BED: Matthew Robbins October 27, 2009

Matthew Robbins is very deserving of a Beautiful Event Design feature on Out of the Event and is a name you should familiarize yourself with  if you are into learning from the best to inspire your own events.

A bit about Matthew: His educational background in art not only complements and illuminates his floral and event designs but has also helped him create the successful event design company which runs with a team stacked with talent in New York.  To highlight some of Matthew’s successes and accolades, Matthew is a regular contributor on the Bride’s Guide and has been featured countless times in Martha Stewart’s Weddings magazine as well as on the show and has worked on events around the US and the globe. 

To get some insight into what makes a great event and what inspires Matthew to do what he does, check out this great interview with Matthew Robbins on blog, The Bride Cafe here, or you can check out his posts on the Bride’s Guide here.   I have some pictures to share with you but they really do not do his work justice and I would recommend browsing his portfolio on the company website here.

via the bride cafe blog

 

via the last detail blog

via the bride guide by darcy miller

 

via the bride cafe

via NY Daily News

Cori Cook Floral Design October 23, 2009

I have not done a BED post in a while and I thought this person who I stumbled across tonight was deserving.  Denver, Colorado’s Cori Cook has an eye for colour, events and photography.  I stumbled across her blog this evening and after giving it good read through, I decided that she get’s some exposure for her work and her passion for flowers!

What particularly stood out for me was her coordination and planning of the lime and cantaloupe colour themed wedding she did. See post here.  I have included some highlights below but you can read more about here event and floral design on her blog here.

via cori cook

via cori cook

via cori cook

Apple and a Peach August 25, 2009

via icecreamsocial

When I read about this post on blog, icecreamsocial today, I had to share it! 

The designers and the couple getting married picked symbols that charmingly (is that a word?) represented where each person is from, New York (apple) and Georgia (peach).   I like witty humour in invitations.  Not something you see very often.  Clearly much thought and ideation went into creating the finished product.  I think any guest who received the apple + peach invitation would certainly stop, think and smile and look forward to the event!

If you are not familiar with Icecream Social, it is a visual communications design studio duo that produces beautiful paper inviations in New York.  They have a shop on etsy and a blog if you want to see more.

J+D Wedding August 10, 2009

I attended the beautiful wedding of two friends last night.  With a lot of thought and love put into the affair, it had the right components and made for a warm, fun, entertaining evening at Vaughan Estates in Toronto. The colour palettewas a combination of pale colours that were depicted in small floral arrangements around the tables and in the bridesmaid bouquets.  The bridesmaids all wore different combinations of black and white which I thought looked pretty cool.

The food was great- hors d’oeuvres were a true international feast ranging from a Thai chicken skewers, to bruchetta, mini hamburgers, Vietnamese fresh rolls and a baguette with brie and pear.  Dinner was a simple three course meal with a goat cheese and caramelized onion salad, chicken and asparagus with potatoes and a trio of mousse, creme brule and biscotti for dessert.  Following dessert the couple put out a great spread of cakes, mini gelatto frescos, squares, fruit and candy.  I think everyone was stuffed by the end of the evening.  I didn’t get the name of the caterer but when I do, I will update this post.

The band played a mix of Motown, top 40 and romantic ballads and all the speeches were really well thought out and delivered.  I heard comments from people saying it was one of the best weddings they had been to in a while.  It’s simplicity and authenticity made it truly enjoyable- a reflection of the happy couple.

Wedding Cupcakes July 6, 2009

Great new blog about cupcakes is on the web called the cupcake decorations club.  It’s a how to blog about decorating, presentation and troubleshooting everything to do with cupcakes.  Looks like the author has been writing since Jan 09. 

This picture came from the site.  I love how symmetrical the cupcakes are displayed in this picture.

The white monogramed “m” on the lime background really pops against the purple ribbon on each tier.

photo via the cupcake decorations club

myhkwedding.com April 25, 2009

I lived in Hong Kong for a year and there is no shortage of parties and event resources in the city.

Should you ever have the opportunity to plan a wedding or party in the city that never sleeps, I would recommend checking out www.myhkwedding.com 

The site has tones of resources on flowers, venues, dresses, gifts and anything else you should need to pull off a successful party.

I would recommend looking at the florals from Kim Chan Flowers and Gary Kwok Flowers.

Daily Candy Wedding Site April 24, 2009

I am so excited.  One of my favourite style/food/design/travel websites expanded into the event/wedding forum! 

If you consider yourself a stylish, culture loving, modern, jet setter, then Daily Candy.com  is a site you are  well acquainted with. 

(via runway to retail)

Now you have another reason to surf their site with the creation of their new, Daily Candy Weddings that recently launched and is fantastic.

(via Mindy Weiss)

http://www.dailycandy.com/weddings/

Interactive Dessert Idea: Croque-em bouche April 6, 2009

I attended a classic wedding on Sunday night that was the catalyst behind this post.  Let me give you some background.  All the necessary components were at this wedding, the order of events, the food, the band and the centerpieces.  All there, all lovely but nothing special.  That is not to say that I did not enjoy myself, it  was a lovely wedding and the couple looked great but really what I mean to say is that from the perspective of a guest, nothing stood out.  aka the wheels in my head started turning to develop a blog post out of why nothing stood out. 

So today, I wanted to talk about how something so simple can become memorable in the mind of a guest.  At the wedding I was part of two weeks ago, the bride and her family held the tradition of serving croque-em bouche during the holidays and she wanted nothing more to serve the dessert at her wedding.  As a side commentary- I have absolutely no experience with the dessert and zero basis for comparison except sampling cream puffs in Hong Kong from Beard Papa (hardly a just comparison to Croque-em bouche), so it was an educational experience for me too.

The bride got more than her request of serving croque-em bouche at the wedding.  Thanks to her fantastic caterer, Andrew Underwood from Rustico Fine Foods, he had someone on-site assembling and spinning the sugar for guests to experience live.  The building of this sugary creation actually became part of the entertainment.  As the anticiaption rose amongst the crowd, watching the skilled team of chefs, assemble, stick and spin sugar, guests eagerly awaited the time for the bride and groom to break off the first ball and let everyone else dig in!

It was great fun and I overheard guests making comments like “I have never seen a dessert like this before” or “It’s so cool that they are assembling the thing live instead of in the back”  I am still hearing comments about the interactive dessert.  Something so simple, to have a chef prepare dessert live rather than behind the scenes, left an impact on guests thereby adding a memorable component to the event. 

And now for some pics:

Croque Pic 1

 

 

 

 

P&R Florals April 2, 2009

I was involved in planning and executing a cocktail party for some friends from business school a couple weeks ago. 

In this post, I am going to share some of my experiences working with florists and of course show the finished product at the event. 

I think it is fair to say that when you are putting together a budget for an event, to estimate that florals will come in around 10% of your overall budget depending on how much you want. 

If you are doing a handful of arrangements and keeping the blooms in season, nothing too exotic, you can work with a $1500-$2000 budget or use the 10% rule of thumb for a high estimate.  That being said, if you look back at one of my older posts showcasing my favourite Brazilian event magazine, Fiesta, event florals like the ones in my post would cost upwards of $10,000, easy.   Mind you, the pictures I selected were extravagant and ornate and to show the beauty of what dreams are made with if you have a generous floral budget. 

The other important thing to remember is evaluating whether you can work with this individual, your florist.  Do your personalities mesh?  Do you trust that he or she interpret your creative vision?  I like the analogy of selecting a hair dresser.  Selecting a florist is a similar process to finding a great hair dresser, unless you are ripping out a photo from a magazine, handing it over and saying “recreate this” which is fairly unimaginative- when you work with a florist or a good hairdresser, you provide a bit of guidance, share your vision and the rest is up to the artist.  If you are nervous or unsure, ask for a mock-up a couple days before the event to allay your fears. 

In the case of the event I was involved with, the MOB had seen the work of Ingrid at Thirving Metropolis in Toronto and was comfortable with her aesthetic and design. 

The flowers and containers were followed the white and green, modern, loft theme for the night and   highlighted the loft space at Andrew Richards Designs very well. Overall, bride, groom and MOB were content!

floral arrangement by Thriving Metropolis and branches behind glass

Loft lounge area with flowers

bar floral arrangement

coffee table arrangement

bar arrangement

Beautiful Event Design (BED): Spotlight Tara Guerard January 29, 2009

I am starting a new blog segment called beautiful event design (BED) featuring breathtaking photographs from stylish events/weddings/parties from around the world.

First up: Event Planner and Principal at Soiree, Tara Guerard.

Food and Wine magazine interviewed Tara a couple years ago where she divulges some of her secrets on how to inject style and meaning into event design.  To read about her experience, inspiration and how she glamorizes her soirees click here.

Blog, Style Me Pretty also has a one-on-one post with Tara here.

For a sneak peek at events, I have included some pictures:

Tara Guerard Sample- From Style Me Pretty

 

Tara Guerard Candy Bar from Southern Weddings Book (from Instyleweddings.com)

Tara Guerard Signature Cookies (from Instyle Weddings.com )

Tara Guerard Greek Sweets from the dessert bar (from instyle weddings.com)

 

Tara Guerard's book Southern Weddings (picture from Instyle Weddings.com)