Wedding at The Bell House

I really enjoyed working with Alison and Erin. They are awesome Brooklynites, good foodies, a great couple and cool people in general. They had load of great ideas. The Bell House provides a great atmosphere for casual fun.

Love this something old and think it's great that the older generations have documented who wore these pearls and when. 

 

The ladies had no idea what each other was wearing, so they were really surprised when their first look revealed how similar their wedding day attire choices were. Erin's dress was from Sak's Bridal Salon and Alison's outfit was custom made by Dara Lamb.

 

Brooklyn Bridge Park is a great place for portraits. Here's to a Manhattan backdrop for your wedding photos. 

Don't forget to get a photo with your partner and both your parents.

 

Their design was simple almost minimalist, but lighting dressed up this music venue. Stortz Lighting did a great job of creating this look with paper lanterns and strands of bistro lights.

 The single peonies were perfection and the statement piece for the ceremony was created by Saipua.

 

One of my favorite ideas of the night? The couple brought their The New Brooklyn Cookbook that has recipes from favorite restaurants in the borough. They encouraged  guests to attach their photo booth picture near their favorite restaurant or recipe and then write a message to the couple near by. What a fun, personal and useful guest book.

These custom labeled beers were so beautifully done. Each represents a neighborhood of significance in this couple's courtship, first meeting, proposal, etc.

This couple skipped a cake but surprised their guests with a food truck serving ice cream, The Big Gay Ice Cream folks service crazy delicious flavors including unique ingredients like: wasabi!

The Bell House's photo booth entertained everyone late into the evening.

Allison's sentiments about my service after the wedding, "Hiring you was the best decision we ever made, besides the marrying each other bit."

Thanks to Erin and Allison for entrusting their wedding day to me and for giving me so much goodness to work with. It was fun!

xo,
Tammy

Best Bridal Shower of 2009

During these final weeks of the year, I am sharing some of the wonderful events I have worked on over the course of 2009.

Citrus and Sunshine


Avivit Fisher, the bride's friend and shower co-hosts designed this logo for the event.


This summer loving bride was showered on a private city rooftop terrace under the bright sunshine, sipping sparkling lemonade.


The guest of honor is a savvy vegetarian with excellent culinary skills. The bridal shower menu was planned using local and seasonal ingredients and carefully reflected her taste and personality.



The bride and groom are wine enthusiasts. There were four different white wines and four different red wines available for a tasting activity. Each bottle was disguised and labeled using photographs of the bride and groom from childhood. Burlap bags were not available at the last minute, brown bags were a suitable alternative. Guests were given a fill-in-the-blank sheet and challenged to guess what each wine was. If they needed a second sip, they'd ask for a Gabrielle at age three or Michael at age one. The activity got progressively entertaining.



The brides family and friends were asked to e-mail their favorite recipes and stories to the hosts. The turnout was excellent and this book was the end result. A recipe book is an excellent personalized favor for each guest to leave with. Avivit did an amazing job with the design of Our Culinary Collaboration.


The groom's sisters and nieces could not attend this shower but sent many family recipes including this one. This book is a great opportunity to acknowledge those who are far away and can only celebrate in spirit.


These cake like lemon flavored cookies were affixed with yellow raffia and a coordinating label with the shower design. They accompanied the book as a favor for each guest.



Personalized M&M's are still one of my favorite personalized details. While we've been writing messages on chocolate candies for years, photos on candy is relatively new option. What will M&M's come up with next?

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Thanks to Gabrielle and her friends for allowing me to share the details of this bridal shower. Huge thanks to Christopher Duggan of Threshold Visions Photography for capturing the details of this event in images.

Tell me about the most original shower you've ever been to? Have fun planning your next shower.

Best Kid's Party of 2009

As I look back on 2009 with enormous pride and joy, I am grateful for the abundance of professional opportunities I have had in the last twelve months. I also realize while I have offered bits and pieces of some of my most memorable events, I have not thoroughly shared the beautiful images and details of them. As we begin to bid farewell to the year, please join me as I showcase some of the best events I have had the privilege to plan and coordinate in 2009.

Andrew’s Third Birthday Train Party

There was never a question of what the theme of this party would be, as this three year old boy is deeply committed to his train tracks, engines and play regime. While Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite, his mom wanted the party to be personal, creative and thoughtful.


The information on the invitation was thorough, yet presented in a creative verse. This set the tone for the party and gave guests an idea of what to expect.


The wooden train glued to the loot bag was purchased pre-cut at a craft store (they have many other non train options) and gives the bag a clean and natural look. Painting them at the party was an activity on my rain plan alternative in the case of inclement weather. Each bag had a pin stripped conductor hat, a red bandanna, a wooden train whistle (sorry parents!) an individual box of train shaped cookies and candy.


The play list of train themed songs we created for the party was burned to blank CDs for guests to take home. This is an inexpensive favor or filler for any type of party. The CD cover was customized to coordinate with the invites, loot bags and over all concept of the party.


This activity book was made special for Andrew. It featured trains and his birthday. It was filled with pages to color, mazes, puzzles and photos.


I used Martha Stewart's train punch to make the cardboard trains resting on each miniature cupcake. The cupcakes sat on wooden train tracks surrounding the cookie bouquet. They took main stage so no traditional cake was needed. The birthday candles rested in a deep glass of m&m's. Train lollipops and railroad gum adorned the table. When entertaining in a client's home, I try to use their service pieces when it's appropriate. It seems fitting, but in this case the client's beautiful crystal vases would have been a classic contradiction to this casual kid's birthday party. Instead I found Pellegrino bottles in their recycling. The colors coordinated perfectly!


These are Brigadeiros, traditional Brazilian candies. The young guest of honor is half Brazilian so in honoring his culture these were served with dessert. Made with sweetened condensed milk, they are beyond delicious!

The activities were a train pinata, Put the Conductor in the Train Game and swimming.

Good luck planning your next birthday party!


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Thanks to Andrew and his family for allowing me to help them celebrate this special day. Thank you to fabulous Michigan photographer, Jen Kroll for capturing the details of this birthday party.


What are the fondest birthday memories from your childhood?

Photo Booths at Weddings...

The secret is out! For months I have been lured into photos booths at industry events, had my photos taken only to not be able to blog about it. Why? My brother and his now wife decided to surprise their guests and rent a photo booth for their wedding reception. Boy, am I glad I did not spoil the surprise. Their guests, young and old raved about this novelty. Their guests had not seen a photo booth at a wedding and it was a highlight of the evening. Simply one element of an amazing day, but I am so happy it was such a hit! Renting a photo booth entertains guests, is an excellent alternative to favors, documents the evening and leaves you with an amazing guest book to relive the night.

Thanks to the Traveling Photo Booth for their props and patience as we played all night long!

Handwriting Analysis

Q: Do you know what your handwriting says about you?

A: Most people do not, especially in our generation of g-chat, facebook instant messages, tweets, texts, e-mail and bbm. You may not even recognized the handwriting of someone you love.

Weddings are an opportunities to celebrate, acknowledge and connect with those closest to you.

I've discovered an excellent an original idea to introduce at your next event.
Now you can incorporate an analysis of your family and friends’ handwriting into your pre-wedding activities, in a heartfelt way.

It can be:
• a personal and intelligent way to acknowledge the ladies at your bridal luncheon or shower.
• an excellent way for your and your fiance’s families to get to know each other at the rehearsal dinner.
• an amazing alternative to standard place cards when dressing a table.
• an original way to thank your wedding party for participating in your day.
• a great start to a thoughtful and sincere scrapbook.

Adorn this idea with:
• a magnified glass
• a beautiful pen
• personalized stationery
• an engraved journal
• a book
• or simply a (handwritten, of course) love letter

How does this work?
Simply request a one page sample of the individual's handwriting in the event invitation. Provide the paper, a self addressed stamped envelope and give them a choice of a few topics to write about in case they need some encouragement or inspiration.

For example:
• advice on how to have a long and happy marriage
• story of how we met
• love letter
• favorite memory

These samples are used to generate thorough and wildly accurate handwriting profiles. This confidential analysis describes the many important motivational traits that handwriting samples show are a significant part of individual's personality.Particular attention is focused on the characteristics which most influence the relationships with others.

The reports are divided into the following categories:

Communication
Stress Level
Thinking Patterns
Imagination
Goal
Achievement
Emotional Structure


Here are some highlights from my handwriting analysis:

"You tend mostly to be balanced in stressful situations" "You enjoy searching for answers and are resourceful in gathering your own information" "vivid, active imagination" "ability to come up with original innovative ideas" "You are probably happiest when you can work in creative way and you will likely achieve rather spectacular results if you can deal with the practicalities of bringing your ideas to fruition."

Interested? Check out Graphology Consulting or Contact Sheila Kurtz at 212.799.9296