Congratulations, Lindsay & Brad!

Some things you know are just meant to be together: peanut butter and jelly, moonlight and magnolias, Lindsay and Brad. Their relationship seems to be effortless, and their love and respect for each other is clear to everyone who sees them (in fact, Lindsay told a story at her bridal shower about a girl who stopped them on the street one night after a concert and gushed about how cute they are together). It was an absolute pleasure to coordinate their wedding day and help them start their life together.

I was busily setting up the venue before the event, so thank goodness Travis and Laura of Fuse Photographic were there to capture my favorite wedding day moment: the bride and groom's first glimpse of each other. Lindsay couldn't help but tear up when she saw Brad, who I'd like to imagine was probably a bit overcome himself (although I'll never tell his manly groomsmen that).

Photos courtesy of Fuse Photographic

Speaking of manly groomsmen, Brad seemed to have them in abundance, which was good because Lindsay's bridesmaids were too gorgeous to go unappreciated (granted, they're almost all married or about to be, so we know someone out there has their priorities straight!). 

Lindsay's best friend and man of honor was also by her side, rounding out this incredibly good looking bunch. 

Once everyone arrived at the venue (my favorite again, Mile High Station!) after the pictures, the party really got underway. Lindsay had the fabulous idea to have their first dance on the main floor while all their guests looked down from the mezzanine above - it gave them a little bit of privacy while still giving all their friends and family a chance to be a part of their moment.

Every element of this wedding just got better and better: there was amazing food by Catering By Design, prepared and served by the best catering crew I've ever worked with. There was delicious cake thanks to Jen of Cakes By Request (who outdid herself even with a broken ankle!). There was music and dancing until the very last possible second. And despite temporarily misplacing the marriage license, everything ended as well as could be: Lindsay and Brad happily tied the knot and their lives together.

Congratulations, you two!

Happy birthday to you!

Although I love coordinating weddings, benefits, and other major events, sometimes smaller parties are the most fun. Luckily for me, springtime seems to also be birthdaytime in these parts, and I've had several clients who wanted to celebrate in hilarious style.

Amber wanted to throw a surprise 40th birthday party for her fiancé, Stefan, and her best friend Kari (who is not quite 40). Amber figured there was no better way to ring in Stefan's new decade than by bringing out his inner kid, so she brought me in to create a carnival-style ruckus in her sunny backyard. We had old school games (what is that one called where you throw beanbags at stuffed cats and knock them down?), awesome new electronic games like Rock Band, county fair food like mini corn dogs and caramel apples ... and a bouncy castle. You heard me. I've never seen so many doctors, lawyers, accountants, and mothers jump till they quite literally dropped.

Mica (Kari's boyfriend), Kari, Stefan, Amber

After the bouncy castle extravaganza, it was time to get physical à la Olivia Newton-John for Susan's 40-something birthday. Everyone came dressed in their '80s best, ready to play Twister and sing along to Belinda Carlisle. We set up a projector and played some favorites like "Dirty Dancing," "Bill and Ted's 

Excellent Adventure," and that Olivia Newton-John classic, "Xanadu," on Susan's 20' walls. Susan's guests brought some seriously amazing dance moves and some even more amazing costumes, reminding me how very very happy I am that there are so few pictures of me from that fashion-disaster decade. 

So, I guess the lesson here is that you're never too old to have a fun, fantastic, bouncy, or totally tubular birthday. Happy birthday, Stefan, Kari, and Susan!

Susan (center) with her sister Janet and brother Jeff

Congratulations, Tami & Greg!

 

Photos Courtesy of David Lynn Photography

You remember reading here about Hitched in the Highlands don't you? The event organized by Happy Cakes in which some fantastic local vendors donated products and services worth over $25,000 for one lucky winning couple? Well, although the winners ran off with the prize a short 8 weeks ago, we just had the wedding last weekend ... and if I do say so myself (and on behalf of the other vendors), it was AWESOME.

The wedding was at my new favorite venue, Mile High Station, which boasts an incredible mix of industrial chic and contemporary elegance. The giant (I mean seriously GIANT) chandeliers make for great ambiance and fantastic pictures, such as those that the incredible photographers, Dave and Lynn of David Lynn Photography, captured again and again. Tami had rich flowers designed by Erin at Plum Sage, and looked old-Hollywood stunning in a Monique Lhullier gown generously donated by the glamorous ladies at Anna Bé and fit to perfection by DeeDee at The Wedding Seamstress. Greg is one seriously lucky dude.

Biscuits & Berries provided a bountiful buffet of some of Tami and Greg's favorite dishes, and they even helped Tami surprise Greg with a pre-wedding gift of his favorite meal: a Philly cheesesteak and a Stella Artois (so cute!) And what wedding would be complete without ending on a sweet note: Happy Cakes cupcakes, of course! 

Although all the vendors were fantastic and the wedding was perfect and went off without a hitch (no pun intended), the most important part, of course, is that Tami and Greg are now married!! They were so happy and in love all day, and we all send them our best wishes that those feelings continue every day of their new lives together. Congratulations, you two!

Annie Oakley's got nuthin' on me

I like to think of myself as fairly party savvy. I've done some great classic events, and also some unique and modern ones. Clients and guests often tell me that they never would have thought of something I designed or created for their party, and thank me for thinking outside of the box. I appreciate and try to learn from each piece of feedback I receive, but it turns out the joke's on me because never, not once, did I think to recommend to a client that s/he have (drum roll) ... a Machine Gun Tour and Test party. I feel like I'm saying this a lot lately but: yes, you heard me.

I heard from a gentleman this week who owns a company that teaches military and law enforcement units how to safely use the weapons they're assigned, and sometimes does similar exhibitions for members of the public. He was looking for an event planner to help him put together a big marketing event, and also wanted to let businesses like mine know that we can offer these tours as an option to clients for their parties. So if paintballing or lasertag or renting out the movie theatre to watch "Robocop" just don't satisfy your adrenaline, I'm here to tell you that now you can take 40 of your closest friends and learn to shoot machine guns instead.

I know I sound a little tongue-in-cheek here, and that's mostly because I'm still kind of in shock, but the more I'm thinking about this the more I think it might work (under totally safe, controlled, and conscientious circumstances). This business owner doesn't allow his clients to drink alcohol before taking the tour, he does a full safety demonstration on each weapon, and every test is heavily supervised. Can you imagine a more dead on (no pun intended) bachelor party? I'm not saying I'm ready to advertise this as one of my services quite yet ("Weddings, baby showers, anniversary parties, and gun shows!"), but at the very least I see the lesson here: even when you think you know it all, there's always something new to learn.

Home Sweet Home

There are few things that make you more grownup than buying your own home: it costs a lot of money (which one usually has to be a grownup to have), takes a lot of patience and dedication (VERY grownup traits), and you can't call your dad anymore to come fix the plumbing (unless you're very lucky like me and your dad lives a mile and a half away). When one really has their grownup life together like Anne, one of my best friends, one buys a condo in Brooklyn and asks lots of cool people to come over and break it in. If that awesome person also happens to have a best friend who is an event planner, one flies that person (that's ME, if you're getting confused by my lack of pronouns) out to visit for a fun-filled weekend and help make sure the party is a success. Since I'm an event planner and Anne gets paid to organize things for a living, you will not be surprised to hear that the party WAS, in fact, a success. So rather than tell you about how to throw a good cocktail party in general, I'm going to list a few specific tips that made this party great and can be applied to any type of party you have.

TIP: If you are making (or opening bags of) the food for the party yourself, you'll save yourself a big headache if you organize your shopping list by grocery store departments (dairy, grocery, produce, bakery, etc.) rather than by the recipes (ie., spinach dip, quiche, chocolate cake). This way you can make a controlled circuit in the store rather than running back and forth, and you should be able to pick up everything you need each time you stop. Additional TIP: If you're in a big or unfamiliar store, make friends with someone who works there, because s/he will be able to take you right to what you need. If you're lucky enough to be shopping in the Brooklyn Fairway, make sure that person is the incomparable Yvonne. Amazing.

TIP: When you're planning your party menu, add the total time each recipe takes to figure out how far in advance you need to start preparing the food, and then add a little more. There is no such thing as having too much time, but there is such a thing as not having anything ready for your first guests to eat.

TIP: If there is a red wine spill, and there almost certainly will be, pour white wine on it. You heard me. I can't even pretend to understand what the chemistry is behind this genius trick, but it works. I have had it take red wine out of wedding gowns (and therefore save a panicked bride from committing an act that might require her new husband to post her bail), although it did not work 100% on Anne's new beautiful blue wool carpet. Anne swears by salt for the same purpose, but I haven't tried it so I can't vouch for the efficacy of this one. Additional TIP: If you are the person who spilled the wine, apologize immediately, help with the cleanup, and offer to pay for cleaning or replacement of the item you spilled on (all of which this classy spiller did).

Okay, I lied: here come two generic tips. TIP: Be flexible. A party (and the prep) is never going to go 100% the way you want it to, so be willing to change your plan a little bit if necessary. For example, Anne planned her menu weeks in advance, but on the day of the party we ended up having to handle a bunch of other stuff that cut our prep time short and meant we couldn't make all the food she wanted. Although she was sad to do it, Anne took her sharpie to the menu and cut a few items, and just like that ... Poof! Enough time to prep everything else!

TIP: Remember to enjoy your party (the prep time tip helps with this too, since you'll be done well in advance). You're asking people to come celebrate with YOU, and if you're too busy running around and freaking out about making the party perfect, no one is going to get to do that. By all means be an attentive host: offer to refill drinks if you see that someone's is low, make a circuit by the food every so often to make sure there's enough, and toss plates and cups that you're sure aren't being used any more, but don't let these tasks keep you from having a good time.

Follow these tips and your party will be just as fabulous as Anne's. Party on, dudes!

Those three little words

I can't believe I actually have to write a post about this, but it has come to my (horrified) attention that there are still some people out there who don't behave in culturally- and civically-approved ways. People litter. People don't open doors for each other (regardless of gender). And apparently there are people who don't use the three most important words in any kind of relationship: please and thank you. I find this to be distinctly un-awesome.

Granted, I am an over-thanker. When I was a prosecutor, a judge once asked me to come into her chambers, whereupon she requested that I not say "thank you" when witnesses answered my question because it made it sound like I'd inappropriately coached them. Oops. So, okay, that's ONE situation where it is not appropriate to say thank you. ONE. If you can think of another one, please let me know and I will do something that duly expresses my chagrin, à la eating my hat.

So other than criminal witnesses, PLEASE remember to thank people. This is especially important when someone is offering you their time, service, or personalized product such as, for example, oh ... making your wedding cake. Yes, you are paying this person. Yes, you are the customer and the customer is (almost) always right. That doesn't mean you get to be rude. If you went to a spa and paid $65 for an hour massage, you'd thank your masseuse when it was over, right? You'd thank your waiter for bringing you your dinner, right (I hope)? Same goes for people in the event industry, especially in difficult economic times when they may be offering their services at a discount. Saying "thank you" takes less than a second of your time (and moving your mouth even maybe burns a calorie), and it goes a loooooooooong way towards making sure you maintain positive relationships with people you work with. They may even throw in a little something extra.

If you're really looking to go the extra mile (which I always recommend, except at the gym), write a thank you note. No one gets paper mail any more, and it's pretty exciting when you do and it's not a bill. (A special thanks to bride-to-be Lindsay who sent me a beautiful card after her bridal shower last weekend). It takes only a minute, and the fact that you spent that minute and the 44 cents on a stamp will really impress the recipient.

In closing, here's a TIP: Please, say thank you. Duh.

The flowers and the trees (and, I guess, the birds and the bees)

It seems safe to assume that when there's a bridal shower, a wedding is not far behind, followed by the wedding night (hence the birds and the bees part, which I'll spare you in this post - you'll need to find some teenage mother's blog for more info on that). One of the most important elements of a wedding and the events leading up to it is the flower arrangements, which, let's face it, you have to be pretty visually adept to create. As a Type A organizer kind of person, my visual skills are basically less than zero ... and that, thank goodness, is where fantastic event designers and florists come in.

If you're a fan of Events Laureate on Facebook (and if you're not, you should be! www.facebook.com/eventslaureate), you probably saw that I have an amazing new floral designer who will be our go-to gal for in-house arrangements: the lovely and talented Jenni Hohensee. Jenni's first gig with Events Laureate was Lindsay's bridal shower last Saturday, and boy did she start out with a bang! For her wedding in late May, Lindsay wants big, full flowers in champagne, pink, and bronze, so Jenni did some genius shopping and found beautiful early spring versions: stargazer lilies, gerber daisies, sweetheart roses, and ranunculus. We were also lucky enough to have a generous friend whose budding maple tree broke in a snowstorm last week, and who gave us an incredible bunch of the maple branches for the arrangements! TIP: Champagne + maple sprig + ranunculus = hilarious Harry Potter impressions. 

Being a non-visually creative person, I have absolutely no idea what Jenni actually did to make beautiful arrangements; I only know that it involved tape, wire cutters, pruning shears, and a crowbar. Okay, maybe not that last item.

Suffice to say that I looked at cookbooks for a few hours to create a menu for another upcoming event (stay tuned, readers ...), and when I looked back up there were 6 incredible flower arrangements waiting to amaze Lindsay's bridal shower guests. Everyone at the shower commented on the beautiful flowers the next morning, including the happy bride-to-be. Keep your eye on the blog to see more pics of Jenni's beautiful work!