.
Baby shower questions
Can we decorate a baby shower ourselves at The Hendrix?
Yes. You are not tied to an approved supplier list, so your own decorator, baker and caterer are all welcome and there is no markup on your food bill. Only one event runs at a time, so your decorator can be in the building building a backdrop while the room is still empty. If you would rather not arrange it yourself, we can recommend suppliers or run the shower on an all-inclusive package.
How many guests does the Dome hold for a baby shower?
About 2,000 sq ft, marketed at 80 guests or fewer. Most Houston showers land between 40 and 60 guests, which reads as a full, warm room here rather than a half-empty hall.
What does a baby shower in the Dome cost?
The Dome is $1,200 daytime, $1,500 evening and $2,000 for a full day, the same price on any day of the week. Add a $200 cleaning fee and a refundable $350 deposit. A $300 security fee applies only where the event runs into the evening or alcohol is served, which most daytime showers will not need.
Are tables, chairs and linens included?
Yes. Banquet tables, Chiavari chairs and linens come with the room, so your decorating budget goes on the parts guests actually photograph.
How long can our photographer stay?
For as long as your booking runs. Only one event takes place at a time, so there is no turnaround pushing you out and no restriction on when photographs are taken.