Wish Upon a Wedding Comes to NYC

It is no secret that weddings are my true passion. If you told me twelve years ago that I would spend the rest of my life thinking about, dreaming about and fully immersed in the world of weddings - and never tire of it - I would have thought you were crazy. But it is true. I believe in the power of weddings and in the true value of expressing your love for another person for real, in public, in the environment of your choosing under any circumstance. It is a powerful moment in life and one that universally connects you to billions of people throughout the world and across time. I love to make pretty parties, but I am truly driven by the root of that beauty that lies far beneath the surface of flowers and fluff.

With that in mind, I am so proud and honored to announce that I have gathered a group of my most esteemed colleagues and friends and launched the New York City chapter of Wish Upon a Wedding. WUW was founded in 2010 as the first wish granting organization to provide no cost weddings to couples facing terminal illness or other life altering circumstances.  There are now 17 active chapters across the US and the New York City chapter is finally joining the ranks! Please, please, please take a moment to read more about Wish Upon a Wedding -  I know you will be as moved as I was by the couples that are being helped by my wedding industry colleagues across the country.

Hopefully some of you are wondering how you can help... there are lots of ways to make a meaningful contribution to WUW:

1. Spread the word! We want to be able to help as many couples as possible, but they need to know that this resource is available to them.  If you have connections with hospitals, houses of worship, hospice facilities, community groups or any other organization which may serve individuals who are facing life altering circumstances, please help make it known that WUW NYC is at their disposal.
2. Donate your time! If you provide a wedding related product or service (professional credentials and experience required) and you would like to contribute to a wedding wish, please send an email to newyorkvolunteer@wishuponawedding.org. Please note that your information will be added to a database and you will be contacted when a couple for whom we are granting a wish requires your services.
3. Send money! We have so much work to do and limited resources with which to do it. If you are able to assist with our fundraising efforts your donation will go directly to underwriting a wedding for a couple in need. Email me at newyorkpresident@wishuponawedding.org for secure online payment information or write a check made out to Wish Upon a Wedding (with NYC in the memo line) and send it to Wish Upon a Wedding, PO BOX 1141, Santa Clara, CA 95052.
4. Raise money! If you are getting married or know someone who is getting married, please consider donations to WUW "in lieu of favors." Our website offers information on how to do this and provides guest notification cards at no cost.
5. Become a sponsor! If you are part of a business or organization looking for a long-term partnership with a charitable organization, please email me at newyorkpresident@wishuponawedding.org to discuss how we can create a mutually beneficial and meaningful relationship.
6. Keep in touch! Follow our progress and updates on Twitter @WUW_NYC and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WUWNewYork. 

I so appreciate all of the support we have already received and am looking forward to sharing with you the forthcoming journey to help New York area couples.

With gratitude,

Pow! Diego's 5th Birthday Bash

I can't lie... I am pretty much mortified that I have a backlog of awesome events from nearly a YEAR ago.  I can make excuses (busiest year ever! sold my house! new business projects in development! launching an industry charity!) but there really is no excuse except that I haven't carved out the time. I'm trying to change my ways... really.

So, here it goes! Let's turn back the clock to last August when I did yet another spectacular party for one of my long-standing clients.  You've seen Ines and Augusto's wedding, Ines' birthday party, Diego's 4th birthday, and now... his 5th!  Diego had not lost his love for all things superhero, so my challenge was to do a superhero party, but one that looks totally different than the one we did the year before. Spiderman was the star for birthday number 4, so I thought I'd mix it up a little bit by going retro. We didn't focus on any one particular superhero, but instead channeled a little bit of my inner Lichtenstein for a funky comic book inspired look.

There aren't too many instances in which a polka dot tablecloth and yellow chairs will do the trick, but this hot summer day was the one!  The combo made the party feel youthful and fun and it was engaging for kids and adults alike. Colorful, funky flowers in lime green vases were accented with comic book exclamations for added whimsy.

We did a killer dessert/favor station at Diego's 4th birthday, so we had to top ourselves with this one while not repeating the same components. So, I created a lollipop tree display with the birthday cake as the centerpiece.  I used a Martha Stewart tutorial to create the ribbon covered cones (kinda harder than it looks!) and inserted all sorts of pops (cake, lolli, cookie, etc.) into each of the cones on the table.  I once again called upon Cakes by Mona to create the world's cutest birthday cake for the world's luckiest kid.

There was tons to do to keep busy on this gorgeous summer day... swimming, bounce house, climbing wall - you name it! While the guests enjoyed the activities, they munched on popcorn and cheese puffs from these cute customized bags. Below: you can't go wrong with a pinata - and my favorite part of the day - a craft station at which the kids could make their own superhero capes and masks!

All photos by Sharon Schuster

I'm looking forward to more great celebrations with this wonderful family.  What else can we do for birthday number 6??

Thanks for reading!

Robin and Paul: A Modern-Meets-Classic NYC Wedding

I met Robin about five years ago when she was the maid of honor at her big sister's wedding - which we planned! Who knew that her date that night would be the guy she dragged into our office all of these years later to talk about planning and designing their big day?



Robin's bouquet was made of all white cattaleya, phaelonopsis and cymbidium orchids to complement the sweet whimsy of her Vera Wang gown.




Paul wore a matching double white mini cymbidium boutonniere.

Robin had her eye on Tribeca Rooftop for her venue since her sister looked there all those years ago, so that was in the bag from the start. It was a perfect fit for this wedding which had many of the traditional "big, fancy wedding" components, but the sleek, loft space created an ideal framework for Robin and Paul's modern aesthetic. We maintained that balance throughout with simple choices like mixing traditional round tables and modern square ones, building luxe, full floral arrangements atop contemporary lucite stands and formal place settings with unusual china and glassware accents mixed in.





Tables alternated between these huge, lush pieces and trios of architecturally constructed pieces. Featured flowers are dahlias, roses, mokara, phaelonopsis and cymbidium orchids, all in magenta and amethyst tones.



To add a little whimsy, we created three different styles of cocktail napkins, each with its own "fun fact" about the couple.

We also got a lot of inspiration from the invitation that Robin and Paul selected from the beautiful Bella Figura collection. They chose a fun liner which we played with and modified so that we could carry it through various elements in the wedding.



On the right, the Bella Figura invitation is featured. On the left is the Save the Date that our artist Heather hand drew and painted just for Robin and Paul. It is a one-of-a-kind art piece paying homage to NYC!



These square menus fit perfectly into the square charger plate, so from a distance it looked like a custom plate!




Sincere thanks to Christian Oth for providing all photos

Robin and Paul were such a pleasure to work with - easy going, fun and open-minded. It will never cease to amaze me how the actual mood at a wedding truly reflects the personalities of the guests of honor... the day and night flowed with extreme ease and effortlessness, which after months of planning and many hours of setup, gives me unspeakable joy to watch.

Wishing you a happy and healthy Easter and Passover,

Jessica and Michael: Sparkle, Pattern and Shine

When I met Jessica near her office in Philadelphia just three months before her wedding, she didn't ask me a lot of questions or show me a binder of ideas. She just simply said "I know that I want something special and different, but I don't know what it is or how to make it." She had no color palette in mind and no specific elements she had to have. She was a totally and completely blank slate. One might think that this is a designer's dream, but I must admit it is sometimes a little intimidating to hold all the power of the pretty! But, I do believe that this scenario represents the true essence of what my team and I do in our quest to create beautiful events... we dig as deep as we can to get to know and understand our clients.

Jessica and Michael's wedding was held at the Scranton Cultural Center. If you've been snooping around my blog before, you'll know that this was not my first time at this beautiful small-town venue. In fact, this wedding at the SCC marked my fifth event in the same venue in two years - which means I had done more events there than any other single venue in my career of more than 200 events! (If you like LLE trivia, TriBeCa Rooftop in NYC was recently tied with five, but over the course of seven years).

Now... here is why that is interesting... in New York, there are dozens of amazing venues for large, formal weddings. In Scranton, there are two. Yes, just two. So, that means, if you are getting married in the Scranton area, the pickings are slim and as a result, if you are going to or have been to a wedding in the this area, you have likely been to one, or even ten, at the SCC. Therefore, Jessica and I were feeling the same kind of pressure: she didn't want her wedding to look or feel like any other wedding that her guests had been to at this venue and I didn't want to create a wedding that looked like others I had done there. And that is how the design was born.

I decided to throw two ideas out to Jessica that I hadn't previously employed at this venue to see what stuck... the first was using a pattern throughout the event to add some interest and to give us the opportunity to do some detail work. The second was to use glitter. Yes, glitter. Everyone does gold in that room because there is a lot of gold in the building itself, and since Jessica had already committed to renting gold chairs before hiring me, I figured I would try and take that gold to the next level. After the initial shock of my two batty ideas, Jessica said the magic words: I want them both.

I love to do something new at every wedding for the escort card display. It is my very favorite decor element at a party because it is often the first thing that guests see when they arrive and it is really the only element that they are required to interact with. For this wedding, I opted to create something entirely non-floral and to build a custom table.

This was the idea for my design - cards on two sides of the tiered table, and rows of candles on the other two.



And... this is how it turned out!



The venue has an enormous stage, but Jessica and Michael had decided on having a DJ instead of a band so I wanted to create a focal point to avoid the DJ getting lost in the vast space. This is one of the places where the pattern came in...

First the rendering:



And the real thing!



We carried the customized trellis pattern through on the bars, menus and table numbers as well.





Ready for the glitter? The tall centerpieces were created with a very lush base of dark pink flowers including dahlias, roses, mokara and cymbidium orchids, calla lilies and hydrangea surrounding a four foot tall hand painted and glittered manzanita branch detailed with flowers and candles. Surrounding all of the centerpieces were gold glitter candle holders.

The vision:



And the finished product!



When the pattern was too much, I went back to the simplicity of a monogram to carry personalization through to all of the wedding details.



I have a monogrammed chair cap addiction. I am seeking professional help, so have no fear.


Photos by Gustavo Campos

We had lots more gold glitter in the lounge area and on the wedding cake as well as throughout cocktail hour, but alas no great photos. You'll just have to trust me that it was there and it looked amazing!

Another hometown wedding in the books... and this one was a treat. Because the couple was not tied to specific design elements prior to our work together and because they entered the process with a totally open mind, they were truly surprised and "wowed" by each of the elements in a rare and special way. It was so much fun to watch and it never, ever gets old.

Do you like seeing my renderings? Let me know if I should continue to share them!

The party girl throws a party

While I usually show you the pretty parties I design for other people, I thought I'd give you a little peak into a lovely little dinner I designed for myself and my husband to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Surrounded by eighteen of our closest friends, we enjoyed a cozy wine dinner surrounded by hundreds of bottles of Italian vino at Valbella New York.

I definitely got a whole lot of quizzical looks from the restaurant staff when I asked for the room to be entirely empty (except for the wine, of course) so that I could bring in all of the materials I wanted. I've really been loving this great juxtaposition of rustic and modern, so I had to have these gorgeous farm tables from Party Rental Ltd so that I could pair them with my all-time favorite material... everything and anything black and shiny! Black plates and glassware, also from Party Rental, and the super-awesome black Victoria ghost chairs from Luxe Event Rental.



I had some white trough-like vases from a summer wedding, so I took out my handy high-gloss black paint and transformed them to fit the bill for this tablescape. I filled the four black vases with burnt fall-toned roses, dahlias, calla lilies, cymbidium and vanda orchids. To keep the look whimsical, I added small twists of black wire amidst the flowers.



The candles were wrapped with bands of champagne ribbon to add warmth, and my friend Ana Dolan created beautiful wine and dinner menus edged in black and detailed with a linked circle design at the top (I can't believe I forgot to photograph the AMAZING invitations Ana made... ugh!). Lovely calligraphy by Michael Weinstein marked each guest's seat.



Since my own wedding ten years ago, I have planned and designed hundreds of celebrations for clients, family and friends, but this is the first time that I was my own guest of honor. It was a little bit of indulgent fun and I enjoyed every minute of it... especially because I could share it with my partner-in-crime and world's most supportive husband.

A million thanks to my friend and talented photographer Allan Zepeda for these gorgeous pix!

Wishing you a year of celebration and style,

Tiffany and Richard's City Chic Wedding

I must admit that I didn't think a random email from a woman in Hong Kong would result in the production of this spectacular wedding at 620 Loft and Garden overlooking Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was just a little over a year ago that Tiffany emailed me, noting that she had read my blog (yay! yay! yay!) and wanted to discuss her New York City wedding. Those of you in the wedding industry can probably relate to the fact that I get some pretty unusual emails from overseas - everything from requests for business partnerships with companies in Qatar to inquiries about taking lump sum payments for weddings via credit card and then refunding the balance in cash (yeah, right!). So, it was extra delightful that Tiffany was serious about teaming up for a modern, chic, City wedding!

Working solely via email and Skype for most of the process certainly did have its challenges, but thankfully both Tiffany and I are serious night-owls so we could schedule our communications strategically despite the 13 hour time difference. We did have two opportunities to meet in person throughout the planning and design process, and on those occasions we powered through dozens of site visits, story boards, dress appointments and sample showings to yield all of the amazing details that united to be an amazing celebration for Tiffany and Rich.

If you Google the phrase "urban oasis" I think that this venue, 620 Loft and Garden, should be the top result. Where else can you find a sky-high, perfectly manicured garden adjacent to a stark, clean loft with million dollar views? I could have done nothing at all and this place would have been amazing, but that would have been no fun at all...

The ceremony took place in the garden which seats just 90 guests. The scale is small, but the impact is big, so it was important to do just enough to personalize the space without overwhelming it. We built a small arch of curly willow dotted with orchids and anchored it in a bed of flowers on modern white columns detailed with the couple's monogram. Ana Dolan adapted the custom pattern we created for all of the printed pieces for this wedding and designed beautiful program fans - which definitely helped on this hot, sunny day!







Guests found their escort cards inside the loft amidst a tray of crystals. Tiffany loves chandeliers and since we were unable to hang any in the space, I found these free-standing ones at Luxe Event Rentals. To finish off the home interior inspired look, I printed a wall art series using their customized lace pattern.





To soften the look of the loft, I added sheer curtains to all of the windows in the loft space using tension rods ("trick of the trade" alert: so easy and so cheap!) as well as covered the main focal point wall with soft white drapery that was swagged open at the entry points. A mix of long and round tables added interest and helped to nestle in all of the guests to the petite room.





Tiffany really liked my lucite stands, but she wanted them to have a little extra "something," so I added crystal strands for some sparkle and to enhance the look of the candlelight. All of the gold vases were brimming with peonies, spray roses and orchids for a look that was both modern and romantic. Hints of black added an edginess that nicely balanced some of the lace detailing on the menus, table numbers and other printed elements.



I've really been enjoying adding a little detail to the bride and groom's chairs, so I couldn't help but make these monogrammed chair caps to finish off the look.

[As a little side note, how AMAZING are my floral designers?? Brenda, Lori, Viktoriya and Gabrielle - I adore you and am endlessly grateful to have you on my team!]


Photos by Gustavo Campos

Tiffany and Richard were truly passionate about all of the details of their wedding which pushed me to think and re-think each aspect of their day. The end result? Spectacular. Amazing. Special. Just like the couple.