Pretty weddings for everyone!

This was a really big week for weddings in New York. Huge. Finally, finally, finally New York State legislature has signed a bill that will allow same sex couples to marry. It is a wonderful time to be in New York and to work in the business of weddings, and the outpouring of excitement from every end of the wedding industry is exhilarating.

I am not much into politics and there are few political issues that ignite my passion, so I will not ever bring politics into my work or into my blog. I am, however, unendingly passionate about weddings. So, in the weeks and months leading up this monumental bill, many of my friends within the wedding industry have been asking how I might prepare my business for this big political change. How will I handle all of the gay couples that may be calling me?

So, when faced with the materialization of this big news and all of the questions about what I will do differently, I have been putting a lot of thought into it. What WILL I do differently when I get a higher volume of inquiries for same sex weddings?

Brace yourselves, because you know that I'm not one for holding back...

Nothing. I will do nothing differently.

I have been creating amazing weddings for amazing people, gay and straight, for nearly a decade. All races, all religions, all political affiliations and all cultures, in New York, around the country and around the world. I learn about people through the eyes of their weddings. I learn about their families, what they love to do, their favorite colors, foods, music and fashion. I learn about how and where they grew up and how and where they live now. I learn because I ask questions and then listen to the answers - and sometimes beyond the answers. I then take all that I have learned about my clients and I translate it into the most beautiful and personal event that I can. That is what event design is to me.

So, whether you are gay or straight, Hindu or Jewish, Armenian or Portuguese, if you call me I am going to do everything in my power to make you an amazing wedding. That is the bill I signed into law the day I opened my doors.

Let's hear it for New York...

Cindy and Brent: A Warm Winter Wedding

After many years together, Cindy and Brent knew that once they decided to get married, they didn't want a long engagement. So, when I got a call in mid-October that there were less than four months to plan and design a big, luxurious wedding for this lovely couple, I knew we had to jump right into the details. At our first meeting Cindy and her mom decided that they liked purple and shortly thereafter we moved forward with a palette using various shades of purple from lavender to eggplant and accent it with antique gold to bring a little warmth to what promised to be a cold February day.


All photos by Sofia Negron

I created a huge escort table, fitted with an amethyst cloth and covered with a mirrored tabletop. Pearlescent purple cards were hand calligraphed with white ink for a dramatic contrast.



We mixed long and round tables and incorporated three different centerpiece styles to create interest in the ballroom.



Tall acrylic stands held full, elongated floral pieces with bold arches made of curly willow and accented with orchids. The ballroom boasts a beautifully detailed 30 foot ceiling, so it was important to use elements which drew the eye upwards. Dozens of floating candles decorated the tabletop and added a luminescent glow to the room.



Smaller acrylic stands held candles on top and had bases filled with lush floral arrangements.




To highlight the beautiful gold rimmed chargers, we incorporated round menus from Ana Dolan which fit perfectly within the rim of the plate. The custom monogram that we designed for the couple carried through the wedding.



Because the resident caterer has an in house baker, we requested that she create a cake with no design at all and then I adorned it with two types of purple ribbon and hand made sugar flowers from Sugar Flower Shop. This is a great alternative when a great baker is not a great decorator.



For a sweet finish, guests left with French macarons in four pretty colors, each of a different flavor.

This was just a taste of all of the gorgeous details of the day. Check our Facebook page in the coming weeks for the complete album. Many thanks to Sofia Negron for all of the beautiful photos.

New York Tent Industry Bash: Pink meets Industrial Chic

Imagine you are a designer. Fun! And someone asks you to design a party in a tent. Cool! And the tent is in a parking lot. Ok. And guests enter the tent through a warehouse. Mmmhmmm. And the warehouse is in an office park on Long Island. Seriously? Yup. That, my friends, is a day in the life!

I know it sounds totally nuts, but this event industry party was so crazy cool that when all was said and done, the warehouse and the parking lot and the whole thing made perfect sense! It was a great honor to be invited to partner with New York Tent for their annual industry showcase and celebration and to have the opportunity to collaborate with my good friends at Sterling Affair catering to create an atmosphere that highlighted their cuisine.

My design inspiration blossomed when Peter of Sterling Affair selected a stainless and mirror bar that he wanted to use for food service from furniture rental partner Greenroom. After looking at a photo of the piece, I thought I would run with the stainless steel concept, especially since the palette for the party had been set as Honeysuckle pink (Pantone color of the year) and gray. Then, I began to think about the unusual setting for the party in the New York Tent warehouse and what types of things may be there and I began to get really excited about creating what I decided to call "industrial chic."

Once the concept began to develop I was hit with an epiphany that dated back ten years... I had seen an exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show in which the designer covered a tabletop with nuts and bolts, topped it with glass and then set it with beautiful china. I had a snapshot of that table in my mind for a decade because I just adored the juxtaposition of the industrial and the refined and this was finally the moment to put that inspiration to use! Lucky for me, Home Depot sells Honeysuckle pink spray paint so that I could pull the whole concept together.

To brand Sterling's and my area of the tent - an elevated platform that created a second level (!!) - I designed a cog pattern that I used on the bars and table tops which spoke to our theme. I love using inexpensive and easy vinyl transfers to put my personal stamp on existing fixtures.



In the cores of my beautiful glass vases from Sandy and Mike's wedding, I inserted PVC pipes that I painted silver and then in the space between the pipe and the glass I layered jumbo hex nuts and bolts, some painted pink to add a little bit of "chic" to my "industrial." An edgy combo of pink flowers accented with black wire echoed the contrast I was trying to create throughout the space as I combined soft, romantic peonies with sleek, sexy calla lilies... and they lived together in perfect harmony!





To push my industrial chic obsession to the limit, I wanted to imagine a piece that I could hang over Sterling's signature chocolate bar that would catch guests' eyes as they entered the tent on the ground level and looked up to our open, second level platform. After a little bit of research, I because smitten with lighting designer Michael McHale's TDF copper pipe chandeliers, so I had to try and make a little one of my own. I used galvanized plumbing pipes with mismatched joints to create a frame and then wired it with sparkling crystal strands. The talented team at Luminous Designs lit it perfectly and created connectivity throughout the space by projecting cog patterned gobos on the floor.







The final piece of the puzzle was a last minute addition to include some extra guest seating. Rental partner Party Rental, Ltd. provided raw bars (generally filled with ice and then topped with seafood) which I filled with crystals and then placed trays of silver and pink nails down the center and closed off the raw bar with a piece of clear lucite. We added some tall stools and - voila! - bar-style seating!







If you can't tell, I had a pretty good time channeling my inner construction worker to show my industry friends a little bit of the crazy that goes on in my mind. Now that I got that nut and bolt thing out of my system, I don't know what will be next...

Thank you to the talented Mel Barlow for these photos. If you want to see what the other amazing design team of Claire Bean Floral Design and Brent Newsome Catering did, check out Mel's blog.

Til next time,

Sandy and Michael: A City Chic Celebration (Part 2)

Ready for more from this super-chic City couple? Let's take it from after the kiss...

Sandy was sure from the outset that she wanted color, but didn't want the wedding to be defined by a color (like "Hey, I want my wedding to be hot pink like Sandy's!"). For that reason, we gradually worked our way up to color, starting with warm neutral tones for the ceremony, followed by the addition of amethyst linens for cocktails and then a complete envelopment of color for the reception with rich amethyst and raspberry flowers and lighting. We maintained a neutral balance with silvery-champagne linens and chairs which created color consistency that started months before with their gorgeous mixed media invitations (letterpress AND engraving!) and continued through to the final element of the reception... the beautiful wedding cake.


Photo by Gustavo Campos


Photo by Gustavo Campos

The flowers were simple, but voluminous. The design was more in the pattern and color than in the arrangements themselves allowing for a very fresh, seasonal display featuring spring's best bloom - the tulip. The ballroom featured two types of tables and three total centerpiece designs: long rectangular tables featured a landscape of multiple small vases; many of the round tables had a collection of three high pieces, one of tulips, one of hydrangea and one of mixed orchids; the remaining round tables had a collection of six lower pieces, three larger mimicking the tall centerpieces and three miniature satellite pieces containing orchids and roses. Silver and gold wire accented many of the flower groupings and paired perfectly with the champagne and gold flecked silver table linens and runners.


Photo by Gustavo Campos


Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios


Photo by Gustavo Campos

Mark Joseph Cakes created this classically beautiful five-tiered cake reflecting some of the modern vintage elements of Sandy's dress. The soft and sweet outside was hardly a match, however, for the soft and sweet inside: a custom-designed Oreo flavored cake made just for this couple!


Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios


Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

To send guests off with a sweet finish, we distributed Black and White cookies, a New York signature treat and Michael's very favorite cookie, as the wedding favor. My favorite part? The eleventh-hour inclusion of lyrics from the couple's first dance song on the back of the custom printed favor tag:

And when you kiss me
On that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain't this life so sweet
("This Years Love," David Gray)

What more is there to say?


Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Happy Royal Wedding Week! :-)

Sandy and Michael: A City Chic Celebration (Part 1)

Every once in a while, I meet a couple, and in the first moment, just on instinct, I know just what their wedding will look like. In the case of Sandy and Michael, from our first meeting, I knew just what their wedding would feel like. It took us a while to meander our way to all of the perfect visual elements, but from day one, I sensed that my collaboration with this couple would result in an environment brimming with energy, excitement and that certain New York City je ne sais quoi. And, indeed it did.

It was exactly one year before that I had the pleasure of working with Michael's sister and her groom to create an amazing wedding at Cipriani 42nd Street, so I already had met Sandy and Michael before they were engaged. Then, I had barely packed away my files from Sara and Scott's wedding when Michael's mom called to let me know that the next family wedding was on.

After touring just about every NYC venue that could accommodate their nearly 300 guests, Sandy and Michael settled on The Altman Building, not far from their own Chelsea apartment. That set the scene for a wedding that was truly about who this couple is and how they live. Urban, but warm. Modern, but classically New York.

At one of our first meetings, Sandy searched for the words to capture her overall vision for the wedding. With exasperation, she finally blurted "I don't know... glowy" and that became the word to live by! Strangely enough, it was just the perfect amount of direction and now Sandy's word is a natural part of my design vocabulary. It is actually unusually descriptive of both a mood and a look... I love it!

The embodiment of "glowy" was manifested in the candle wall which I designed as a backdrop to the escort card display. The glass ghost table gave an impression that the cards were floating in mid-air and added to the allure of the glowing wall. This was probably my favorite detail of the whole day.


Photo by Gustavo Campos


Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

The chuppah was composed of soft, sheer ivory fabric and accented with ivory and peach flowers and flanked with huge explosions of white cherry blossoms. (Insider scoop: those cherry blossoms were actually supposed to be at the entrance of the room, but during setup, my production team put them near the chuppah so they wouldn't get knocked over during load in. They looked so good, we left them there and added more cherry blossoms to the front. Thankfully we had just enough left over to make it happen!)


Photo by Gustavo Campos


Photo by Gustavo Campos


Photos by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Sandy's bouquet was designed as an accessory to her Christos lace dress (as I believe all bouquets should be) which has a modern vintage feel. We used ranunculus, garden roses and sweet pea wrapped with lace from her mom's veil in perfect proportion to her petite frame and it looked like the flowers were sold with the gown! Of course, Michael's ranunculus boutonniere coordinated with Sandy's flowers. The bridesmaids carried peach tulips, ranunculus and roses which were a stunning contrast to their steel gray dresses (I'm working on a pic!).


Photos by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Tomorrow... the reception and more fun details!

A look back: Remembering a beautiful bride and a beautiful wedding

I was heartbroken to learn of the devastatingly untimely passing of one of our beautiful brides, Holly Kensicki Lind on March 1, 2011. We planned and designed Holly and Keith's wedding in September 2007 just as Holly was recovering from a series of surgeries and treatments to fight the cancer with which she was diagnosed shortly before her engagement to her grade school sweetheart Keith. It was a pleasure to work with her and her lovely family and I always marveled at her strength, fortitude and positivity throughout the planning process. On her wedding day, Holly was beaming, healthy and strong and my team and I loved being part of an amazing celebration.

I am so lucky that part of my job is to get to know my clients intimately and personally, to know their families and their stories, to share a time of excitement and joy and to be a partner in creating one of the most significant days in their lives. As much relief as I feel when we have successfully completed a beautiful wedding, I truly miss the daily interactions with my brides and grooms. They are as much a part of my life as I am a part of theirs.

In the years since Holly and Keith's wedding, I have shown examples of their menus, programs, flowers, cake and lighting to dozens of clients. I have told the story of how Holly's sister's invitation was tampered with somewhere in the post office and instead of receiving the beautiful invite inside, she received an envelope full of magazine clippings and fraudulent credit cards. I have altered the way I order chocolate covered pretzels for a candy station since the 8 pounds of pretzels we ordered for their wedding was so much that it came in a garbage bag!

I remember their wedding, and all of my clients' weddings, much like I remember my own - a blur of excitement, a whirlwind of activity, a rush of joy and, when it is over, a satisfying sigh of relief. I remember Holly as a beautiful bride on her first day of being someone's wife, as she basked in the glow of her own happiness and the happiness of others. I wanted to share these photos with you so that you, too, can know her [or remember her] just the same.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Keith and to their daughter Avery.












Thanks to Sarah Merians for retrieving these photos from her archives for this post.

"Dinner by Design" Signature Tabletop

Over the course of the past few years, it has been so much fun to bring a little taste of what I do in New York and around the globe back to my small Pennsylvania hometown. I have been able to design some truly spectacular weddings in and around the Scranton area and work for and with people I have known my entire life, but in a very different context. So, it was truly an honor when I was asked to create a design to display at the Lackawanna Historical Society's inaugural "Dinner by Design" event at the beautiful Scranton Cultural Center. Twenty event industry pros created tabletops to feast and fete and I was truly blown away by my fellow exhibitors' creativity and ingenuity.



As you know, I just adore black, so naturally I used it as the basis for my tabletop. I chose yellow as my accent color because the event organizers had asked me to talk about my design inspiration, and something in my mind brought me back to one of the first events I ever created... it was an art opening for a young experiential artist who created a sculpture out of opaque yellow acrylic and displayed it in front of the Flatiron Building. The piece required you to stand inside of it and allow the sculpture to transform the way in which you view the world (specifically the intersection of 23rd Street and Broadway/Fifth Avenue) from within it. The interactive nature of it speaks so profoundly to the interactive nature of event design as it is not beauty that you look at, but that you interact with as you eat, drink, dance and celebrate.



To me, this is the keystone principle of event design and what makes it a unique art form - we create beautiful environments for living, but unlike interior design where the goal is to provide an environment that can be enjoyed over an extended period of time, event environments must be experienced in their entirety within a matter of hours, but leave you with a feeling that will resonate for a lifetime. Many years after that art exhibit closed, I remember the feeling of standing inside that yellow acrylic box and marveling at how the cuts and angles made it look like the Flatiron Building disappeared and like 5th Avenue and Broadway went on forever.

Are you sorry you asked about the yellow? Oh, wait, you didn't ask. :-)

Anyway... some fun details: I wanted to create a branded table setting without ordering custom china, so I used a vinyl transfer with the flower from my logo to accent the salad plates. Since I am totally hot for the vinyl transfers and couldn't stop myself, I also used the vinyl on shiny black bellini chairs from Taylor Creative to create "placecards" for some of my imaginary dinner guests (do you think that Demi, Ashton, Brad and Angie would actually have dinner together?? Probably not.). Instead of a runner to add color to the black cloth, I designed a tablecloth with inverse pleats and then carried the yellow fabric through on the napkins and accent pillows. Finally, I created intimacy around the table with a custom built glossy black frame and netted curtain panels - since the color scheme and design components are graphic and bold, a softer environment around the table made it a bit more inviting.







Many thanks to Julie Jordan for many of these photos and to Party Rental, Ltd. for the china, glassware and silverware.

Cheers,