So, a few of you may have heard about a little bit of drama that came our way this past April when a long-beloved venue in New York City closed due to structural damage just days before we were to produce a wedding there. Yup - not a typo - DAYS. The
media got wind of it and so did many friends in the wedding industry and, needless to say, there was a lot of buzz swirling around us and this very lovely couple, Lisa and Keith, who were really just trying to mind their own business and get married.
But, sometimes things do not go as planned, and sometimes we need to dig deep and call upon our thirteen years of event planning know-how to make it all happen. Here's the very abridged version of how it went down...
Monday at 11 PM - news story breaks (on every news outlet in NY!) that
Angel Orensanz was evacuated during an event due to a structural problem
Tuesday at 7 AM - Department of Buildings closes the venue with no further information and I start calling venues to see who has availability for that Saturday
Tuesday at 3 PM - Venue visits begin...
Cedar Lake,
Williamsburg Savings Bank,
Skylight One Hanson all fit the bill, but the bride does not "connect" with any of them
Wednesday at 10 AM - Visit to
The Highline Hotel... sparks fly! Book it!
Wednesday at noon - calls to new lighting, sound and staging companies, calls to tent companies, re-jigging of rental orders (4 different rental companies on this beauty!), calls to transportation companies
Thursday at noon - new contracts signed, timeline re-worked, new floorplans made, all vendors advised of all changes
Friday at noon - changes continue.... through 6 PM when we had to mandate a stop on all additions, changes and tweaks
Saturday at 8 AM - load-in, set-up and.... GO!
It was a busy and stressful few days, even more so for the bride and groom and their families than for me and my team, but we were all burning the midnight oil to make it happen. We were very lucky to have the support of a lot of great vendor partners as well as many friends throughout the industry. But, here's the good news.... or the great news.... despite it all, this was a spectacular wedding. Dare I say, maybe even more spectacular than in its original iteration. The stakes were high for us - especially with the whole wedding community and the press looking on - but from that first moment on Monday night when I heard the news and knew what would have to be done, I had the utmost confidence that we would pull it off. And I'm pretty sure we did (phew!).
My motto is and has always been "all's well that ends well" and I have to admit that no wedding has ever proven it more than this beauty for Lisa and Keith:
Bride in Monique Lhullier holding one of my favorite bouquets we've ever made!
Our escort mirrors re-imagined with a floral accent on top.
Floral chuppah with crystal strands to add sparkle... not to mention a fully glittered rose gold runner from
The Original Runner Company!
Tiered program booklets with a floral motif inspired by the couple's spectacular
I can take no credit for these super-chic yarmulkes... the bride ordered these all on her own!
Hundreds of taper candles made for a major wow factor.
Half of the tables had champagne sequin cloths to the floor and the other half
were wooden tables with copper sequin runners.
The bride's amazing mom embroidered every napkin with each guest's
name - these were the placecards!
All's. Well. That. Ends. Well. Period.
As you already know, I am so incredibly proud to be a part of an amazing organization called Wish Upon a Wedding. I founded the chapter in New York and serve as its President - I also sit on the National Board as the Event Chair. So, needless to say, I am the #1 believer in this organization's ability to change and shape lives through granting wedding wishes.
