Beyonce, Clinton China, Cacti, And Other Details From Tonight's State Dinner

by Chiara Atik · May 19, 2010

    It's just been announced that Beyonce will be singing at the State Dinner in honor of Mexican president Felipe Calderón.  She'll be performing under a tent on the South Lawn of the White House. More details below...-

    The 200 or so guests will be seated at rectangular and round tables set for ten. The Presidents and the First Ladies will be seated at a table for twenty. Tables will be covered in Mayan Blue linens, which have been made to resemble ripples of water.

    The center pieces will consist of gilded woven baskets filled with fuchsia roses, orchids, geraniums, and prickly pair cacti. The tables will be set using china from the Clinton administration and the Eisenhower administration.

    The decor has been carefully designed to honor President Calderón's birthplace of Michoacán, famous for its butterflies. Guests arriving will walk into a room and "experience the sense of Monarch butterflies in flight"...whatever that means.

    The tables will be decorated in shades of oranges and green, with a bouquet of marzipan and chocolate flowers in the shape of roses (the national flower of America) and dahlias (the national flower of Mexico).

    In addition to Beyonce, there will be performances by Rodrigo y Garcia and the United States Marine Band.

    [via Huffpo]