No Myth

Diggin through the blogs this morning I came across this post over at 10 engines. An old video of my old favorite song from the old MTV archives back when the old MTV played kick ass videos. Just thought I'd share.

No Myth @ Yahoo! Video

TerraCycle

Walmart has installed TerraCycle Centers in a few of their stores in New Jersey. It's actually a brilliant idea and I'm very sure that it will be widely used. TerraCycle creates products from recycled material that is directly gathered from the consumer. Hopefully it will change the way we view garbage, everything has a value, that metallic juice box is raw material and worth something. If you are like me, you would not throw 2 cents into the garbage.

Hockey theme BatMitzvah

This BatMitzvah for a young woman who plays Hockey was held at a club in DC. We took some of her old equipment and painted theme gold to have them incased in Ice Sculptures. Word of advice, when proposing table top Ice Sculptures for a party, several things, one make sure the company does not place them more then 30 minutes before start time and make sure the Ballroom is on the cool side otherwise you will have premature melting. Second, and take it from me because it happened, if you are going to have Ice Sculptures on tables, do not take the company's word and allow them to place them on a small reservoir type stand. If your client has to have a Ice Sculpture, it has to be placed upon a reservoir with a drain tube, you will need to persuade her that she will need to by the linen because you will need to cut a small hole in the center to run a drainage tube into a 5 gallon bucket. I did not do this and was called during dinner to remove these slippery and heavy sculpture because the linens were soaked with melted ice. Not good, not good at all. But fortunately I kicked it into service mode and tried to remain as jovial as I could, thankfully my client was still pleased with everything.

Photo credits: Juan Carlos

Planner: Michelle Hodges

Lilac Wine

The Cinematic Orchestra

I had no idea this song existed. This song was written and originally performed by Nina Simone in 1966. This take of the song is so wonderfully captured through the art of Calligraphy and I highly recommend that you open the video to full screen and capture this truly creative masterpiece.

And just to give proper credit to Lilac Wine's writer, here is Nina Simone

Steffanotis

I use chenneil stems for my Steffanotis blooms. I twist a small little bend on one end and insert the stem down into and through the bloom. I cut the stems in half, why? because if your clutck is full enough, all you have to do is insert the stem down into the bouquet and the hairs of the chenneil stem will act as a anchor and not allow the bloom to fall out. A nifty time-saver and a good way to allow one to make up the clutch days ahead of time without worrying if the Steff will survive.

Renting furniture just made a whole lot easier

I just stumbled upon RentalComp while searching for some sofas for an upcoming event. Not a lot of vendors yet, probably because it's a relatively new site, but I did try it and found it consolidated sofas from two companies we do use already. I see a great potential here.

Check em out RentalComp

Featured in a Serbian Celebrity Magazine

Several posts down I featured a wedding we did for Tamara and John in Washington CT. Tamara sent me a scanned image of the article that featured their wedding in a Serbian Celebrity Magazine. If any one can translate the Serbian language I would love to know what it says.

Find out who is "borrowing" your photos.

TinEye is a great way to keep control of all the photos that you paste on the internet. Regardless of the legal issues, it's bad juju to use other peoples photos without permission. You can also sign up for alerts that alert you to repostings of all your photos. There are all ready some of mine that have been used without credit or authorization...bad, Bad, BAD. TinEye, a reverse image search for free.

TinEye

Elizabeth & Ryan, Maritime Museum Museum, Saint Michaels

Last Saturday we were busy producing the wedding for Elizabeth and Ryan, both of whom live in New York City. Elizabeth spent many weekends at her families summer home on the Bay in Saint Michaels so a Nautical Theme was in the blood. Elizabeth allowed her Mother, Linda to choose pretty much everything in which Linda took great joy and showed such an enchanted attitude during the entire planning and design process. She was by far the easiest Client I've ever worked with, our minds were at the same level, we both knew from the initial meeting exactly how this day would look and she entrusted me with making it happen.

The girls were stunning and the coloration of the flowers served only as adornments, nothing more. The boys, defiantly nautical, the corral ties and leather boat shoes, very cool. And Elizabeth, no words, that dress... the personality... beautiful, quirky, sharp, stunning. I got to drive Elizabeth home to NYC after our second walk through from Saint Michaels. It was the first time meeting her. 4 hours of sharing the presence of one lovely and interesting young woman, every bit as lovely as her Mother.

The Ceremony was the hardest to construct. I made a 110' white washed boardwalk for the Bridal Party to walk down, every single plank I hand painted with a secret white washing formula. They entered the Ceremony through two large white washed columns that were adorned with an abundant array or dried Dune Grass and blue Thistle. There were 6 smaller columns along the walk to the Pergola where there was a long and low box that served as a focal and backdrop, not to tall, I did not want to obscure the magnificent view of the Bay.

For Cocktails, the guests were treated to plenty of fresh oysters and beer which happened to be the result of Ryan's wishes who happens to be a buff when it comes to Micro Beers and I will admit, he found Beers I've never heard of. There was originally to be one massive bar, 16' by 16'. But after the second on-site walk through we decided that it would be just to massive for the space. These things always happen after I make them, luckily Ryan's request for a beer bar came after I shorten the main bar to 13' by 9. There were just enough panels to construct a 13 foot Beer Bar, shew!

I designed four looks for 5 1/2 foot round tables that were dressed in a rich navy blue lined with a light blue twall I chose from Table Manners. I kew Linda would love the linen as we both oood over a deep twall patterned napkin I included in a texture box at our first meeting. It was a unique choice, certainly not nautical, but that was what was so great about it, it served as a soft buffer to the rich nautical decor, gave it an aged old country look.

This awesome tent was 65' wide by 120' long and as clean as clear as a pane of glass, provided by the vigilant Davis of Sugarplum Tents. He floored the entire tent and carpeted it with a cauky turf.

I have not received any photos of the tall wooden vases I made yet, the last photo in this group shows the base of one.

These amazing lanterns I purchased from Pottery Barn. They came in three sizes, this being the largest. I made wooden boxes painted heirloom white with a navy strip for the lantern to sit upon. The pair sat comfortably in a 22 inch foam wreath. In fact, this is the same style of arrangement that Linda first saw, she loved it so much that she signed on with us.

My photographer Sue Muldoon captured this shot and I'm glad she did. Earlier in the day two women approached me during installation and wanted to know everything. Always willing to share, I spent some time with them. Later in the day they came back and told me that they were Event Planners for several Foundations that hold annual events around the country and wanted to know if I travel... well yea! As I was lighting the last of the candles a yacht no more than twenty feet away stopped and this women started yelling "Dragonfly, I love you!" It was one of the planners, oh my. Good PR ey? Surreal.

The evening went off without a single hitch nor a single candle failed. At 9:55 the Father unstbeknown to Elizabeth, Ryan, and guests arranged for a firework display that rivaled any 4th of July celebration I've ever seen. Such a romantic moment, as soon as the last burst there were heard horn blasts from all the folks docked in their boats around the Bay.

After the Reception ended, the guest were then treated to a wooden boardwalk lit by 2 massive floating moon lights that led to the Boat House were there was an after party awaiting them. We supplied groupings of tweed sofas and Anderondick chairs with plenty of nautical themed pillows.

A very special evening, the best of early October weather, the best food, the best event decor!

Planners, Michele Hodges and her very capable assistant Diane Eddy

Caterer, Susan Gage

Decor, the Dragonfly team

Tent, Sugarplum

Photographer, Michael Krauss

Photo Credits, Sue Muldoon and K. Stopak

What is that fabulous flower?

I found these originally at Michaels for a sample floral arrangement. They are called a Chinese Peony, hand made for about $7. When it came to ordering a multitude for Saturdays wedding I found them on Save on Crafts (here tis de linksy) but looking further down the page I found something even better for $5. I bought 200, so the $400 savings went right in my wallet, don't you love when that happens? For something hand made, they are remarkably sturdy and the color is so light and fresh. With a 5 inch diameter, keeping one designed to rest on top of a design adds so much interest, I cannot tell you how many times I was asked about them during set up.

Dried pods, a good thing.

Bloooooooooging

Sorry I have not been around as I have been so very swamped with events. One more wedding next weekend and I will have a month off to catch up and share some really amazing stuff I have been involved with lately.

A preview of Saturdays wedding

Danny & Annie

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Til death do us part. A 27 year marriage as told by Danny and Annie. Such a sweet story, and tragic, but a good lesson for all of us who wish to die with the one we are with.

via A Cup of Joe

10 new vases

I have just checked off another part of our upcoming nautical wedding on the Eastern Shore in October. Standing 40 inches tall, these I made from pine and inlayed cross cut wood tiles at the bases. I hand sanded them to bring out a distressed look, a white washed look. When I set these on the tables there will be 3 large sandblasted branches of Manzanita protruding from the top. Each branch will be adorned with succulents. At the base will be a square wreath of fresh cut flowers in white, blue, and orange.

A Serbian Wedding

We did this fun wedding last weekend out at one of the most darling little New England towns I've seen yet, Washington Connecticut. Tamarah and John are both Surgeons that have been remodeling their country estate in preparation of this wedding all summer. Both are from Serbia and Romania and were previously married at a castle in Romania earlier in the year. But this was to be for family and friend here in the states. Highlights of this wedding was definitely the four bands that played during the night. The first was a opera team out of New York that performed the ceremony, a jazz band during dinner, a Serbian horn band from Brooklyn that mixed with the crowd on the dance floor and brought the Serbian family and friend members to a dance traditional dances. The show was ended by a collection of famous performers, most of the singers were headline back up singers.