New Visit LG partner has the right look and feel for special events
A sumptuous repast is a treat for the senses. It's about how it feels.
How it presents to the eye. How it appeals to the social instinct. How it sets the mood. Even before the way it smells or tastes.
In our household, Stephanie enjoys the finer things and always appreciates a graceful table. For Bill, a great table likely involves a pizza box.
We set out to learn more from the experts at Tablescapes Event Rentals. Kate Gueorguieva, vice president of client relations, and Jenna Gough, business development manager, were our guides.
Tablescapes has been around for about 40 years and is best known in the Chicago area, where the firm has built a reputation servicing events at many of the most iconic hotels and venues. In 2025 Tablescapes expanded and opened a showroom in Milwaukee to go along with its original site in Chicago, and its warehouse in Franklin Park, Illinois. Though the firm has serviced Lake Geneva events from its Chicago base in the past, the Milwaukee location is allowing Tablescapes to become a major player in the southeastern Wisconsin market.
"Our mission is to be the best partner for rentals for anyone in the Midwest," Kate told us. "By anyone, I mean from a 20-person party to a 2,000-person gala."
Tablescapes most recently earned rave reviews for its setup and servicing the Winterfest sculptors and sponsors dinner event at the lakefront Riviera Ballroom.
The company's specialty, as suggested by its name, is providing broad options for event managers in setting up the perfect appearance and amenities for any kind or size of gathering. Tablescapes is not a food and beverage provider but rather works with partners and hotels and caterers to present the perfect atmosphere filling needs for vessels, set-up, tables, chairs, even back of the house needs.
"We'll bring the salt and pepper shaker and we'll bring the oven, and anything in between," Kate told us, with a warm laugh.
And if an event planner needs to be hooked up with reliable food and beverage providers, Kate said Tablescapes has relationships to help meet those needs.
"We like to say, 'Ask us a question. The answer is yes. The only question is how'," she said.
Take a look at the Tablescapes online catalogue, table scapes.com, and the truth of that statement stands out. The selection of items — furniture, dinnerware, flatware, floors and runners, bar service, glassware, linens and so much more — is, in a word, overwhelming. We couldn't help but wonder: How does a nervous and harried bride and groom navigate the options?
Kate acknowledged, "The catalogue can be overwhelming, especially for someone who is not in our planning industry world and who is doing this for the first time. The advantage we have is that we do have account managers and business development managers on our team."
That's Jenna — who is from Lake Geneva — and her colleagues whose job it is to work directly with clients.
"They gauge the experience of each individual, whether they're a business-to-business client or a person doing their wedding and deciding to secure all the necessary elements herself," Kate said. "Once that consultation is done we will put together a vision board that will match the client."
Personal service is key.
"We cover all those aspects," Jenna said. "We have a lot of corporate partners as well, so everything from corporate galas in Chicago and coming up to the Milwaukee area now. Really, any style of celebration. We've even served a celebration of life. Any style of celebration, even if you just want to dress up your Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve dinner. There's no limitation to what we service."
"We can give a visual experience for a one-time client who is doing this for the wedding," Jenna explained. "Between giving them the visual, doing a consultation with our team, coming into our showroom and later on with a caterer to get samples and a mock-up of what their day can look like, I think makes the process much easier for them."
Tablescapes has big ambitions, and the Milwaukee showroom is a critical component as the company expands its reach to Kenosha, Lake Geneva, Madison and beyond. In fact, Kate said, Tablescapes has designs on expansion across all of Illinois, southern Michigan, Indiana — even St. Louis, Kentucky and Arkansas. A company value, she said, is to do it all sustainably.
"We will be the first company, as far as I know, in the Midwest that will be able to provide reusable cups for stadiums and large venues where glass is not appropriate. It's good for nature, reusable versus disposable," she said.
Tablescapes is a relatively new Visit Lake Geneva partner. Stephanie raved about the company's spread at the Riviera's Winterfest event.
Ever the dull wit, Bill says he wouldn't be surprised if Tablescapes even figures out how to dress up that pizza box.
Stephanie Klett is the President and CEO of Visit Lake Geneva, and the former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. Her husband, Bill Barth, is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News and a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.
