Lindsay Landman Events

Jessica and Michael: Sparkle, Pattern and Shine

2012-01-21T21:47:00.019-05:00

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

2012-01-02T23:41:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-27T16:20:00.004-04:00

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.

Ines' Funky and Fun Birthday Surprise

2011-10-03T13:11:00.001-04:00

This gig was just plain fun. When a great client calls and tells me that I can pick a cool place for a cool party and it just needs to look and feel cool, well.... that's just cool. It was a special birthday for long time client Ines, and her husband Augusto wanted to surprise her with a birthday bash (check out their wedding here). The only requirement is that it needed to be a venue with a view. With that in mind, there was only one choice for me - SoHi at the new Trump SoHo Hotel has the sickest view of New York that I have ever seen, so it was a shoo-in.

We put together a station-style menu for this relaxed party which means that tables would not be fully set with china, silver and glassware. This makes for a very important decor challenge: how to still make the table look interesting and full when, indeed, it is not full. The answer? A patterned tablecloth! A plain, solid cloth can look empty when there is not a charger plate, silverware, etc. so bringing in a cloth with pattern or texture provides visual interest in lieu of the other elements.

Since Ines and Augusto have small children (see one of their birthday celebrations here), they wanted to include their own kids as well as the children of their guests. To give them a little something to do while the adults were eating, we created a kids' craft table with stickers, crayons, pipe cleaners, wax sticks and other fun goodies. I also used a lower table and kids' chairs so that they would feel extra comfortable.

SoHi has very cool little nooks in the walls opposite the windows so we carried the floral concept through to add more color around the room. One of the greatest features of this space, though, is the honeycomb ceiling with color changing LED's which provides both color and texture.

You know it is not a party without a cake - and this cake rocked! My buds Leslie and Mark at Mark Joseph Cakes worked with me to translate the style of this party into this modern, square cake that was one of the biggest "wows" of the night.

All photos by Sharon Schuster

How do you feel about all the pink? It was definitely the color of the season at LLE, so stay tuned for more!

Emily's Fashionable Fete

2011-09-30T19:28:00.001-04:00

For me, Bar and Bat Mitzvah design is always a unique challenge. It involves balancing the needs and desires of both an adult and a teenage client, and, more importantly, it usually involves convincing someone that a party with a theme need not have either foam core centerpieces or anything that lights up and flashes. This lovely New York City Bat Mitzvah at the Central Park Boathouse was no different, however it didn't take too much negotiation to get both the parents and the Bat Mitzvah girl on board with a unique twist on a fashion design theme.

Emily is a budding fashion illustrator - it is one of her hobbies and I must say that I was blown away by the caliber of her sketches. So, while many girls her age want a Bat Mitzvah theme that has to do with fashion magazines, shopping or popular brands, Emily had something much more elevated in mind (yay for me!). We didn't focus at all on fashion as an outcome, but instead on fashion as a process. One thing was non-negotiable though... PINK! Emily loves pink and wouldn't consider straying from it for a minute.

The first thing my design team worked on was establishing a logo that was both elegant and youthful and that tied into the theme without being too blatant. We decided on a hand illustrated bust form with Emily's name draping around the neck like a tape measure. Talented stationer Ana Dolan used this motif to create a variety of printed pieces for the party.

Next, I wanted to have a creative way to display the escort cards that tied into the theme, so after a lot of thought, I decided to use Emily's sketches as inspiration to create 3-D moodboards. We worked backwards from some of Emily's best sketches and added fabric swatches, ribbons and beads to frame the cards themselves.

For me, the flowers were a no-brainer. Emily's parents wanted to have elegant, tasteful centerpieces that were seasonal and simple, but Emily wanted to be sure the theme carried through. So, on half of the tables, we created lush trios of peonies, roses, hydrangea, orchids and calla lilies in varying shades of pink. On the other half of the tables, though, I sourced beautiful painted wire dress forms, set them on a base of full flowers coordinating with the other tables and accented them with a "belt" of pink roses so that the wire wouldn't feel too harsh.

In the lounge area for the kids, we needed just a few small floral accents, so I pounded the pavement for days to find pink high heels to use as vases for these sweet cocktail pieces.

Finally, since everyone in NYC is crunched for space, I wanted to help Emily's family avoid the problem of the huge sign-in board that often needs to find a permanent home in a small apartment. I purchased a pink (of course) cocktail dress and accessorized it with a brooch and a necklace on my trusty mannequin (affectionately nicknamed Violetta by my staff!) and allowed the guests to offer their congratulations to Emily by signing the dress! This way she can still keep it forever, but neatly hung in her closet or folded in a drawer.

All photos by Sharon Schuster

Another fun party for another great family. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky...

Happy fall!

*Thanks to Lenox Hill Florist for acting as my floral production partner for this event.

NewlyWish at The Wedding Salon

2011-09-12T01:38:00.009-04:00

Let me start by saying that I know I have been off the blogosphere for an embarrassingly long time and I'm sorry. The summer wedding whirlwind got the best of me, but I have desperately missed writing in this forum and I have SO many great events and designs to share. So, at long last... I'm baaaack!

I am going to make a feeble attempt at getting caught up, so let's turn back the clock to the first days of Spring when I was so kindly invited, once again, to design a tabletop for my friends at NewlyWish to show off their amazing registry wares to the thousands of NYC brides who make their way through The Wedding Salon bridal event. Since NewlyWish goddess Amanda Allen and I have gotten in a bit of a design groove (see previous projects here and here), I wasn't given too much direction for this project. All I had to go on was that she wanted to feature these adorable new Ink Dish plates and she wanted to introduce brides to the idea that NewlyWish is not just for registries but also for all occasion gift giving.

The Wedding Salon events are always sold out, for brides and for vendors. So, it is the type of venue in which vendors need to stand out or they'll be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of traffic and chaos that goes on around them. Knowing this, I wanted to introduce as much sparkle and intrigue as I possibly could in just a 6'x6' area. I brought in one of my trusty mirrored tabletops and topped a mulberry linen with it to amplify the glimmer that we would create with candlelight. I also used one of the custom built acrylic towers that I debuted at Cindy and Brent's wedding to give the NewlyWish table the height it needed to stand out in the crowd.

I took a very literal approach to the gift-giving concept that Amanda wanted to introduce since the environment of a bridal show doesn't always allow for much conversation. Instead of using a traditional charger plate, I filled a paper gift box with a pave of white carnations (yup, carnations sometimes do the trick!) and used it as the base for the layered Ink Dish china on display. The coordinating box tops were adorned with lush fabric bows in perfectly matched pink.

The centerpiece was a collection of small cylinder vases filled with the first peonies of the season along with light pink roses and calla lilies. To modernize the uber-feminine pieces just a bit, I added dramatic loops of black wire dotted with pink orchids which connected the five vases in the middle of the table. I also wrapped each of the vases in soft Japanese paper that I purchased in error for another client... See, no one can tell me I'm not a little bit green!

All photos by Allan Zepeda

As always, I had a great time putting this table together and flexing my design muscles a bit. I'm looking forward to the next NewlyWish tabletop project already!

I promise I'll be back sooner rather than later. Thanks for being patient with me!

Pretty weddings for everyone!

2011-06-26T14:03:00.008-04:00

This was a really big week for weddings in New York. Huge. Finally, finally, finally New York State legislature has signed a bill that will allow same sex couples to marry. It is a wonderful time to be in New York and to work in the business of weddings, and the outpouring of excitement from every end of the wedding industry is exhilarating.

I am not much into politics and there are few political issues that ignite my passion, so I will not ever bring politics into my work or into my blog. I am, however, unendingly passionate about weddings. So, in the weeks and months leading up this monumental bill, many of my friends within the wedding industry have been asking how I might prepare my business for this big political change. How will I handle all of the gay couples that may be calling me?

So, when faced with the materialization of this big news and all of the questions about what I will do differently, I have been putting a lot of thought into it. What WILL I do differently when I get a higher volume of inquiries for same sex weddings?

Brace yourselves, because you know that I'm not one for holding back...

Nothing. I will do nothing differently.

I have been creating amazing weddings for amazing people, gay and straight, for nearly a decade. All races, all religions, all political affiliations and all cultures, in New York, around the country and around the world. I learn about people through the eyes of their weddings. I learn about their families, what they love to do, their favorite colors, foods, music and fashion. I learn about how and where they grew up and how and where they live now. I learn because I ask questions and then listen to the answers - and sometimes beyond the answers. I then take all that I have learned about my clients and I translate it into the most beautiful and personal event that I can. That is what event design is to me.

So, whether you are gay or straight, Hindu or Jewish, Armenian or Portuguese, if you call me I am going to do everything in my power to make you an amazing wedding. That is the bill I signed into law the day I opened my doors.

Let's hear it for New York...

Cindy and Brent: A Warm Winter Wedding

2011-05-29T01:34:00.004-04:00

After many years together, Cindy and Brent knew that once they decided to get married, they didn't want a long engagement. So, when I got a call in mid-October that there were less than four months to plan and design a big, luxurious wedding for this lovely couple, I knew we had to jump right into the details. At our first meeting Cindy and her mom decided that they liked purple and shortly thereafter we moved forward with a palette using various shades of purple from lavender to eggplant and accent it with antique gold to bring a little warmth to what promised to be a cold February day.

All photos by Sofia Negron

I created a huge escort table, fitted with an amethyst cloth and covered with a mirrored tabletop. Pearlescent purple cards were hand calligraphed with white ink for a dramatic contrast.

We mixed long and round tables and incorporated three different centerpiece styles to create interest in the ballroom.

Tall acrylic stands held full, elongated floral pieces with bold arches made of curly willow and accented with orchids. The ballroom boasts a beautifully detailed 30 foot ceiling, so it was important to use elements which drew the eye upwards. Dozens of floating candles decorated the tabletop and added a luminescent glow to the room.

Smaller acrylic stands held candles on top and had bases filled with lush floral arrangements.

To highlight the beautiful gold rimmed chargers, we incorporated round menus from Ana Dolan which fit perfectly within the rim of the plate. The custom monogram that we designed for the couple carried through the wedding.

Because the resident caterer has an in house baker, we requested that she create a cake with no design at all and then I adorned it with two types of purple ribbon and hand made sugar flowers from Sugar Flower Shop. This is a great alternative when a great baker is not a great decorator.

For a sweet finish, guests left with French macarons in four pretty colors, each of a different flavor.

This was just a taste of all of the gorgeous details of the day. Check our Facebook page in the coming weeks for the complete album. Many thanks to Sofia Negron for all of the beautiful photos.

New York Tent Industry Bash: Pink meets Industrial Chic

2011-05-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

Imagine you are a designer. Fun! And someone asks you to design a party in a tent. Cool! And the tent is in a parking lot. Ok. And guests enter the tent through a warehouse. Mmmhmmm. And the warehouse is in an office park on Long Island. Seriously? Yup. That, my friends, is a day in the life!

I know it sounds totally nuts, but this event industry party was so crazy cool that when all was said and done, the warehouse and the parking lot and the whole thing made perfect sense! It was a great honor to be invited to partner with New York Tent for their annual industry showcase and celebration and to have the opportunity to collaborate with my good friends at Sterling Affair catering to create an atmosphere that highlighted their cuisine.

My design inspiration blossomed when Peter of Sterling Affair selected a stainless and mirror bar that he wanted to use for food service from furniture rental partner Greenroom. After looking at a photo of the piece, I thought I would run with the stainless steel concept, especially since the palette for the party had been set as Honeysuckle pink (Pantone color of the year) and gray. Then, I began to think about the unusual setting for the party in the New York Tent warehouse and what types of things may be there and I began to get really excited about creating what I decided to call "industrial chic."

Once the concept began to develop I was hit with an epiphany that dated back ten years... I had seen an exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show in which the designer covered a tabletop with nuts and bolts, topped it with glass and then set it with beautiful china. I had a snapshot of that table in my mind for a decade because I just adored the juxtaposition of the industrial and the refined and this was finally the moment to put that inspiration to use! Lucky for me, Home Depot sells Honeysuckle pink spray paint so that I could pull the whole concept together.

To brand Sterling's and my area of the tent - an elevated platform that created a second level (!!) - I designed a cog pattern that I used on the bars and table tops which spoke to our theme. I love using inexpensive and easy vinyl transfers to put my personal stamp on existing fixtures.

In the cores of my beautiful glass vases from Sandy and Mike's wedding, I inserted PVC pipes that I painted silver and then in the space between the pipe and the glass I layered jumbo hex nuts and bolts, some painted pink to add a little bit of "chic" to my "industrial." An edgy combo of pink flowers accented with black wire echoed the contrast I was trying to create throughout the space as I combined soft, romantic peonies with sleek, sexy calla lilies... and they lived together in perfect harmony!

To push my industrial chic obsession to the limit, I wanted to imagine a piece that I could hang over Sterling's signature chocolate bar that would catch guests' eyes as they entered the tent on the ground level and looked up to our open, second level platform. After a little bit of research, I because smitten with lighting designer Michael McHale's TDF copper pipe chandeliers, so I had to try and make a little one of my own. I used galvanized plumbing pipes with mismatched joints to create a frame and then wired it with sparkling crystal strands. The talented team at Luminous Designs lit it perfectly and created connectivity throughout the space by projecting cog patterned gobos on the floor.

The final piece of the puzzle was a last minute addition to include some extra guest seating. Rental partner Party Rental, Ltd. provided raw bars (generally filled with ice and then topped with seafood) which I filled with crystals and then placed trays of silver and pink nails down the center and closed off the raw bar with a piece of clear lucite. We added some tall stools and - voila! - bar-style seating!

If you can't tell, I had a pretty good time channeling my inner construction worker to show my industry friends a little bit of the crazy that goes on in my mind. Now that I got that nut and bolt thing out of my system, I don't know what will be next...

Thank you to the talented Mel Barlow for these photos. If you want to see what the other amazing design team of Claire Bean Floral Design and Brent Newsome Catering did, check out Mel's blog.

Til next time,

Sandy and Michael: A City Chic Celebration (Part 2)

2011-04-25T21:58:00.002-04:00

Ready for more from this super-chic City couple? Let's take it from after the kiss...

Sandy was sure from the outset that she wanted color, but didn't want the wedding to be defined by a color (like "Hey, I want my wedding to be hot pink like Sandy's!"). For that reason, we gradually worked our way up to color, starting with warm neutral tones for the ceremony, followed by the addition of amethyst linens for cocktails and then a complete envelopment of color for the reception with rich amethyst and raspberry flowers and lighting. We maintained a neutral balance with silvery-champagne linens and chairs which created color consistency that started months before with their gorgeous mixed media invitations (letterpress AND engraving!) and continued through to the final element of the reception... the beautiful wedding cake.

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Photo by Gustavo Campos

The flowers were simple, but voluminous. The design was more in the pattern and color than in the arrangements themselves allowing for a very fresh, seasonal display featuring spring's best bloom - the tulip. The ballroom featured two types of tables and three total centerpiece designs: long rectangular tables featured a landscape of multiple small vases; many of the round tables had a collection of three high pieces, one of tulips, one of hydrangea and one of mixed orchids; the remaining round tables had a collection of six lower pieces, three larger mimicking the tall centerpieces and three miniature satellite pieces containing orchids and roses. Silver and gold wire accented many of the flower groupings and paired perfectly with the champagne and gold flecked silver table linens and runners.

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Mark Joseph Cakes created this classically beautiful five-tiered cake reflecting some of the modern vintage elements of Sandy's dress. The soft and sweet outside was hardly a match, however, for the soft and sweet inside: a custom-designed Oreo flavored cake made just for this couple!

Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

To send guests off with a sweet finish, we distributed Black and White cookies, a New York signature treat and Michael's very favorite cookie, as the wedding favor. My favorite part? The eleventh-hour inclusion of lyrics from the couple's first dance song on the back of the custom printed favor tag:

And when you kiss me
On that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain't this life so sweet
("This Years Love," David Gray)

What more is there to say?

Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Happy Royal Wedding Week! :-)

Sandy and Michael: A City Chic Celebration (Part 1)

2011-04-24T23:32:00.004-04:00

Every once in a while, I meet a couple, and in the first moment, just on instinct, I know just what their wedding will look like. In the case of Sandy and Michael, from our first meeting, I knew just what their wedding would feel like. It took us a while to meander our way to all of the perfect visual elements, but from day one, I sensed that my collaboration with this couple would result in an environment brimming with energy, excitement and that certain New York City je ne sais quoi. And, indeed it did.

It was exactly one year before that I had the pleasure of working with Michael's sister and her groom to create an amazing wedding at Cipriani 42nd Street, so I already had met Sandy and Michael before they were engaged. Then, I had barely packed away my files from Sara and Scott's wedding when Michael's mom called to let me know that the next family wedding was on.

After touring just about every NYC venue that could accommodate their nearly 300 guests, Sandy and Michael settled on The Altman Building, not far from their own Chelsea apartment. That set the scene for a wedding that was truly about who this couple is and how they live. Urban, but warm. Modern, but classically New York.

At one of our first meetings, Sandy searched for the words to capture her overall vision for the wedding. With exasperation, she finally blurted "I don't know... glowy" and that became the word to live by! Strangely enough, it was just the perfect amount of direction and now Sandy's word is a natural part of my design vocabulary. It is actually unusually descriptive of both a mood and a look... I love it!

The embodiment of "glowy" was manifested in the candle wall which I designed as a backdrop to the escort card display. The glass ghost table gave an impression that the cards were floating in mid-air and added to the allure of the glowing wall. This was probably my favorite detail of the whole day.

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Photo by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

The chuppah was composed of soft, sheer ivory fabric and accented with ivory and peach flowers and flanked with huge explosions of white cherry blossoms. (Insider scoop: those cherry blossoms were actually supposed to be at the entrance of the room, but during setup, my production team put them near the chuppah so they wouldn't get knocked over during load in. They looked so good, we left them there and added more cherry blossoms to the front. Thankfully we had just enough left over to make it happen!)

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Photo by Gustavo Campos

Photos by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Sandy's bouquet was designed as an accessory to her Christos lace dress (as I believe all bouquets should be) which has a modern vintage feel. We used ranunculus, garden roses and sweet pea wrapped with lace from her mom's veil in perfect proportion to her petite frame and it looked like the flowers were sold with the gown! Of course, Michael's ranunculus boutonniere coordinated with Sandy's flowers. The bridesmaids carried peach tulips, ranunculus and roses which were a stunning contrast to their steel gray dresses (I'm working on a pic!).

Photos by Spencer Lum, 5 West Studios

Tomorrow... the reception and more fun details!

A look back: Remembering a beautiful bride and a beautiful wedding

2011-03-21T20:51:00.013-04:00

I was heartbroken to learn of the devastatingly untimely passing of one of our beautiful brides, Holly Kensicki Lind on March 1, 2011. We planned and designed Holly and Keith's wedding in September 2007 just as Holly was recovering from a series of surgeries and treatments to fight the cancer with which she was diagnosed shortly before her engagement to her grade school sweetheart Keith. It was a pleasure to work with her and her lovely family and I always marveled at her strength, fortitude and positivity throughout the planning process. On her wedding day, Holly was beaming, healthy and strong and my team and I loved being part of an amazing celebration.

I am so lucky that part of my job is to get to know my clients intimately and personally, to know their families and their stories, to share a time of excitement and joy and to be a partner in creating one of the most significant days in their lives. As much relief as I feel when we have successfully completed a beautiful wedding, I truly miss the daily interactions with my brides and grooms. They are as much a part of my life as I am a part of theirs.

In the years since Holly and Keith's wedding, I have shown examples of their menus, programs, flowers, cake and lighting to dozens of clients. I have told the story of how Holly's sister's invitation was tampered with somewhere in the post office and instead of receiving the beautiful invite inside, she received an envelope full of magazine clippings and fraudulent credit cards. I have altered the way I order chocolate covered pretzels for a candy station since the 8 pounds of pretzels we ordered for their wedding was so much that it came in a garbage bag!

I remember their wedding, and all of my clients' weddings, much like I remember my own - a blur of excitement, a whirlwind of activity, a rush of joy and, when it is over, a satisfying sigh of relief. I remember Holly as a beautiful bride on her first day of being someone's wife, as she basked in the glow of her own happiness and the happiness of others. I wanted to share these photos with you so that you, too, can know her [or remember her] just the same.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Keith and to their daughter Avery.

Thanks to Sarah Merians for retrieving these photos from her archives for this post.

"Dinner by Design" Signature Tabletop

2011-03-20T00:57:00.000-04:00

Over the course of the past few years, it has been so much fun to bring a little taste of what I do in New York and around the globe back to my small Pennsylvania hometown. I have been able to design some truly spectacular weddings in and around the Scranton area and work for and with people I have known my entire life, but in a very different context. So, it was truly an honor when I was asked to create a design to display at the Lackawanna Historical Society's inaugural "Dinner by Design" event at the beautiful Scranton Cultural Center. Twenty event industry pros created tabletops to feast and fete and I was truly blown away by my fellow exhibitors' creativity and ingenuity.

As you know, I just adore black, so naturally I used it as the basis for my tabletop. I chose yellow as my accent color because the event organizers had asked me to talk about my design inspiration, and something in my mind brought me back to one of the first events I ever created... it was an art opening for a young experiential artist who created a sculpture out of opaque yellow acrylic and displayed it in front of the Flatiron Building. The piece required you to stand inside of it and allow the sculpture to transform the way in which you view the world (specifically the intersection of 23rd Street and Broadway/Fifth Avenue) from within it. The interactive nature of it speaks so profoundly to the interactive nature of event design as it is not beauty that you look at, but that you interact with as you eat, drink, dance and celebrate.

To me, this is the keystone principle of event design and what makes it a unique art form - we create beautiful environments for living, but unlike interior design where the goal is to provide an environment that can be enjoyed over an extended period of time, event environments must be experienced in their entirety within a matter of hours, but leave you with a feeling that will resonate for a lifetime. Many years after that art exhibit closed, I remember the feeling of standing inside that yellow acrylic box and marveling at how the cuts and angles made it look like the Flatiron Building disappeared and like 5th Avenue and Broadway went on forever.

Are you sorry you asked about the yellow? Oh, wait, you didn't ask. :-)

Anyway... some fun details: I wanted to create a branded table setting without ordering custom china, so I used a vinyl transfer with the flower from my logo to accent the salad plates. Since I am totally hot for the vinyl transfers and couldn't stop myself, I also used the vinyl on shiny black bellini chairs from Taylor Creative to create "placecards" for some of my imaginary dinner guests (do you think that Demi, Ashton, Brad and Angie would actually have dinner together?? Probably not.). Instead of a runner to add color to the black cloth, I designed a tablecloth with inverse pleats and then carried the yellow fabric through on the napkins and accent pillows. Finally, I created intimacy around the table with a custom built glossy black frame and netted curtain panels - since the color scheme and design components are graphic and bold, a softer environment around the table made it a bit more inviting.

Many thanks to Julie Jordan for many of these photos and to Party Rental, Ltd. for the china, glassware and silverware.

Cheers,

NewlyWish at The Wedding Party

2011-01-30T00:51:00.008-05:00

Each year, hundreds of newly engaged women flock to The Wedding Library/Martha Stewart Weddings' Wedding Party event at the New York Palace Hotel, so, of course, my friends at NewlyWish wanted to make a splash and show off all of the fabulosity to be found through their boutique registry service. So, it was fun as always to collaborate with founder Amanda Allen to use some of the NewlyWish merchants' beautiful tabletop items to create a spectacular dinner table display. That was the easy part, though, since the challenge was how to show the diversity of merchandise that is available through NewlyWish - particularly those things that you wouldn't put on a dinner table! Luckily, inspiration from an upcoming wedding design dawned on me and I realized that we could style mini merchandise vignettes in simple white cubbies from Taylor Creative Props to give the brides a little taste of all of the many beautiful things that NewlyWish has to offer.

The look was bold and whimsical which made it pop in the busy room with many other wedding vendors on display - just what we hoped for! Once again, I am grateful that Amanda invited me to work with these beautiful items and style them into something unique and special. It was great fun to be part of their amazing success at such a prestigious event and I am already looking forward to our next project together!

The entire tabletop was inspired by these amazing black and white plates from Bobby Berk Home. They are bold and graphic and just downright fun, so I had to just go with it and make the whole table fun! Those black and white anemones, literally standing on end in a bed of hot pink roses, couldn't have been a more perfect fit for this look.

I layered a charger plate, dinner plate and salad plate to show off more of NewlyWish's merchandise, but also to have a perfect way to include the pink napkin in a way that would create contrast between the plates.

I had a really good time making these escort cards... I had that roll of cute black and white patterned ribbon in my ribbon drawer for at least two years, and was elated to finally have the perfect spot for it (shown around the centerpiece container as well). What can I say? Crafts make me giddy!

Adjacent to the dinner table display were the vignettes displaying all that NewlyWish has to offer.

Ever since my last NewlyWish styling gig, I've been obsessed with styling food, so I really wanted to make sure to show as many vignettes as possible with real food components to offer context to the merchandise.

As soon as I thought of the cubby idea, I knew that rolled towels had to be involved. Since my gym doesn't inspire me to work out, at least it inspires me to design!

All photos by Sofia Negron

I know you must be hungry to see some new wedding work on here, so sit tight... the season is upon us! Just a few more weeks til I'm in full swing and it will be weddings galore. Til then, let me know what else you'd like to hear about and see - I am always in need of some blog-writing inspiration!

A Spectacular Summer Spiderman Soiree

2011-01-06T00:22:00.010-05:00

I almost said no when my wonderful former clients Ines and Augusto asked if I would design a Spiderman-themed birthday celebration for their 4 year old son Diego. The truth is, that beside planning relatively low-key parties for my own kids, I really don't generally work on children's parties. But, when Ines told me that she wanted something as fabulous as their wedding was 5 years ago (one of my very favorites!), I couldn't turn it down. Needless to say, I am so thrilled that I was able to reunite with this family for a beautiful, warm and absolutely adorable party. Bring on the birthdays!

Diego is a major Spiderman fan, but as you probably already know, I am not much for over-theming any sort of party (even for a 4 year old - sorry folks), so I used Spiderman as my inspiration for this laid-back, red and blue bash. I found a gem of a location in the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island. We used the lawn of a beautiful mansion and erected a dining tent and two small activity tents. Since it was a gorgeous August Day, guests didn't even use the mansion except for the restrooms! My favorite part of the whole design was the styled dessert and favor table, but it wouldn't be a great kids' party without the requisite bounce house, face painting, build-a-bear station, and of course, the web-slinger himself... Spidey!

Guests were welcomed to the party by a pair of skywalkers.

The sweets and favor table featured all red and blue candies and treats along with thematic toys like Spiderman bouncy balls, bubbles and custom-made pinwheels.

I used lucite trays flipped upside down as well as styrofoam boxes wrapped in white paper to give some dimension to the surface.

What could be more perfect than red velvet cupcakes?

Kids could take these gable boxes to store all of the loot they collected throughout the party.

The birthday boy undergoes his transformation with the real Spidey looking on!

Imperfections in the tent ceiling were disguised with inexpensive paper lanterns in the theme colors.

Simple summery centerpieces were perfect for a kids' party with a lot of adult guests.

All great parties have great cakes - and this one was done by Cakes by Mona.

All photos by Sharon Schuster.

This party was nothing but fun and I look forward to my next kidtastic celebration! Wonder Woman, perhaps?

A Look Back: A Magnificent Indian Wedding

2010-12-27T18:19:00.010-05:00

I can hardly believe that it has been a whole year since my amazing experience in Bangalore, India planning and designing Rushmi and Vikram's wedding. It was a project that was exciting and challenging in so many ways, from the solo international travel to learning the religious and cultural customs of a South Indian wedding to deciphering the services and talents of wedding vendors who had never pushed their own limits in the ways I was requiring. I know for certain that this whole project could have fallen flat had I not had the unwavering trust of the bride and groom and both of their amazing families. They took a risk by hiring a White, American, Jewish New Yorker who had never even been to Southeast Asia to plan a traditional Hindu wedding with a little Western flare, and I will forever be grateful. It was an experience that made me a better designer, a better planner and a better person. I eagerly await the next opportunity to explore a new part of the world and a new part of myself. You can read my original posts here(1), here(2), here(3) and here(4).

Take a look at this beautiful couple and enjoy...

This is the traditional entrance gate at the front of the property. Notice that in between the two doorways we hung a large mirror to ward off evil.

The venue is called The Tamarind Tree, aptly named for this magnificent tree just inside the entrance gates. We enhanced its beauty with strands of lights and hand-strung flowers.

This is the view of the front of the property from the entrance. The pond was home to hundreds of floating lotus flowers on lily pads and the steps were lined with varying sizes of pillar candles. The large structure was set for cocktails upon guests' entrance, but was later transformed into the dancing area.

The groom was escorted on the patterned petal aisle by the bride's brother and followed by her family. In the background, you can see the mandap created with gold, red and amethyst fabric and adorned with strands of jasmine.

During the traditional Hindu ceremony, the bride is showered with rice under the mandap.

This is the interior property at a glance. Because of the rain that followed soon after this photo was taken, we don't have any pictures of how this looked when the sun went down and the candles and the lights started to glow. The head of my Indian production team, upon first seeing it all illuminated, said it looked just like heaven. That was just one of many times that the amazing, talented, and earth-shatteringly hard working Geethanjali Santosh melted my heart. The structure on the right with the flower strands on the poles housed the dinner buffets. The rotunda in the center was where the band played and the structure on the left was the bulk of the dinner seating.

The long tables were adorned with a landscape of pieces... tall branch arrangements with hand-strung orchids and hanging candles, low vases with red mokara orchids, small glass with submerged orchids and floating candles and low pave'd collections of vibrant flowers.

Bangalore's first ever 6-tiered wedding cake was decorated with chocolate by Henna artists to create the authentically Indian motif.

The bride and groom's fathers embraced under a sky illuminated by fireworks. This was my first time ever facilitating fireworks at a wedding - and it was amazing!

Amidst 500 guests and a lot of excitement, this wedding was warm, intimate and full of love. Strangely enough, I found that to be true of my entire experience in India. Certainly, it is busy and crowded and a tad chaotic, but I cannot remember ever being embraced as warmly and openly as in my time in Bangalore. Now, it will forever hold a special place in my heart.

All photos by Sudhir Ramachandran

Happy anniversary, Rushmi and Vikram! And a very happy and healthy New Year to all of you!

Holiday entertaining... LLE Style!

2010-12-23T21:40:00.011-05:00

I think the difference between the art of styling and the art of design is often muddled... In my opinion, styling refers to taking existing elements that you are given and organizing them into an aesthetic whole that is more spectacular than the sum of their parts. Design, on the other hand, is about creating a look from the ground up, where you are the innovator of all of the elements.

I absolutely love doing both styling and design, so it was great fun to work with my good friend and genius businesswoman Amanda Allen, on behalf of her brainchild NewlyWish, an online alternative registry service for chic, sophisticated New York couples, to style a gorgeous seasonal tablescape. Design guru Isaac Mizrahi had approached Amanda to put together a stylish and contemporary holiday table for his weekly "webisodes" using tabletop items from her registry merchants on NewlyWish. Naturally, I was honored to be asked to enhance the style of the elements she wanted to showcase on behalf of her merchants.

Isaac's studio is a stylist's heaven as you would imagine! It was props galore! So, I was able to take the gorgeous tabletop items Amanda had selected from merchants like Bobby Berk Home, Fish's Eddy, Bowery Kitchen and Michael Aram and really enhance them with beautiful furniture and finishings to create a cool, but still homey holiday tabletop.

Mismatched plates set the scenes for a tabletop that is friendly, but still formal - an appealing alternative to uber-fancy china and crystal. Also, altering the purpose of tabletop and home items gives them fun new life - these sweet glasses hosted our "Bloody Mary" shrimp and a simple pashmina worked double-duty as a table runner.

Using hand calligraphy for any event or dinner elevates the style and adds a personal touch, so my friend, calligrapher Anne Robin, lent her hand to write these gorgeous place cards. Instead of stands, I used fresh dahlias to prop up the card which tied in perfectly to the simple centerpiece of dahlias, kangaroo paws and baby purple artichokes.

As a side note, this was my first time professionally styling food... and I loved it! I want to use food in every photo shoot from now on! Everything from finding the perfect angle at which to slice the bread to pouring the wine to the perfect level was great fun. And, as with all at home entertaining, adding food to the tabletop made it truly look and feel like a celebration was about to take place.

All photography by Sofia Negron

You can see the Webisode in which this tablescape was featured here.

Happy holidays!

The Knot Gala at The New York Public Library

2010-10-20T23:23:00.009-04:00

What an amazing honor to have been asked to plan and design The Knot's 15th Anniversary Gala at the right-out-of-the-movies, breathtakingly stunning New York Public Library. When I got the word I had been tapped to design a party for the best-of-the-best in the wedding and event industry, it did not come without it's share of pressure... not only was The Knot co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Carley Roney looking for the kind of party that would draw event and fashion industry celebs, but this is a crowd who knows about parties. I mean they really KNOW about parties.... and flowers..... and tablecloths... and music... and food. This was serious business, folks!

The first order of business was to assemble the team of vendors who would collaborate with me to bring this event to life. It was great fun to bring together a group of amazingly talented event pros - some old friends and some new - who all worked their butts off with me to make it happen. The list is extensive, but I must acknowledge some of my key partners in crime on this event, without whom, the great style, substance and buzz would never have been possible - Union Square Events, Party Rental, Ltd., B entley Meeker Lighting and Staging, Generation Events, Luxe Event Rentals, Christian Oth and Elan Artists.

It probably goes without saying that the opportunity to work with the legend that is Preston Bailey was a highlight of this experience for me. While my style of design is certainly different from Preston's, I, like most event designers, am in awe of the scale in which he works and the precision of his artistry. I was, at first, a bit intimidated by being in the role of directing Preston's team as to how their amazing floral sculpture would be a part of the overall design, but his team was so gracious and truly respected my work on this project, so I felt both validated and invigorated. I generally don't doubt my own gut on design choices, but you better believe that I checked my work more than once before showing the PB team my floor plans and event specs. It helped me to work at an even higher, more precise level, so I am extremely grateful for this experience.

What can I say? The sculpture was ridiculously amazing! If you squint, you can see a peak at the navy and silver upholstered bar facade I created just behind the sculpture. Photos by Christian Oth.

So, onto the design. I was given some direction from Carley Roney as to what she wanted to see at the event... the colors were blue and silver and the concept was "Modern Victorian." Because that look is not in my general design arsenal, my goal was to make something that satiated her desires, but also was true to my aesthetic. So, the first thing I did was add an accent color - yellow. I felt that navy and silver would be swallowed up by the vastness and neutral tones of the space unless I provided contrast, and I think it worked perfectly. The second thing was to enhance the contrast with lighting. You know how much I love event lighting, so this was an easy one, especially since I got to work with the lighting superstars at Bentley Meeker. Finally, because I knew that Preston Bailey was designing a 12' tall floral sculpture that would be the major "wow" of the night, I wanted to create an atmosphere that was supportive of that centerpiece, so, as is often the case, much of the design work was left to the black-and-white of a great floor plan. I knew that, while my flowers were gorgeous (if I do say so myself!) they could never compete with what Preston was doing, so my job was to use my design abilities to build a great environment for the event and for the showcasing of the sculpture. Design is a lot of things when it comes to events, and it isn't always flowers and candles. That is one of my key principles of non-floral decor and it is crucial to the success of so many of my designs.

This was the Press/VIP lounge - it was a little oasis above the hub-bub of the main space.

Because of the nature of the event, branding was key. I sourced vintage picture frames, painted them silver, hung them on a custom-upholstered wall and filled the frames with recent covers of The Knot magazine. Also, I created custom iPad stands for this existing Library desk so that The Knot could showcase their brand new iPad app!

Guests could get cozy in the lounge groupings throughout the side wings of Astor Hall in the Library.

Some of my favorite details were custom pillows I had made for this event as well as the interlocking fleur de lis graphic I transferred onto some of the lounge chairs.

Mini chair caps and runners carried the navy through the party in a way that suited my design style and customized the rental furniture.

A really dreadful photo of me with The Knot's Carley Roney! :-) Photo by Christian Oth.

I will post more photos on the Lindsay Landman Events Facebook page as I get them, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy this peak into the event industry party of the season. It is no secret that the scope of this project far exceeded my original expectations, but, as is always the case, the pleasure and reward I received personally and professionally certainly made it worth every minute of it. And then some.

Sleepily yours,

All photos by Gustavo Campos, except where otherwise noted.

Lauren and Nick: Romantic Blue and White Wedding

2010-09-06T19:47:00.008-04:00

Lauren and Nick's wedding at The Woodlands Inn and Resort in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was a great opportunity for me to flex more of my "StyleFile" muscles as Lauren came to me with an assembled in-house team of vendors who needed just a little direction to boost this event from lovely to fabulous. Lauren's personal style is feminine, but simple and clean and she wanted her wedding style to reflect just that. It was her amazing Vera Wang wedding dress that inspired much of the wedding design: the white on white stripes with bow detailing said everything Lauren wanted to say.

My pride and joy from this wedding design is the escort card display. During one phone consultation, Lauren mentioned that she wanted to include some sort of floating flower component in the design. Since just flowers in a bowl were not stylized enough for what we were trying to accomplish, I dreamed up (by the way, until this very moment of spell-check clarity, I totally thought that word was dreamt, but evidently not! Who knew?) this gigantic water table as the focal point of the cocktail space. The total size of this table was about 7 feet square, with the center "pool" at 4 feet square. The beautifully calligraphed escort cards with custom designed monogram on top were arranged on a pave of white carnations surrounding the entire pool. Hydrangeas, gardenias and candles floating in the water were highlighted with soft blue light for some extra glimmer. It was pretty fabulous. I loved watching all of the guests explore this table, gently touching the flowers and the water to see if everything was real. It was spectacular!

Inside the ballroom, we channeled a little bit of Old Hollywood and a lot of classic elegance to create two styles of table designs: long ovals with a landscape of low centerpieces and traditional rounds with high arrangements. Accents of pearls, bows and tons of candlelight tied the design together with the dress inspiration and a sweet, romantic glow.

I was faced with a huge challenge in this particular ballroom because these ceilings were LOW. I mean lower-than-your-traditional-studio-apartment-LOW. So... some of the lighting and draping techniques that I often rely on and that drew Lauren to my work initially were out of the question. As a result, I needed to create focal points in a different way. The first thing we did was bring in an all-white dance floor and finish it with Lauren and Nick's custom insignia that I created as part of the StyleFile. I used a vinyl transfer to apply their logo and it looked amazing on the white floor. I had done it many times on traditional parquet floors, but never on white. Yum! It looked hand painted!

Also, my amazing lighting team installed 150 iridescent glass globes and candleholders into the ceiling tracks and then lit them with color changing LEDs to give the low ceiling an amazing glow all night long.

This project was a true delight because even though Lauren had a team of vendors already on board before she met me, she was so open to exploring new ideas and pushing the limits of what she had seen before and what these vendors had done before. The experience certainly helped me to better convey my concepts to vendors who had not tried some of these techniques in the past and I believe that it helped them to look beyond their comfort zones to see what is possible. I love jobs where I can teach a little and learn a little, and this definitely fit that bill!

The stripes and bows on the cake mimicked Lauren's gown; the design is also a great simple choice for an in-house baker to do when a specialty baker isn't in the cards.

All photos by Gustavo Campos

Wanna learn more about the "StyleFile" and how I can work with your team of vendors anywhere in the world to bring your wedding vision to the next level? Email me at lindsay[at]lindsaylandmanevents[dot]com.

'Til next time...

Inspired by: Kelly Wearstler

2010-09-02T23:43:00.005-04:00

I have found my design soul mate. There's no one else I want to be with for the rest of my days. Kelly Wearstler: you are THE ONE.

I have long been an admirer of Kelly's work, but it was not until my darling clients Katie and James gave me the world's most thoughtful gift of a big ol' pile of design books (inspiring many more posts, I'm sure!) that I got to spend two uninterrupted hours with Kelly and her work. Page after page of Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style spoke to me... and in many ways echoed me. I heard myself in Kelly's words and saw my visions in the photos of her work. So, just like when you meet that special someone who can complete your sentences, I knew that my love for Kelly was here to stay.

By now you must know that I am endlessly charmed by language, so Kelly's crystal clear way in which she defines some of her basic design principles is amazing. I could list every pull quote from the book because so many of them are brilliant, but it is her focus on the key principle of unexpected style from so many different angles that I think is captivating:
"Eclecticism produces excitement through creative tension. Eclectic interiors may startle you at first, but its that surprising quality that hold you there and calls you back again." Two sentences that perfectly state what it took me two posts to convey (See: Unlikely Pairs and Mixed Media).

Now - I am going to say something bold here - and you are just going to have to live with it: every outfit, room, piece of stationery... you name it... is better with black. I thought that maybe I had been in New York too long because my love for black is so sincere, but after pouring over Kelly's images, I have found both a kindred spirit and a sense of validation. There is black in every room. Maybe a little or maybe a lot, but always black. I know it is not for everyone or every party (settle down, brides, I won't put black in your design if you don't want it!) but it excites me every time I see black in a good design and I never tire of it.

I could go on and on, but I'll just point out one more thing about my kindred spirit: Kelly says in her chapter on Color and Texture that "Living without color is like living without love." It seems overly dramatic, particularly in reference to event design, but her bold mantra spoke to me because of my daily interaction between color and love... weddings. Since Katie picked out this book for me, I will use her as my example (hope you don't mind, Katie!): early on when she and I were working on the design for her wedding and I had proposed a few color palettes, Katie called me one evening to say that she thought maybe she should just go with all white for her wedding. It was too hard to decide on a color palette and maybe going with white would be easier and safer so she wouldn't have to over-commit to just one shade. Katie was certainly not the first and will definitely not be the last to sing the song of white's safety to me... picking a color and using it as the main stamp on the key event of your lifetime is a BIG DEAL. Huge. Like picking your mate. You are saying to the world that you have one day to show off the essence of your life and this is the person you are picking, and this is the dress you are picking and this is the color you are picking. But here's the thing: the greater the risk, the greater the reward, in design, in life and in love. If you don't grab your chance, it will pass you by and you'll be sorry you played it safe. Please, take it from me... my wedding was white. My dining room is purple, though, so I worked it out in the end.

All photos courtesy of www.kwid.com

In the forward of the book, famed editor Marian McEvoy says of Wearstler: "You can't enter a Wearstler environment without being challenged to inspect, touch, and wonder where she came up with her ideas." This moves me in a powerful way because when I think about the greatest compliment someone can pay me, it is to be asked "how did you think of that?" It implies that I have been creative, that I have imagined something that no one else has. And it makes me feel like I am at least a fraction of the designer I hope to be.

Get this book. It will not disappoint.

Katie and James: Beautiful Pennsylvania Wedding

2010-08-28T17:37:00.003-04:00

I worked with Katie and James for more than a year on every detail of their amazing wedding in Katie's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania (which is my hometown too!). This is not my first Scranton-area event so I am getting a little reputation back home for coming in and shaking things up a bit. Depending on who you ask, that may be a good thing or a bad thing...

My goal with the decor was to create a "wow factor" while remaining cognizant of the slightly more tailored sensibility of my clients and their guests. Katie picked this fabulous color palette of plum, raspberry and pewter from some paint chip strips I stole from the paint department at Home Depot (shhh!) and so that there would be a little something for everyone, I created three different tabletop looks on both square and rectangular tables. I just loved using these custom upholstered lampshades atop tall, shapely vases instead of a room full of flowers (non-floral decor at its best!) and to keep costs in check, I used tap lights (yes, from the info-mercials) to illuminate inside the shades. Peonies were in full bloom for this June wedding, but to give the lamps a lift, a pave'd box of hot pink carnations did the trick.

There were dozens of fun details at this Scranton Cultural Center wedding from the illuminated escort table to the monogrammed chair caps and the sweet drink straws to the surprise zeppole station at the exit. Here's just a peek at some of my favorite accents...

All photos by Rob Lettieri

It was a thrill to be part of a wedding day with so much life and exuberance. This room was exploding with energy, but also with love and warmth. Katie and James' wedding was a true collaboration with the bride, the groom and both families and it was amazing to see and feel how the end result was a reflection of all of them and their amazing connection to one another.

A special thanks goes out to Dorian and Eloise Butovich of Central Park Flowers in Olyphant, PA who were crucial to the production of this event and who helped make it a success.

Enjoy,

Non-floral decor

2010-08-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

Hello, again! Yes, I am still alive and well despite my complete disappearance from the blogosphere. So sorry... hope you missed me just a little.

So, non-floral decor. What on earth does that mean and why, oh, why would a designer who focuses much of her work on weddings always be telling people it is her specialty? Well, because if I have said it once I have said it a thousand times: people put too much pressure on their flowers to create their decor! If you rely solely on flowers, your only option to make your decor more impactful is to keep making your flowers bigger and bigger and bigger. Not only does that look often become heavy and overwhelming, but it becomes expensive. And I mean EX-PEN-SIVE.

Non-floral decor refers to all of the elements that contribute to the overall design that are not flowers. This includes, but is not limited to, linens, tableware, lighting, candles, printed materials - even food. All of these items, if thought through properly, can contribute to the overall impression of your decor. Some of these things are even event necessities - so if you have to have them, why not make them work a little harder and really change the aesthetics of your celebration?

Please don't misunderstand me. I love flowers and I think they are gorgeous. I also think that EVERY social event should have at least one fresh floral element as this is what tells your guests that the decor atmosphere was made fresh for your celebration. I just don't think flowers are the end-all-and-be-all of decoration.

I came across this photo on Apartment Therapy blog and it just took my breath away. It is elegant, dramatic, unique and just simply gorgeous. It could be a table for a wedding, a new year's eve dinner, a glamorous birthday party - just about anything. Now, take a close look at the flowers. Yes, they are there - single white roses propped in small glass vases - but they are just 1% of this look. It is a big look, but with the smallest amount of fresh flowers possible. The "wow" of this is certainly the chandeliers, but what I love most is how every element on the table contributes to the overall aesthetic. Notice how the glassware mimics the shapes of the light fixtures and how the varying candleholders and candles add movement to the landscape. If you have to have glasses (which of course you do!) why not make them do double duty and contribute to your decor? That is the essence of non-floral decor - making every element share the work-load of creating gorgeousness.

Cheers,

Allison's Beautiful Birthday Bash

2010-06-28T17:15:00.009-04:00

While I cannot disclose what birthday was celebrated at this elegant soiree (I was told that if the "number" got out, heads would roll!), I can tell you what a special, intimate evening this was for Allison, a former mother-of-the-bride (we did daughter Ashley's wedding in July 2008), and 25 of her closest friends. The private room at Del Posto was just the right setting for this multi-course meal with wine pairings as it was secluded from the bustling main dining room, but still thrived on the energy of this Mario Batali/Lydia Bastianich hotspot.

I remembered that when we designed her daughter's wedding years ago, Allison said her favorite flower was sweet pea, so it was a no-brainer to include it in the centerpieces. Completing the lovely spring mix was yellow freesia, ivory garden roses and white ranunculus.

This menu folder, along with all of the other stationery pieces, was created by Bella Figura.

At each guest's place, miniature cakes by Chocolate Blossom Cakes served as both the place card and the favor. They alternated between yellow and green with the guest's initial in the opposite color on the top of each cake.

It wouldn't be a birthday party without a cake, and there is no cake like a Sylvia Weinstock cake!

All photos by Sofia Negron

Hope you enjoy!

Josh's Vintage Baseball Bar Mitzvah: Part Two

2010-06-24T00:06:00.000-04:00

Tappan Hill in Tarrytown, New York was the site of this beautiful celebration. The venue is the most perfect example of the value of my Design Consulting services (if I may say so!) for two reasons: First and foremost, Tappan Hill has an exclusive list of florists with whom their clients must work. This is somewhat common with venues that do high volume or that have historic status as they tend to be more protective of their environment and want to reduce the risk of having different florists coming in every day who may not be respectful of their house rules and limitations. Therefore, I am not permitted to produce my designs in this space. I can design parties (brainpower), but I can't produce them (manpower). [For more info on the difference, click here].

Second: Tappan Hill, an Abigail Kirsch property, has amongst the most stellar event managers in the business. I have worked primarily with Kathy Policastro over the years and she manages the intricate details of every event with unparalleled precision. It is a most unusual situation in which the venue contact is as good as a great event planner, but Kathy is that good, so I feel 100% confident that the event will be as fabulous as the decor I designed and I can rest easy even if my planning team is not on-site. It may surprise you that someone who has a company which plans events would highlight an instance in which our services are not required, but, as always, I call it like I see it, and there are a few locations lurking out there at which, when there is a client who is doing a very straightforward or repeat event (second Bar Mitzvah, for example), our planning services are not required. Gasp!

So, in short, it was my job to come up with all of the creative ideas for this event and then to put them in a format that I could hand over to another florist to bring to life. That format is what I call the Style File. The Style File has every detail that is required (down to the inch) to produce the design including the floor plan, materials, flowers, art and lighting. It is my goal to make the Style File so comprehensive and specific that truly any professional can produce every part of the design just as I would if I were the producer on the job. This particular event was relatively close to home for me, so I knew the vendors and could come to the venue to oversee the production, but, the Style File is strong enough that a bride planning a destination wedding or a client based thousands of miles away could take this "book" to their local producers and make a design just as fabulous come to life!

The previous post detailed a few of the thematic elements of this party, but I also wanted to share with you the elegant, beautiful dinner tables and lounge environment we designed for Josh and his guests. Because this party was for equal parts children and adults, one of our goals was to create an environment that was equally appropriate for both. Thus, with my intention to leave the theme-y elements to the bar, the escort table and the sign-in area, I used the color, conceptual and textural elements to convey the Vintage Baseball feel.

One of the many documents from the Style File that I gave to the required production team was this illustration of my complete vision for the tablescape.

Dark wooden farm tables, walnut chairs and amber tinted glasses from Classic Party Rentals were a perfect fit for this event style. Chargers from Party Rental, Ltd. and runners from my personal collection finished off the tabletop. My flower and candle designs were produced with precision by House of Flowers, one of Tappan Hill's required vendors, and those killer wooden table numbers, like the escort cards, were designed and produced by ModernPress.

For the kids' area, I added club-style lounge pieces from Designer8 (part of Classic Party Rentals), and those cutey red ottomans are from the perennial favorite, Target. The distressed baseball lamps? eBay, of course! Oh, internet, how I love thee...

Photos by Gustavo Campos

My mission to abolish all glittered foam core from every Bar/Bat Mitzvah in America continues on... one party at a time. If you looked at these photos and thought to yourself, "this doesn't look like a Bar Mitzvah," well, then, my work here is done.

As always, I welcome your thoughts, feedback and questions, so bring it on!

Happy summer!

Josh's Vintage Baseball Bar Mitzvah: Part One

2010-06-07T19:16:00.002-04:00

I had such a great time working on this amazing Design Consulting project. I had produced a Bar Mitzvah for this family's older son three years ago so I was already familiar with their aesthetic and the more sophisticated vibe they like, so when Josh's mom said he liked baseball, but didn't want to go "over the top," I knew just where I wanted to go with the design.

I started the Style Story by offering two different theme choices: Vintage Baseball and Pinstripe Prep. The family flipped for the Vintage Baseball concept because it encompassed all of the key baseball elements that Josh loves but without being too overt with the theme. I wanted to style the party with color and texture rather than images as is most common with Bar/Bat Mitzvah decor so I picked tones that had an antique feel and materials with a rustic finish.

I'll start with the most thematic elements. My client had a great monogram from their save the date card that they gave to me to work with. The first thing was taking the monogram and finding the "kid friendly" manifestation of it so we could print it on favors and the like. My idea was putting the monogram as the insignia on a distressed baseball cap. So, my talented illustrator Heather came up with just the right hand-drawn image.

Next, my plan for keeping the party thematic, but not too "in your face" was to theme the escort card table, the bar and the sign-in area so that we could just make the dinner tables beautiful and elegant without too much theme-y stuff. First up was finding just the right vintage baseball imagery to use as a jumping off point for these areas. One of my great design assistants, Amanda, found a photo of an old-fashioned baseball scoreboard and immediately all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in my head. The icing on the cake was my discovery of brilliant stationery designer Carolina Della Valle of ModernPress's collection of wood escort cards, menus and table numbers.

This is the image that originated the idea, followed by my translation.

And.... the real thing.

For the sign-in area, I couldn't stop thinking about the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It took me a while to put all of the elements in place, but once I found these Hall of Fame World Series plaques at a good price online, my vision finally worked itself out. The production team was not too happy about the wood paneling, but it had to be done! Guests signed the copper plaque featuring the Bar Mitvah boy, giving him a keepsake he'll actually want to keep.

The bar came together when I saw an image of a baseball dugout in which the batting helmets were stored in wooden cubbies while the players were in the field. I became obsessed with this image for some strange reason and couldn't sleep until I figured out what to do with it. Building this cubbie contraption onsite was no party, but the end result was exactly how I imagined it.

All event photos by Gustavo Campos

These thematic elements set the tone for the party without hitting guests over the head with BASEBALL!!! and JOSH!!! AHHH!!! Stay tuned for more images from this amazing celebration and see how the dining environment turned out.

Inspired by: Unlikely pairs

2010-05-31T16:38:00.000-04:00

This post is a journey... and a meandering one at that... I hope you'll bear with me! Here we go.

It started when I was driving to work a week or two ago and heard my local station's debut of the new Katy Perry song "California Gurlz." I thought I heard the DJ say that it was with Snoop Dog, but that made no sense to me, so I decided I needed to get my hearing checked and mentally moved on. Then, the boppy, cutesy song began and I thought to myself... "this is so Katy Perry" as I did the little car-dancing thing that you do when you are buckled-up for safety. About two thirds of the way through I hear a male voice begin to rap. Could it really be Snoop Dog? Huh? (By the way, when I started writing this blog, if you had told me that Snoop Dog would ever appear, I would have laughed you right out of town!). How on earth do Katy Perry and Snoop Dog even decide to work together? Who came up with that? And how on earth does it totally work?

In the meantime, I had been carrying around the New York Magazine Home Design issue in my purse for a week because I had intended to blog about the amazing Neo-Country piece that got my creative juices flowing. Not only was I in love with the clean, mid-Century Modern room that perfectly integrated hand-made wooden pieces that were rustic-inspired but with modern finishes, but the "Neo Classics" spread in which the classic shapes of farm tables and Baroque frames are made of unexpectedly modern materials such as glass and plastic had me itching to completed redecorate my house. NY Mag said it so perfectly... it is the "new old." And it works.

Rustic materials are the highlight of this room, which does not feel at all rustic.

As much as I love the shape of the classic farm table, it would have no place with my more contemporary home aesthetic. The glass re-imagining of it is both modern and classic at once giving it new life.

Bright colors free these frames from their traditional roots while the shape pays homage to a classic style.

Why do these unlikely matches come together to create a whole that is superior to the sum of its parts? The best way I can explain it is to compare it to baking... have you ever wondered why recipes for cookies, cakes and pies call for at least one big, heaping teaspoon of salt? The salt brings out the sweetness in the other ingredients and heightens the strengths of their flavors.

It is easy to group things together which are the same - we are taught to do that basically from birth. And I distinctly remember learning what the word "clash" meant when a classmate teased another friend about wearing a pink shirt with red pants. But the thing is that when you limit yourself to only combining things that have elements of sameness or that organically "go together," you run out of options pretty quickly.

This applies not only to decor but to the other most important components of any event: music and food. A music trend that is beginning to run its course is classical string instruments playing contemporary music for a wedding ceremony... an unlikely match of modern melody and classic instrument makes an impact far greater than the music "expected" to emanate from a violin. And, if you watch Top Chef (or any cooking show) you know that you can't win unless you know how to put bacon in a dessert! Seriously. Bacon. In. Dessert.

The truth is that if you can finish the sentence without all of the words, the sentence doesn't even need to be said aloud. But, when the end of the story takes you to a place you never expected, you are riveted, and the story settles into your mind.

Why, oh, why have I told you all of this? Because I spend my days trying to create decor that sticks with you. More than just beautiful, I am after a look that is memorable. Does it always have to be accomplished with an unusual pairing? Certainly not. But it must be well-enough thought out that the choices appear to be conscious since I believe that something with that amount of power will find its way into the consciousness of another. Just like how Snoop meandered his way into my mind and into my blog.

Inspiration is everywhere.

From the Vault: Adam's Bar Mitzvah

2010-05-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

As I am putting the finishing touches on a Bar Mitzvah for next weekend, I was thinking about one of my very favorite Bar Mitzvah design projects from a number of years ago. Adam's celebration was at the legendary Tavern on the Green, which closed at the end of 2009, and while it was a phenomenal place for any celebration, it was not without it's share of serious design challenges... particularly when the Bar Mitzvah boy wants a Homer Simpson theme!

Whimsical escort table was placed outside the ballroom on the patio where cocktails took place. The colorful flower balls and wheatgrass hinted at the decor to come.

Tavern's decor was colorful and busy and just plain over the top - that's what made it famous. But, unless you intended to do something pretty simple there, it is quite a challenge to "blend," shall we say. In addition, most of the rooms had to be joined to one another, thus achieving an ideal layout was tricky. So, I had my work cut out for me. Not to mention... HOMER!!

If you've been reading for a while, you know how I feel about foam core centerpieces, so I wanted to come up with something that conveyed the theme clearly, but wasn't quite as overt as literally cutting Homer out of foam would be. I wanted it to be whimsical and fun, but still appropriate for adults since they made up more than half of the guest list. So, in one of my "wouldn't it be cool if..." rants, I thought it would definitely be cool to cut the characters out of colored acrylic. Their shapes are so recognizable that even without details it would be easy to identify the Simpson family and the acrylic would work with the best asset of the room - floor to ceiling windows - and allow light to pass through.

When I use so many bright colors, I like to do what I call "color blocking" so that tables are zoned mono-chromatically. This allows me to use a lot of color without making the room look too busy. For this party I used all of the graphic cartoon colors for the linens and the flowers and then kept the "Simpson Blue" reserved for the acrylic pieces.

The only place where foam core was a must was for the bar. We wanted to pay homage to Homer's favorite hang-out, so there was no way to go except to build a Moe's Tavern facade for Tavern's existing bar. Guests got drinks in glass beer mugs with a custom-made "Adam and Homer" logo (Adam's face was Simpson-ized!) and faux "Duff" cans were part of the display.

Because it is really not a party without a cool cake, the talented Cynthia Peithman of Cakeline designed this tiered confection featuring all of Homer's signature favorites... bowling balls, remote controls, Duff beer and, of course, donuts!

All photos by Lotus Photographers

Having never really been much of a Simpson's fan, I had to do some serious homework for this party... calls to old college friends and friends-of-friends helped quite a bit as did hours of tireless internet searches on everything Homer. You never know what sorts of interesting things you'll learn in this line of work...

Have a great week!

Drumroll please... Photo Shoot Challenge Winner!

2010-05-10T18:57:00.005-04:00

First of all, I am so sorry for posting this several days late... there just have not been enough hours in the day to write this post! Bad, bad, bad....

But, in other news, we have a winner!

Congratulations to Ellie who submitted the best photo for the Photo Shoot Challenge! This photograph will be the inspiration for my upcoming photoshoot and Ellie will have the opportunity to participate as well as receive some great goodies from our sponsors. Ellie: we'll be in touch soon with deets... and thanks for the inspiration. I already have a ton ideas brewing so I can't wait to get started.

Thank you so much to all those who submitted fantastic interior photos. I am honored that you read and follow our work and I look forward to your continued participation in what I hope will become an even more interactive environment.

Here is what Ellie said about her favorite home interior that she found on HGTV: "I love the below design because it's romantic and soft. The curves on the bed frame and flowers on the wallpaper, the shabby chic nightstands make my heart melt. I also love the different shades of purple with subtle hints of green. This entire screams romantic, cheerful and somewhere I want to be." Ellie - you've got my number - I love this room too!

What do you think? Let me know if there are any elements from this room that you'd like to see in our photo shoot... maybe they'll appear!

Sara and Scott: Dramatic and Classic New York City Wedding

2010-05-06T15:23:00.010-04:00

I have been dying to post these amazing pictures from Sara and Scott's beautiful March wedding at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, but the time just kept getting away from me! Every one of the photos from superstar photographer Douglas Benedict was so gorgeous that it was hard to choose... I only hope that these selections can adequately convey the warm, glowing and romantic atmosphere in this landmark venue.

There was an exceptionally joyful vibe in the room that evening, which made producing this flawless wedding even more gratifying. Every once in a while I get a warm, fuzzy feeling from a wedding that I just can't shake, and on this cold and rainy night in Manhattan I was overwhelmed by it. My thanks to a beautiful couple and special family for inviting me to be a part of this day.

Enjoy!

This Oscar de la Renta dress is one of my favorites of all time. I love this moment in which Sara was nervously awaiting Scott's arrival.

This is a view of the ceremony in progress when standing at the entry. The chuppah was made entirely of cherry blossoms and created a cozy arch above the couple's heads. Unfortunately because Scott, his best man/brother and dad are all well over 6 feet tall, it was a bit of a squeeze in there!

A snapshot of the ballroom before guests entered for dinner. The centerpieces are made of yellow forsythia and purple vanda orchids with the tall pieces elevated on custom made acrylic stands. Hundreds of purple candles created an amazing glow in the room. Many thanks to my partners in crime.... and design... at City Blossoms for creating these magnificent arrangements.

Douglas Benedict works with light masterfully. I love how he captured the Old New York essence of the space in this shot.

Chocolate Blossom Cakes created this sweet and delicious masterpiece that coordinated perfectly with the decor. Inside, the cake included the couple's two favorite flavors - red velvet and carrot.

The escort table was transformed into the favor table at the end of the evening. My team created lovely favor boxes filled with French macarons - one in purple (violet flavored) and one in yellow (almond flavored) for a sweet finish.

Until next time,

My new gig on Examiner.com

2010-05-06T00:58:00.004-04:00

If you don't catch my Twitter and Facebook feeds (gasp... you don't??), you may not know that in my oodles of spare time I have been indulging in one of my favorite pastimes and writing fun little articles for online newspaper Examiner.com. If you are already a wedding know-it-all some of the tips and trends may be old hat for you, but for those of you learning about the business or working on your wedding plans, I hope that some of my insights and reports will prove valuable.

As always, I treasure your feedback on the Examiner.com articles as well as anything you read on this blog, so don't be shy and drop me a note. If there are topics you'd like to see covered for the Examiner, I'd love to hear those too since developing engaging material is more than half the battle. Those of you who know me know that I can write or talk about just about anything...

You can catch up on what I've already published by checking out my Examiner.com homepage and you can visit regularly for more of the wedding banter I know you love.

Happy reading,

Photo Shoot Challenge Update: New Photography Sponsor!

2010-05-04T11:49:00.004-04:00

I am so delighted to announce that our Photo Shoot Challenge tabletop will be photographed by talented New York City photographer Sofia Negron. Sofia has been shooting weddings and special events in Philadelphia and New York since 2002 and is sure to bring the look of the winning tabletop to new heights.

There are only four days left to enter your submission, so get to it! Vendors who want a spiffy ad like Sofia and Le'Penn Designs, you still have time too. Just send me an email at lindsay[at]lindsaylandmanevents[dot]com and we'll start our collaboration.

Can't wait to see more interior inspiration,

Design tidbit

2010-05-03T12:53:00.001-04:00

I love when I find a little design tidbit in a surprising place. I was reading a restaurant review for a place not to far from my home (Uproot) and spotted this spectacular dining table. It is a classic American farmhouse style table and chairs, but they are painted in a high-gloss red, giving them a contemporary, updated feel. To top it off, literally, streamlined pendant lights hang from a funked-up lattice structure. Lattice and farmhouse - yes, a match. Pendant lights and high-gloss red - yes, a match. All together, who knew?

So, what does this all mean? To me, this means that the lines of design are constantly blurred. No longer does a specific piece of furniture box you in to a style, whether it is in your home or in your event venue. Opening your mind to the potential evolution of design may give you a world of possibilities far beyond what meets the eye. In all my years of doing events, I have never come across a venue contract that says "no slipcovering of our tattered entryway upholstered furniture that looks like it was from a yard sale in 1977." Or, for that matter, "no changing the lampshade on the dusty hallway fixtures." A small investment in the updating of an old or existing piece may set the style tone for your whole soiree.

Just don't bring in your high-gloss spray paint - this, I assure you, will not end well.

Happy designing,

Ps. After further research on this restaurant, I found this description of the decor:

"The space is au courant but not audacious... contemporary but exceedingly comfortable. It succeeds in gently caressing the eye rather than assaulting it."

It's funny because I was first captivated by the photo of that table, but these words so precisely describe what I work to achieve in my designs that I would be remiss for not sharing them. My website says "approachably modern" and this is just what I mean. Thanks, Art Nemendorf (The Artful Diner) at NJ.com. I guess I better go and eat at this place.

Photo courtesy of Park Place Magazine

Photo Shoot Challenge: Introducing Our First Sponsor

2010-04-28T16:38:00.004-04:00

I am so thrilled to announce that Le'Penn Designs has come on board as the exclusive stationery and paper designer for the Photo Shoot Challenge. Owner Le'Trice Penn has been designing couture stationery for weddings and special events since 2007 and will be an integral part in bringing our selected design to life. Thank you, Le'Trice, for your enthusiasm and support of this fun project! And... for our lucky winner... Le'Penn Designs will be creating a set of custom thank you cards! But, as they say, you can't win if you don't play!

There is still time to enter the Challenge, and with each day, new sponsors are joining me to offer great incentives for our winner. I have extended the deadline to Friday, May 7th, so get to it and submit those interior inspiration shots! I have received some amazing options so far, but the winner might still be out there... Send your entry to lindsay[at]lindsaylandmanevents[dot]com. Details here.

Did you notice Le'Penn Designs' super-cool new ad on the blog? Do YOU want a super-cool ad on the blog? Become a sponsor of the Photo Shoot Challenge and it shall be yours!

Check back often for more sponsor and incentive announcements.

Good luck,

Invitation Heaven

2010-04-19T15:00:00.006-04:00

I don't often write about vendor experiences, but I have been so thrilled with the design process surrounding this party invitation, that I would be remiss not to share the love with you. After designing the overall concept for a beautiful birthday celebration for a long-time client, I was on the hunt for a letterpress invitation that suited my vision without the need for creating a completely custom design. I had worked with Bella Figura a number of years ago for a wedding invitation and was very happy with the outcome, but it had been a while and I had forgotten the pleasure of truly personal, consistent and customized service from a boutique stationer. I was beyond pleasantly surprised with the entire experience as well as every item we received.

Proofs came quickly. Changes were made intuitively. Shipping was expedient. Product was perfect. Presentation was impeccable. Now this is how an invitation should arrive...

A beautiful box with a ribbon tied around it and a customized label.

The presentation when you open the box... coordinating box lining, wrapping and shred.

My favorite part! Envelope sealant!! Every company out there should include this!

The gorgeous letterpressed invitations: double thick, rounded corners, two inks, ooh la la! We've whited out our clients' names for their privacy - I didn't want you to think there was a printing error.

Little things go a long way in this business of details. That envelope sealant alone will have me going back to Bella Figura again and again. That and the stunning invitations, of course! I can't wait to receive the favor tags and menus to complete this suite of products for the late May fete. More photos to come soon, of course!

I'd love to hear about your favorite small boutique printers who do something similar. There are so many new ones out there, I lose track, so please share!

Photo Shoot Challenge: Update!

2010-04-14T22:14:00.003-04:00

Thank you so much for all of the great support for the photo shoot challenge right out of the gate! It's going to be a blast! After conferring with some of my potential sponsors who are all talking about "sweetening the deal" for our winner, I wanted to start things off right by adding a little of my own sweetness. So, for the winner, in addition to the opportunity to participate in the actual photo shoot, I will also be awarding a 90 minute design consultation! If you are planning a wedding, we can work on your wedding decor. If you are planning a dinner party, we can plan a fabulous table setting. If you are re-designing your living space, we can talk about that too. And, if you are an aspiring designer, we can talk about breaking into the biz in a meaningful way. You provide the design challenge and we'll work together to find a spectacular solution.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates including the announcement of the sponsors. I am looking forward to receiving more submissions.

Cheers,

Photo shoot challenge

2010-04-12T01:54:00.014-04:00

I have been itching to put together a photo shoot for some time now. I just adore the design process and, like all of my friends in this business, have always been plagued with more ideas than clients, so I've been thinking a lot about bringing a few of my designs to life simply for the sake of my portfolio and for some good old fashioned fun. My problem is that I have so many ideas for tabletop designs that, without some guidelines or stipulations, I don't know which to choose. With unlimited resources and time I could put together 50 different tabletop styles!

So, that got me thinking... Maybe instead of producing one of my own ideas, I'd raise my own bar a bit and reach out to you and produce one of your ideas. That's right - a challenge! As if designing a tabletop isn't enough fun for me, I'm going to make a contest out of it! Am I crazy? Perhaps. Do I have enough readers for this to work? I don't know. Will anybody enter? I can only hope. I was once told that the internet allows you to fall softly, so I guess I am willing to take a leap for the love of the game. If this post magically disappears into cyberspace, though, you'll know why.

In the hopes that I will be flooded with submissions, I figure I should provide some basic contest stipulations as well as some incentives. So, here it goes:

Introducing....

The-First-Ever-Totally-Experimental-And-Possibly-Crazy
Lindsay Landman Events Design Challenge

Overview: Readers and fans are invited to submit a photograph of a home interior. It can be from a magazine or blog (as long as you provide proper photo credit, please) or it can be from your own home or the home of someone you know. I will select one winning submission and design an event-appropriate tabletop inspired by the home interior for my photo shoot.

Rules: Each entrant may submit as many photos as he/she would like, but each photograph must be accompanied by an explanation of what you love about that interior space in 50 words or fewer. Kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, bedrooms and any indoor spaces are welcome. Submissions should be sent to lindsay[at]lindsaylandmanevents.com with "photo shoot challenge" in the subject line.

Deadlines: Submissions will be accepted until Friday, May 7th. The winner will be announced on the blog on Monday, May 10th. The photo shoot date will be announced shortly, but will be no later than June 30th.

Incentive: The winner will be invited to the photo shoot to assist in styling the tabletop and the surrounding environment (travel, if required, will be the responsibility of the winner should he/she choose to attend).

Sponsors: Those interested in participating as a photo shoot sponsor (venue, photographer, rentals, etc.) will receive unabashed accolades and love on this blog as well as on all related social media campaigns. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll even give you a free ad on the blog! Email me at lindsay[at]lindsaylandmanevents.com.

Tip: I am obsessed with spelling, punctuation and grammar, thus if your photo description has a typo, you have no chance.

So.... Game on! Good luck to you - and good luck to me! Stay tuned for updates including, I hope, additional incentives and sponsor announcements.

Thanks for playing,

Ps. Just to give you an idea of how this may work, the bedroom photo below inspired the tabletop design (yet to be produced) shown here.

From the Vault: Amanda and Andrew

2010-04-01T18:09:00.014-04:00

This spectacular wedding was in July of 2007 at the bride's family farm in Central Pennsylvania. It was a "destination wedding" of sorts because few of the 250 guests lived nearby and so we worked with the bride and groom to create an entire weekend of wedding events. The rehearsal dinner and Sunday brunch were, to date, some of the most amazing non-wedding events we've been a part of. Friday night was a lobster bake (I am sorry that I don't have a photo of the killer ceiling treatment we did with fishing nets, shells and hanging candles) and Sunday morning was a Jazz brunch, complete with a full Dixieland band and dancing!

But, this wedding was a stand-out for so many reasons. First and foremost, there couldn't be a more gorgeous setting: 200 acres of farm land with rolling hills as the backdrop to a sweet pond with a charming dock. My clients took enormous pride in the property and put in tons of work on the landscaping prior to the wedding to insure that the land we were using for the wedding was in pristine condition.

There were so many moving parts at this wedding, I can barely skim the surface, but suffice it to say, it took a village to facilitate this beautiful event. I was so fortunate to be able to bring with me some of my A-team vendors from New York and around Pennsylvania so I knew I had the support I needed to pull it off. The gods were also on my side that weekend and the weather was absolutely perfect - which is a good thing because the distance of more than a football field separated each of the tents for ceremony, cocktails, dinner and after party.

Just a few design notes: first, the design for the dinner tent came entirely from a dirty cocktail napkin the bride gave me at our first meeting. She said she loved the colors and the feel of the napkin - it just goes to show you that design inspiration can come from anywhere! Second, we used more different plates at this wedding than the last five of my weddings combined. The bride and her mom selected a different plate to match each course - and even different plates for each of the cocktail stations. I don't know if guests appreciated the thought that they put into it, but I certainly did! The caterer, on the other hand.... not so happy. Finally, as in all of my design projects, lighting was a key element for the decor at this wedding - but in some new ways. In addition to lighting the interior of the tents, we lit the treeline on the perimeter of the property to better define the site - it was just like a stunning frame on a beautiful picture - a great touch.

The rustic ceremony canopy positioned so that the lake would frame the wedding couple

The bridal party did photos on the adorable dock over the private lake

Escort cards were nestled in wheatgrass - out of the frame of this photo was the 4 foot tall tree dripping with strands of orchids

The tent before the sun set

The bridal party sat at a long feast table while the rest of the guests dined at square tables

The tent at night

After the sun set, this was the view from the dinner tent to the afterparty tent

The afterparty tent before the debauchery began

There were so many other fun details at this wedding, but hopefully just this little peek gives you a taste of what was possible in a big, empty field with a little imagination and a lot of heavy lifting!

Photos by Guy Cali

From the Vault: Ines and Augusto

2010-03-31T14:43:00.008-04:00

Since I did weddings long before the days of the blog, I thought I'd pull a few "from the vault" to share with you some of my favorites... and I'll start with one with a good story!

Ines and Augusto were married in September of 2005 at a relatively unknown venue on Long Island - The Nassau County Museum of Art. This is a gorgeous site with a wonderful collection of paintings and sculpture, so for those of you who are New Yorkers, it is definitely a great place for a Saturday drive! In any case, the museum is set on oodles of beautifully manicured acres with spectacular gardens and lawns perfect for a wedding reception. The site is relatively complicated in terms of catering and logistics, so definitely the reason to select this venue is for the gorgeous setting, particularly the facade of the museum building itself. So, lo and behold, when we went for a quick, unscheduled pop-in just 2 days before the wedding, you can imagine the bride's face when we pulled up to the front of the museum covered from top to bottom with scaffolding! Not an inch of the spectacular brick building was visible behind the scaffolding and mesh for a "routine building cleaning." I was told that it had just gone up one day before and was planned to be up for 3 - 4 months! Hmmmm... wouldn't a phone call have been nice?? Well, phone call or no phone call, consoling hysterical Ines was one of the most heart wrenching, challenging moments of my career. Would her wedding have been "ruined" by the scaffolding? Certainly not. But, it would have been far from what she imagined, and that is tough to swallow just 48 hours before her wedding.

For those of you who know me, you know that I am a pretty laid-back, calm gal. But, on this fine day in September, I let that venue manager have it. I mean all-out, don't-mess-with-the-wedding-planner-I-will-kick-your-ass-if-you-make-my-bride-cry-for-one-more-minute HAVE IT. So, the end of my very long story is that first thing the next morning (Friday before the Saturday wedding), workmen ascended upon that scaffolding and took every last piece down. Yup, every last ugly, unseemly piece and all the orange mesh that went with it. I even had my mother-in-law, who lives nearby the museum, sit there and watch them to make sure they didn't cut any corners since I couldn't be there myself.

Anyway.... after all the yelling was done and the scaffolding was gone and the tears were dried, it was a spectacular wedding. It was a sunny, gorgeous day that lead to a warm, late summer night and this Peruvian couple had a sizzling, Latin-flavored celebration that reflected their heritage and their love.

As a side note, once the wedding was underway, I had made my peace with the venue and we even said that we could work together again. I haven't had the opportunity to do another wedding at the museum, but, armed with a slightly tougher contract, I would go back, since, despite the need for the yelling, what needed to get done, got done... and with one or two whole hours to spare!

How gorgeous is the front of the museum??

The escort table was set in the formal gardens where cocktail hour took place

The dining tent in daylight

The tent after sunset

Photos by Sharon Schuster

Hope you enjoy this and my other vault extractions to come!

Sara and Scott - A Sneak Peek

2010-03-24T16:31:00.006-04:00

We created such a beautiful, romantic wedding for New York couple Sara and Scott a few weeks ago at Cipriani 42nd Street. Despite some of the worst rain ever (well, not as bad as the rain at Ali and Gene's wedding, but slightly worse than the rain at both Hillary and Miles' and Rushmi and Vikram's wedding) it was a spectacular event in one of the City's most glamorous venues. Though I don't have all of the photos back yet, I thought I'd "wet" your appetite with a little sneak peek of the room decor... see... that's my attempt at rain humor. Ha, ha?

More photos soon!
L

photo by Douglas Benedict

Full disclosure

2010-03-22T00:25:00.005-04:00

In case you haven't noticed, I've had only a temporary splash page posted as my website for quite some time now. That's probably how many of you have stumbled upon this blog. And, like the site says, I have been working on the redevelopment of the full site. The real deal, however, is that I have made very slow progress on the new site primarily because I am really struggling with exactly how I want it to look and feel. I spent a lot of time working on something that I didn't think accurately represented the work that we do, so I recently scrapped it and started over (sad, but true!). So, now I have a pile of notes and what my son would call "scribble scrabble" and I have psyched myself out on diving in to a new design. Since I figured that those of you who read this blog have a relative amount of vested interest in the content I put out into the world, I thought I might ask YOU for a little input. When you have a small business like I do, one of the things that you lack is a team of people to weigh in on decisions... so, wanna be my team?

Here's what you need to know:
1. I will not have any type of music on my site
2. I am not generally a fan of flash animation
3. I'm on a budget :-)

Ok... go for it... gimme what you've got! Any and all feedback and ideas are welcome. What sites do you love and why? And what sites do you hate and why? What moves you? And what do you wish you saw when you clicked on my site? Don't be shy about mentioning others in my business - believe me, I have seen all of their sites too!

Thanks in advance. I can't wait to see what "my team" and I can come up with!

Have a great week,
L

Inspired by... My Peers

2010-03-19T14:56:00.002-04:00

I had the great pleasure of spending three days in San Francisco at the Wedding 360 Academy for Planners and Designers. To be amongst such talented people who are as committed to their work as I am was inspiring beyond words. We heard from event industry greats such as David Beahm, Todd Fiscus, Tara Guerard, Grace Ormonde and many others and learned from each other about design as well as the business of design. I could go on and on, but I know what you'll really love are the design showcases that were on display as well as the party decor.... please excuse my horrid photography skills. :-)

The first event was an "Emerald Underworld" cocktail party designed by Gloria Wong. Kudos go to a long list of contributors for this event, but Gloria was the mastermind behind it all.

The next night, Gloria was at it again with the "Museum of Petals" dinner. The ballroom foyer at the St. Regis San Francisco had some floating petals on the wall and in the art, so I can only imagine that was the inspiration for this theme.

This tree had thousands of hand-strung petals and was probably about 10 feet wide!

This was a fabric runner stitched with silk petals which is much cleaner than just strewn petals.

The design showcases by Bay Area designers Nancy Liu Chin and Asiel Design were both so spectacular that it is hard to say which I liked best. I had been admiring the work of Lanae and Jonathan from Asiel for quite some time, but I fell in love with Nancy at this event, so my affection is split!

Asiel Designs:

Nancy Liu Chin:

Events such as this give me so much creative energy that when I get back to work, I can hardly reign it in! Many of my friends and family asked why "competitors" would want to spend so much time networking with each other, but the truth is that none of us are competitors, we are all colleagues. We each have our own design style and value propositions for our clients, so being together allows us to learn and to grow from each others' successes and failures. If you re-adjust your thinking, I think you might find a whole lot of inspiration exactly where you aren't looking.

Are you up for the challenge?

L

Ps. I just found a link to PHENOMENAL photos from Wedding 360 that put mine to shame. Check out http://www.lunaphotoblog.com/index.cfm?postID=207. Thanks, Luna Photo!

Rushmi and Vikram's Post-Wedding Party

2010-03-18T17:36:00.010-04:00

After more than a year of celebratory events related to their wedding, Rushmi and Vikram finally enjoyed their last wedding celebration right here in the Big Apple. I think I may have been just as sad as they were when the party was over... after working on their engagement party in Pennsylvania, multi-day wedding in Bangalore and now this last party in New York, I barely know what to do with myself when not working on what Rushmi would call a "RushmiAndVikram.com" event! But, like every one of their other celebrations, this was a great party and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

Since the couple was still recovering from a week of elaborate wedding events in India (I am still working on getting those pictures, by the way!), they wanted to keep this event for friends and family who couldn't travel to India for the wedding relatively simple. So, we decided to create a fun, sexy lounge atmosphere at The Midtown Loft and focus on two great accent pieces - the bar and the dessert table. Because I knew how much this crowd likes to party, I created a large square bar in the middle of the space so that guests could be served from all sides. We re-used the hanging candle holders from the entryway at their engagement party to create a ceiling treatment above the bar to further customize the space.

Then, about half way through the party, we revealed a dessert bar with mini-yummies from the best places in New York including Three Tarts, Baked by Melissa, Wanna Hava Cookie and Economy Candy. Cupcakes, whoopie pies and cookies, oh my!

All photos by Sofia Negron

I'm back on the blogging train, so look out!
:-) L

Inspired by... James Cameron

2010-03-03T22:21:00.008-05:00

I know, I know. Totally unlike me and totally off course from my normal pretty-party banter. But, a wise man once told me (that's you, Sean Low) that when I hear/see/experience something that inspires me, no matter what it is, I must write about it so that you, my lovely readers, can know what goes on in my mind. So, here it goes... James Cameron.

As I am sitting in bed watching Oprah's Oscar Special (also random for me since I am not an Oprah watcher) Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron are taking a behind the scenes look at the Avatar design office. He is walking her through a museum of sorts with all of the drawings, paintings and figurines of the various Avatar characters and scenes. He points out a few different paintings and explains how when he was just 14 years old, he had a dream in which the ground was luminescent. He was so profoundly moved by his dream that he kept that image with him throughout his life, and as the rest of the film developed he then channeled that dream as a major visual and conceptual inspiration for the movie. I was so taken by the power of that image and the drive that it fueled. I, too, have a strong visual memory and I sometimes think that I have a database of images in my mind that may never have a platform to become anything, but today I am inspired to remember that if I hang onto them, there may be just the right time and place to bring my visions to life.

He also talked about the moment he knew he HAD to become a filmmaker. He was driving a truck for a living in 1977 when the original Star Wars was released. After seeing the movie - what was possible as well as the amazing response of audiences - he quit his job to begin a film career.
The pure passion that inspired him that day continues to ignite his creativity. On the days when, as a designer, you can't find a creative solution with two hands and a flashlight, it is good to be reminded that creativity comes from within.

I get you, James Cameron, I get you. Not too long ago, I was sitting at lunch with my husband Mark while we were on a ski vacation in Vermont. Of course, my Blackberry was by my side and I got that little buzz that signified an email. I made a quick, casual check followed by an engrossed and mildly obsessed look at that little magic screen. Mark asked what it was and I told him that I just got an email from a prospective bride and, from what she asked and described, I want this wedding SO much! Sometimes, I just get a certain feeling about a project and I know it is one that I have to have. Anyway, for the rest of the lunch I was itching to write her back right away, but knew I needed to wait to get back to my computer to write a nice, well thought out, professional email.

While watching me fidget in my seat, Mark said what he's said many times before: "I wish I could be half as excited about my work as you are about yours." I, too, wish that for him, and I wish that for you. It is a gift.

My work is certainly no Avatar or Titanic, but I feel every day how James Cameron felt that day after he saw Star Wars - THAT'S what I want to do. Lucky me and lucky James Cameron - we've got what we always wanted. And like my boy Jim, I never want it to end.

Bring. It. On.

L

Ps. I promise to return to my regularly scheduled "pretty-party banter" on the next post!

Why My Neighbors Think I'm Nuts

2010-03-01T23:14:00.008-05:00

Many years ago, when I had my first full time employee who came to work every day in my little NYC apartment (Dana, if you are reading this, I still think you are a superhero), my business was just starting to boom and we were quickly outgrowing both the amount of space we needed to produce the events on the calendar as well as the number of hours it took to actually get all of the work done. For one Bat Mitzvah, with painter's tarps on my new couches, we hand-cut nine Caribbean Islands from foam core, spray painted them showing correct topography and mounted them on wooden beams covered with fishing nets. Then, since we were running late to the event setup, we blew up about 75 inflatable guitars and microphones in my tiny little Ford. At the time (before blogs), we joked that my first book would be entitled "100 Things You Never Knew You Could Do In A Moving Car." I still might write that book...

Now, about six years later, I have a bigger office and a bigger car, but some things never change. With only hours to go before hitting the road for a destination wedding in Vermont, I had to find a way to transform zinc tags into chalkboard placecards. When I ordered them to start with I thought I'd like the zinc, but when they arrived I had to make a game-time decision to change up the plan (with the bride's blessing, of course). Anyway, now that I have kids and a dog, spray painting in my living room is no longer an option, so I had to move my craft project outside to my driveway. On a cold fall morning, as my neighbors walked their dogs and picked up their morning papers, I suited up in surgical gloves to get my craft on! With no shortage of strange looks, I danced around my driveway avoiding the excess paint blowing towards me with the gusts of wind and made it happen.

This is how the zinc tags came.

And after the initial coat of paint began...

Done, but wet!

Loaded up to dry on the way out of town!

The finished product.

I figure that the work in the driveway is like free advertising - everyone on my block knows what I do for a living, that's for sure!

Til next time,
L

Are you a planner or designer? And what's the difference?

2010-02-22T21:58:00.005-05:00

On a daily basis I receive phone calls from brides looking for a "wedding planner" or Bar Mitzvah moms looking for a "party planner" or companies looking for an "event planner." About three times a year, though, I get a call looking for a designer. What I find most interesting is that almost no one who contacts me is actually 100% sure of what they are looking for and what a planner of any sort will do for them. So, to help you (and a little bit to help me) I thought I'd do my best to break through the barrier of confusion.

The super-mega-star in the event world, Preston Bailey, just posted an amazing article on his blog addressing the difference between event/wedding planning, design and production and as I too have been wanting to address this for so long, I thought I'd take his lead and help spread the word. So, let me start by defining the three major roles in the independent event biz (meaning not relevant to in-house or corporate event jobs): Design, Production and Planning.

Design: Related to all visual decor elements including, but not limited to, lighting, linens, flowers, table settings, staging, fabric, food presentation and printed materials. This is sometimes called styling (I am a fan of this word as I feel that is has a more accessible tone to it).

Production: After the design is developed, it needs to be produced. This entails everything from arranging the flowers to purchasing the candles and hanging fabric to building backdrops. It is the labor element related to events and what takes them from fantasy to reality.

Planning: The logistical and organizational aspects of events are all planning tasks. Selecting vendors, negotiating contracts, making timelines, setting appointments, etc. Great planning is what makes a party tick because it doesn't matter how beautiful it looks if it is disorganized or lacks flow.

Now, you may be wondering, what do you do, Lindsay? Well... thanks for asking. I am a designer. I dream up all of the ideas for the flowers, colors, lighting effects, charger plates, napkin folds and invitation motifs. I specialize in what I call complete environmental design - so, unlike a traditional retail florist or decorator, I focus on the complete picture of the event starting from save the dates and bridesmaid dresses right through to favor packaging and hotel gifts.

Why this may be confusing for some of you reading this who are thinking... "gosh, I always thought Lindsay was a planner," is because I did, in fact, start my business in 2001 as a planning company. For the first 4 years I was in business, I did planning almost exclusively, but toward the end of 2005/beginning of 2006 I began to transform my planning-only business to include design services as well. At that point, though, there were so few event designers and the term was rarely used, so I stuck with planner and just told people that I also worked on decor once they were in my office!

Now, however, Lindsay Landman Events is a full-service design shop with our own amazing team of artists who support my visions and who lead my production. The great benefit, though, of my many years of experience as a planner, is that I have trained my team to plan events as I always have so that our clients can benefit from having both planning and design services under one roof.

Thanks, Preston, for helping me get this blog post started (oh, and also for being the pioneer of the event design world - smile, wink!). I would love to hear from any readers out there about what you think I can do to eliminate the planner/designer confusion. Ideas?

Until next time,
L

What's on Deck

2010-02-17T00:28:00.008-05:00

I have been totally MIA from the blog for 10 days now... sorry. I have been knee-deep in two different designs and several written proposals for the past week and I have realized that my creative juices run only so far. Seems that I can't think of clever things to write about on the blog when I am simultaneously using my clever-ness to create event designs and woo new clients! So, I figured the most interesting thing I can do is share with you what I'm working on so you can have a window into what goes on at Lindsay Landman Events in between parties.

Both design projects I am working on now are part of my new Design Consulting service offerings. This is the first year I am offering the consultations and I LOVE it! It makes great design so much more accessible to everyone by allowing my consulting clients to take the "Style File" that I create for them to their local vendors wherever they live and have the designs produced.

In any case, the first project is for a summer wedding in a hotel ballroom. The bride gave me limited guidance from the outset, but after I poked and prodded a bit, I was able to discover some of the design elements and colors that turn her on. At this first phase of the process, I am developing her "Style Book" to explore three different color palettes (three shades of blue, each with different accent colors) and overall themes (garden elegance or old Hollywood glamour). Now I am looking forward to the bride's selection of color palette and concept so that I can take that more specific information to create the exact elements of the design.

My second design consulting project is for a Bar Mitzvah taking place in an event venue that I know well having worked there many times. My client originally came to me 100% certain that her son wanted a baseball theme, but after our conversations about the true essence of what he had in mind for the look and feel of his party, she soon came back to me saying that he was open to my ideas. Yippee! I am working on a vintage feeling that is much more earthy and textural. Something that always bugs me about Bar/Bat Mitzvah decor is that it often feels so synthetic... the same furniture slip-covered in a million different stretch fabrics, foam-core out the wazoo, goofy props popping out of flower arrangements and way, way too much glitter. In the New York area, most teens are exposed to so many of these parties and I think adults under-estimate their ability to appreciate something a little more subtle and a little less shiny.

So, in case you were interested, that's what's been going on in my head. Since design is best done in collaboration, I welcome your thoughts and ideas on these conundrums that I am still sorting out:

1.) For the summer wedding design, is there anything you would implement to translate a garden feel into a formal ballroom?
2.) For the Bar Mitzvah, what would you want to see on the dinner tables that is neither floral nor foam core (or the like) that still says (quietly) "baseball?"

See... this design thing ain't as easy as it looks! :-) Drop me a comment if you want to be a part of my process.

Cheers,
L

Inspired by.... mixed media

2010-02-10T22:53:00.002-05:00

When I think back to my own wedding (October 2001), one of the things I regret the most about my design is the lack of depth. Once I selected my color palette, I became so inextricably tied to it that I was unable to consider the broader spectrum of design elements that would have enhanced the basic palette. Now, hundreds of weddings and design projects later, one of the things I am most proud of is the development of my understanding of and inclination to bring together unexpected elements, colors and textures that broaden the horizons of my designs.

I see, again and again, my clients looking for ways for everything to "match" and I feel their frustration when exact colors aren't available across varied media (blush flower to blush ink to blush fabric). I believe that it is a product of experience to find the line between what I call "matchy-matchy" and "cohesive" and sometimes it takes a lot of guts to step away from the ease and simplicity of just matching to the bold complexity of coordinating.

What I describe as "mixed media" is one of the more evolved design decisions within the context of events: putting together materials and textures that may not ordinarily or organically be found together. For example, a black laquer vase on an unfinished wood table or a candleholder with antique finish on a graphic patterned table runner. These choices are definitely out of the box, but when done well, are so sophisticated that they elevate your decor out of the realm of Brides Magazine and into the pages of Architectural Digest. Oooh... it gives me chills!

What embracing this concept does is let you feel free from the age old party-planning concern... do I have to match the existing decor in the room? No, no and no! Imagine the excitement of approaching a home in the country with a rustic exterior and then walking in to find an amazing modern kitchen with stainless appliances and polished concrete counters. Or, think of the woman on the street who makes you look twice because she is wearing a classic black suit and killer lime green, croc print stilettos. What better place for an element of pleasant surprise than a party?

Let your classic, ornate ballroom disappear behind your bold, vibrant color palette or mirrored plexiglass tabletops. Not being tied to one matchy-matchy "theme" (oooh, do I h*te that word!) gives you the flexibility to let your personality shine through your decor. What person, after all, has such limited dimension?

Now, I don't necessarily suggest you brave this alone unless you have a pretty good eye because the line between a hot look and a hot mess is paper thin, but the reward that comes with a little bit of risk is far greater than that of the simple satisfaction of playing it safe. Good luck!

James Burrows' Bel-Air home mixed contemporary art (stack on left wall) with English furnishings and soft lines (as in window arch).

Interior designer Craig Wright made a bold statement with a polished coal coffee table in this traditional study.

Photos courtesy of Architectural Digest

Fellow event designer David Beahm styled this amazing event at the Angel Orensanz Foundation using not only contrasting textures, but also colors, which gives the event life separate from the space which houses it.

Photo by Fred Marcus

Rustic Tuscan Feast

2010-02-07T19:44:00.000-05:00

Ok - 5 things I loved about designing this Tuscan-themed birthday celebration dinner:

1. I only had about 10 days to put it together - I probably shouldn't admit this, but nothing turns me on like a race to the finish.
2. This was a surprise party, so we only had about 2 hours to completely remove all existing furnishings from the loft, arrange the flowers, tie the napkins, set the table, set the buffets... well, everything! Reference point #1.
3. I adore using non-floral decor elements to make a statement and while we had 5 flower arrangements on this table, the bulk of the decor was created with green-market produce.
4. Rattan chargers, burlap runner and raffia ties... in other words: texture, texture and more texture!
5. The venue. Sharon Schuster's unbelievable photo studio is the most perfect place for an intimate dinner party because it has the "wow factor" of a beautiful City loft combined with the warmth of a chic private home.

Thanks to Sharon Schuster for these beautiful photos and for inviting me to style this special event.

So I threw my hat in the ring...

2010-02-02T15:55:00.003-05:00

In November, the International Special Events Society sponsored their first Tabletop Design Competition in conjunction with the fabulously huge Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. foodie event held at La Venue in Chelsea. I did not come away a winner, but I loved every minute of designing this graphic, edgy tabletop and was very proud to compete in the company of the other stellar designers. I learned so much about building a design for competition and would relish the opportunity to do it again.

The design was built around my nagging desire to create an acrylic tower which would elevate candles above the tabletop. So, the structure was made of the open-topped acrylic box attached to a mirrored acrylic base with only a very thin acrylic tube which would be the core for the pillar of pave'd white flowers.

When I was wandering around the garment district to find fabric to make this tablecloth and chair caps, I wasn't sure what I wanted, but when I saw this black and white pattern I knew I had to have it. Whenever possible, I love to work with garment fabrics (rather than tabletop or upholstery) because they are so soft and drape so beautifully.

Since aqua was my must-have color for 2009, it was the natural choice for the accent color. I covered a styrofoam box with the fabric to elevate the centerpiece and then made dupioni silk napkins backed in black cotton to continue with the pop of color. We created the menus in-house by layering a black patterned translucent sheet of scrapbooking paper onto aqua card stock and then mounted the printed menu card on top.

Finally, I set the scene with a black fabric back drop and framed the table with mini-vignettes made up of an aqua vase with white dendrobium orchids, black vase with white branches and some of my fave black votives atop a white acrylic column.

Photos by Sharon Schuster

Marisa and Jon's Wedding

2010-01-31T01:30:00.007-05:00

The Yale Club of New York City was the setting for this elegant fall wedding with a special place in my heart. I was so pleased to be able to work with this bride and groom... not only is Marisa my cousin, I met Jon at a family dinner only weeks after they began dating almost 6 years ago, so I felt like I was really part of the whole cycle of their courtship. Though playing double-duty of designer and guest was tricky at times, experiencing the enchantment of this day from every angle was well worth it.

I LOVE this color palette of dark red, burnt orange and moss green and it played so well in this ballroom. The centerpieces, composed of dahlias, hydrangea, cymbidiums and calla lilies, were beautifully constructed by Sara at Flowers of the World and the room was illuminated and filled with color by Aion Entertainment. Ah.... how a well-lit room makes all the difference...

I decorated this cake with two colors of satin ribbon and a single sugar flower... easy and gorgeous (if I do say so myself!).

Thanks to Sharon Schuster for these beautiful pictures.

Inspired by... Hotels

2010-01-29T10:31:00.003-05:00

I think the majority of designers in the event industry trace a lot of their inspiration back to fashion... at least that is what I hear and read from my peers most often. While it is not to say that I am not inspired by fashion (I do love it), I am not moved by it in the same way that I think many designers are. I am so much more taken by environments - how unrelated things work together to define space or how textures and colors (or lack thereof) create context for life, movement and activity.

Some of the most inspiring environments for me are in hotels, and for good reason, as I actually see quite a few similarities between the design of a hotel and the design of an event. Like an event, a hotel must be designed to appeal to a large group of diverse individuals with different tastes, and still make them all feel comfortable as well as entertain them in a luxurious manner. Hotels, like events, are not solely created to be design environments - they are created for other purposes, so guests entering may not be looking for the nuance and intricacies of the design. As a result, often bolder or bigger elements must be introduced to capture the attention of the guests and give them a "wow." Finally (well, not really finally, but finally for this post!), both hotels and event environments have multiple related spaces which need to have a connected vision, but also an evolution of style for the guest to experience. Think: lobby, hallway, guestroom vs. ceremony, cocktails, dinner.

While there are so many hotels that I adore and that really move me, I can't stop pouring over the photos of the Crosby Street Hotel here in New York City. I was introduced to the parent company, Firmdale Hotels, on my trip to London last summer (I stayed in the Soho Hotel) and was OBSESSED with the decor in my room as well as the common spaces in the hotel. When I learned that Firmdale recently opened a property here, I was enthralled. Co-owner and designer Kit Kemp mixes colors, textures and even eras with ease and there are no two rooms in the seven hotel properties that are identical.

Hotel lobby: eclectic, but not intimidating

The personality of the designer shines through so you can see a connectivity between each property and each room, yet the individuality of the hotel based on location, size and client base is the guiding light of the design. It always has been and will be my goal to do the same... to use my client and the venue to give me the inspiration for the painting, but then to finish it off with my signature frame.

Common spaces: bold, but still inviting

Bedrooms: glamorous, but still comfortable

New York Media Dinner at The Glass Houses

2010-01-25T16:48:00.009-05:00

It was a true pleasure to style an elegant dinner party at The Glass Houses for long-time industry friends from Peachtree and Ward catering who are introducing their new Atlantic City venue called One Atlantic to the New York media. Forty members of the press dined at long feast tables, enjoying a locally-focused "100 Mile" menu as well as a killer view of the City lights on a beautiful January night.

Guests found name tags arranged carefully in a lucite tray filled with coarse-ground sea salt.

The view of the tables and the cityscape was framed by a "wall" of suspended candles and orchids which divided the cocktail and dinner space.

Each guest found his seat labeled with a personalized menu created in-house at Lindsay Landman Events. Ivory cardstock was printed with brown ink and layered on metallic copper paper and accented with a hand calligraphed name tag.

A landscape of burnt orange candles in stemmed glasses filled with sea salt was integrated with a succession of glass vases filled with chocolate cymbidium orchids, brown and orange vanda orchids, orange tulips and roses.

Photos by Gustavo Campos

Inspired by... 1st Edition

2010-01-20T23:45:00.005-05:00

One of the questions I am most often asked is: "how did you get the idea to do/make/create that?" Well, the truth of the matter is that I can't always trace the root of an idea back to a singular source because I am constantly on the lookout for anything and everything that I can translate into a design element for an event. But, whenever possible, I try to log the things that inspire me in my work and in my life.

So... here it goes... I am going to make a commitment to share at least one of my inspirations every week. I won't lie - promising a weekly blog feature scares me a bit - but I am going to give it a whirl in the hopes of opening the window into my mind just a little bit more each week.

And now... the first official edition....

During a recent trip to London, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours in the Tate Modern museum. As with any visit to a museum (especially because they are so few and far between for me) I was totally overwhelmed with the number of things to see and could only take in about half of the open exhibits. But the one that captured my attention the most was by the British artist Cornelia Parker called "30 Pieces of Silver." It is the sole exhibit in an offset, rectangular gallery with dramatically high ceilings and is comprised of hundreds of pieces of flattened silver (flatware, pitchers, platters) divided into 30 groups, all suspended from the ceiling with invisible fishline to float about 2 feet off the ground.

"30 Pieces of Silver" is categorized by the museum as sculpture, but one of the things I love about this piece is that I also see it as performance and process art... each piece needed to be carefully selected, thoughtfully flattened and precisely hung. It plays with our understanding of function, of space and of proportion. While positioned as unapproachable fine art, it begs for interaction as the objects are common and placed within arm's reach. The groupings are set in such a way that they feel like floating tabletops - maybe a child could sit at a table of this height - or maybe it would be set in a Japanese restaurant and you'd sit on tatami mats. When I stood in the gallery, I felt as if I were surrounded by hundreds of independent objects, but when I look at the photo of the exhibit I see a ballroom filled with 30 dining tables, each one slightly different than the one beside it.

These endless juxtapositions and possibilities remind me to push the limits of traditional media, to see common objects in uncommon ways, to put as much thought into the arranging of an object as to the selection of the object itself and to seeks ways to give old materials new life. Do I see a design for a wedding? No. But this fuels my fire for thoughtful creativity which builds upon itself over time.

The more you look at, the more you see... and that, my friends, is my constant inspiration.

Jackie's Baby Shower

2010-01-15T11:43:00.008-05:00

Jackie and her family have been wonderful clients since her 2006 wedding at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City, so I jumped at the chance to design a sophisticated and stylish baby shower for her first little one on the way. I had the advantage of already knowing Jackie's style and taste, so we dove right into this project with ideas for vibrant colors and whimsical touches. The Empire Hotel was the perfect venue for this afternoon party as we could take advantage of the contemporary finishings and natural light in the perfectly petite ballroom.

When guests arrived, they found their table assignments on colorful clotheslines strung across white fabric.

Delicious "mocktails" were available for the mom-to-be and her friends during cocktail hour.

Centerpieces were comprised of green hydrangea and cymbidium orchids and accented with white branches adorned with aqua-jeweled dendrobium orchids for a little whimsy. A white square vase was wrapped with layered ribbons to further customize the look.

At each place setting, guests found a cute cookie in shapes of baby blocks, bears or booties wrapped with personalized ribbon. Coordinating menus tucked into the napkin completed the tabletop.

I love creating a "gift lounge" for showers so that all of the guests can see the gift-opening activities without leaving their seats or craning their necks. Three chairs for the guest of honor and her two helpers were set on a platform in the front of the room.

This cute cake was a "wow" to look at and to enjoy... a perfectly sweet finish to an amazing afternoon.

All photos by Gustavo Campos

Dalia's candy-themed Bat Mitzvah

2010-01-08T20:47:00.018-05:00

When a long-time corporate client asked me to design his daughter's Bat Mitzvah celebration, I couldn't be more thrilled. Dalia wanted to have a candy theme for both her daytime luncheon for the adults and the evening party for her friends, so my challenge was to create decor that was true to the theme and that could translate appropriately to two different venues and two different crowds. This whimsical look totally worked at the New York Historical Society for a formal sit-down lunch for 120 and then was deconstructed and re-constructed for an adorable cocktail-style party for the kids at Helen Mills Event Space that same night. It was a tiring day (topped off with 18 inches of snow!) but both parties were amazing successes!

When guests arrived for lunch, they found their tables on giant Whirly Pops arranged in a bed of gumballs. Behind the table, photos of the Bat Mitzvah girl and her friends and family were suspended on coordinating ribbons.

top, Sofia Negron; bottom, David Wentworth

Guests were seated at long tables adorned with domes of brightly colored flowers to mimic the feel of a "field" of lollipops.

photos by Sofia Negron

The black polka dot runner was the key element in pulling this design together. The colors that the guest of honor selected (lime green, orange and hot pink) were feeling very summery for this December celebration, so when I spotted this fabric, I knew it was the perfect thing to ground the colors and make the look more seasonal.

photo by Sofia Negron

For the evening celebration for Dalia's friends, the flowers were re-arranged on illuminated cocktail tables and the ceiling above the dancefloor was adorned with paper lanterns wrapped in cellophane to mimic the look of hard candies.

photos by David Wentworth

Introducing... Design Consulting by Lindsay Landman Events

2010-01-03T10:24:00.006-05:00

With the start of the new year, I am delighted to announce a new service offered by Lindsay Landman Events: Design Consulting. Now, no matter where you are in the world, you can work with me and my team to create a custom event style for your wedding or party. Integrating your vision with our signature approachably modern style, together we can build a one-of-a-kind look that your local team of vendors can easily produce to give you the "wow factor" that you have always wanted!

Here's how it works:

First, you provide us with information on your venues and any existing elements that are key to the essence of your event design along with your "wish list" for the aesthetics of your event.

Next, we will work through a series of questions with you online or on the phone to establish the design elements that you want to integrate including color, texture, materials and mood.

Then, we will develop a custom style story for you that will take you from invitation to parting gift and everything in between, showing you options for each element of your celebration.

Finally, after your style story feedback, we will deliver to you a completed style file so that you can work with your vendors to bring your event design to life.

For pricing information or to get started, please send an email with your name, phone number, event type and event date to lindsay{at}lindsaylandmanevents{dot)com with the subject "design consulting" and someone will be in touch right away.

Looking forward to styling your celebration! Happy 2010!
photo by Karen Wise

Ali and Gene's Vermont Wedding

2010-01-01T17:17:00.005-05:00

Happy new year! Though fall seems like a distant memory amidst the ice and snow, it was just a few months ago that we had the honor of planning and designing a beautiful country wedding for Ali and Gene in Southern Vermont. They wanted to maintain an atmosphere that was true to the rustic landscape of the Inn at Weathersfield, but elevate the ambiance to add a refinement that was a reflection of their cosmopolitan tastes. After months of working long distance (bride and groom in Boston and me in NYC), I think we achieved a perfect balance that made for an outstanding wedding weekend. Thank you to Elizabeth Antunes for all of the photographs below.

The quaint Inn at Weathersfield

Guest found their table assignments on chalkboard markers arranged in moss

2009 was the year of the rain... but the couple was undeterred!

The Inn at Weathersfield has one of the most well recognized chefs in New England, so the family-style menu was a highlight of the event.

Before the sun set and the candles were lit...

The table landscape was comprised of birch wrapped pillar candles and vases with a mix of white, green and eggplant purple blooms.

Zinc tags sprayed with chalkboard paint and handwritten with chalk pens directed guests to their seats.

Bangalore Wedding Adventure: Part 4 (The Wedding!)

2009-12-28T00:13:00.008-05:00

Well.... we did it! The wedding is over and despite some of the worst rain in the history of Decembers in Bangalore, the bride and groom and their friends and family had an amazing evening. I only wish I had time to take photos of the finished site before the rain began, but as is the problem with being both the planner and a designer on the job, there was no time to step away and indulge. So.... here's what I have... I hope to get photos from the professional photographer very soon and will then, of course, post a full recap.

This is the petal pattern for the aisle being created. If you look just beyond where the women are working, you can see the wooden bridge that we built for a little extra drama and to get everyone over the firepit that was built into the ground on this spot.

This is the view of the center of the property from the lower entrance gates. These tables in front of the gazebo are the ones that couldn't be used due to the rain. Such a shame... but when the candles were lit and the sun went down, they twinkled beautifully.

In this shot, you can see a little bit of the structures on either side. To the left was an open-sided pavilion where we had 6 long tables beautifully set in the same style as those on the lawn, but with full place settings. Thank goodness for these because that was the area where most guests ate their dinner in a slow rotation as the staff set and re-set each seat. On the right was the structure that housed the dinner stations (or food counters as they are called in India). That building had a long porch with a bar and became an impromptu dining area. Can you see the amazing flower curtains that framed each "doorway" - in person they were stunning!

Here you have a glimpse of the covered dining area while it was being set up. Guest walked through this dining pavilion to reach the ceremony. When the sun went down, the orange, red and gold lighting cast an amazing glow in and around the pavilion.

One of my favorite elements of the design were the beautiful 6 foot elephants made of flowers. This is one of two which flanked the entryway into the main part of the property.

I didn't have a chance to photograph any of the entrance gate or pond area which was where cocktails and dancing took place, but I am going to try to scrounge some up from the other vendors and then I can post them because that area was spectacular - even in the rain!

What I find the most amazing about this wedding is that while I was having an internal panic attack about the rain and the wet chair covers and snuffed out candles (100s of them!), the family and guests were relaxed and lauding mother nature on her timing as rain at a wedding is considered to be the most auspicious blessing on a wedding day. Most guests continued to sit, stand and walk through the property in the rain and no one complained about there being fewer seats available because of it (I lost 72 seats on the outdoor tables!).

So, after years and years of telling my brides not to stress about rain because there is nothing they can do to change it, I, too, was reminded that a perfect wedding comes in many forms. This day was not how I imagined it, but it was what was intended - a memorable, beautiful, poignant and emotional day for a couple and their families that will be forever remembered.

I can only hope to have many more opportunities like this that challenge me in every way - as a designer, planner and person. It is an experience I will keep with me for my whole life and will always be amazed at how my perspective on the world was forever altered by one wedding.

Bangalore Wedding Adventure: Part 3

2009-12-26T13:43:00.005-05:00

Before I fall asleep on my keyboard, I am inclined to write a quick post on what was one of the most intense wedding production days of my career. Today started with a few errands before the Mehendi party and continued for 12 hours of intense setup at the wedding venue in preparation for the big day.

One of the morning activities involved my team of assistants stuffing silk pillows for the Mehendi

The Mehendi was fantastic. It was a bit non-traditional in that it was really more like a cocktail party (complete with amazing signature drinks and a rockin' DJ) and in that almost half the crowd was men! Only the ladies had their hands painted with henna, but the mood was festive and it was the perfect event to keep up the amazing energy of this wedding week.

Friends and family mingling at the bar during the Mehendi

One of the artists hard at work

I had to leave early from the Mehendi to get to the venue to oversee day 1 of the production. The goal for today was to get all of the structural pieces in place, hang the fabric, set up the power, audio and lighting and lay out the tables. Mission accomplished! Tomorrow, the wedding day, will be reserved for all of the fresh flower work as well as laying the linen and of course preparing the food. The work today was not without mishap, but overall, I was so impressed with the workmanship, efficiency and attention to detail that I observed from the vendors. About 40 members of the production crew are working all night long to get the job done... so I better get to sleep so that someone can be awake on the job tomorrow!

The beginnings of the entrance gate

Dance pavilion coming to life

One of two floral elephants in production - it takes a village!

Stay tuned for the big post-wedding recap. I can't wait to share all of the amazing details!

Bangalore Wedding Adventure: Part 2

2009-12-25T12:51:00.009-05:00

To say that I don't know where to begin hardly does justice to the amount of information that I could share about the last four days I have spent in Bangalore, India preparing for Rushmi and Vikram's wedding.

So, first the big picture.... every single moment since I have arrived has been more thrilling than the one before. Starting from the warm welcome I received from wedding guests who sought me out on the plane from Frankfurt to Bangalore and culminating with a fascinating dinner I shared with a man from my hometown who, after learning that I went to high school with his son and that he was good friends with my grandfather (one of the most special people in my life), decided that god had fated us to be seated together, it is all just too amazing for words.

Now, let me break it down to the nitty-gritty...

Day 1: Tuesday, December 22nd
I arrived in Bangalore just after 2 AM on Tuesday and made it quickly back to the hotel where I had stayed the last time I was here. By 4 AM I was asleep and by 9 AM I was up and at 'em for my first appointments. Since I rarely sleep more than 5 or 6 hours at home, jet lag isn't too much of an issue for me - thankfully! My first stop was the florist (called Nalesa, but they don't have a website). She and I had been corresponding for the past two months about containers, fabrics, flowers and candles, so I needed to see all of the materials she has sourced for me. After going through every detail for more than 2 hours, it was a great relief to feel that things were moving in the right direction. Production here happens so close to an event that it is unnerving, but in this scenario it works to my benefit since, despite my arrival only 5 days before the wedding, I could still make changes to a great number of things.

Next I was off to check in with the hair and makeup stylist. Wedding day beauty, and beauty in general, is a HUGELY important part of the culture here. I have seen more ads for beauty products than most other things combined and while in the US brides focus more on their hair, here, brides are definitely more focused on their makeup.

The last project of the day was a site visit to Tamarind Tree with my team, the florist crew and the caterer. We were able to walk through the venue and detail every inch. It was great to be back there because I had to make a few logistical tweaks based on the way the design had evolved since my last visit in August. Because of the extraordinary volume of traffic in and around Bangalore (think Times Square, but throughout the entire City!), the drive to the venue is an hour each way, though I doubt the distance is more than 12 miles.

Day 2: Wednesday, December 23rd
The day started with a visit from the florist to show me some of the modified products we had discussed the day before. People's willingness to go out of their way and come to where you are really amazes me. She loaded up her team as well as boxes of vases, candles, flowers, etc. and brought them all to my hotel.

I was able to select the finish on the vase I had produced locally - I chose the one on the far left.

Next I met with the photographer and his team. It is such a pleasure to work with a group of people who are as committed to a project as I am - and that is how it is with VizioHub. They had the schedule of events for the entire week up on a white board and we talked through every detail. Their willingness to adapt their scope as well as the amount of research they had done prior to my arrival was just amazing. I came to India determined to show my clients and their guests that a wedding can be distinctive and unique and this group totally gets it.

Tanu and Jyothish - two of the photo/video team

When I began working on this project, I didn't think that I would be able to be particularly helpful when it came to the catering aspect since not only is the food different, but the entire way food service is done is different, but after months of work, I think I can fancy myself an expert in South Indian catering and thus I was off to the ITC Windsor Manor to discuss the intricacies of the menu and the timing of the wedding day as it related to food. Unlike in the US, here the fine, 5-star hotels are often called upon to do off-site catering and are known to be far superior to traditional caterers.

Just two more stops before my day was done... first, to the cake baker - Institute of Baking and Cake Art. Since wedding cakes are not an Indian tradition, it wasn't easy to find someone to make the elaborate, 6 tiered concoction I had designed with the bride, but I have thus far been pleased with the attention to detail and willingness to accommodate my requests, so I feel good about it coming off without a hitch. To top it off, they are also able to make the cupcakes that the
bride requested for the Mehendi... though every time the baker called them muffins, I had to stifle my giggle.

Manish, the owner and head baker

The bakery's kitchen

And, last but not least, I finished off my day by doing a final site visit with the florist at the restaurant where the Mehendi (henna painting party) will be held. This place is not to be believed...though Shiro Restaurant is hard to find online, Google UB City, the mall in which it is located, and it will change the way you think about India as a developing country.

The bar at Shiro

A view from inside UB City Mall

I'm not done... can you take more?? Ok - here it goes...

Day 3: Thursday, December 24th
Rehearsal dinner day!

Before I could get started with the final preparations for the rehearsal and dinner that evening, I had to first go be fitted for a sari. Since I'll be busy working at the wedding, I will not wear a sari that day, but on the day following the wedding I have been invited as a guest to the post-party hosted by the groom's family and my client asked if I would be willing to don a sari for that evening. Of course!

The sari shop

One more meeting with the florist to change a candleholder and then I could focus on the last minute details for the rehearsal dinner. Sourcing liquor is a huge and complicated project in India, so getting the wine, liquor and beer where it all needed to be took a chunk of the day. I also needed to meet the rest of my team who will be assisting me for the remainder of the week and brief them on the entire production. Then, the trek to the venue began again...

The rehearsal and accompanying dinner is not an Indian tradition, so most of the 75 guests were perplexed by what was happening, but after I was briefed by the officiant, I was able to talk through much of the ceremony logistics with the family and bridal party (Hindu weddings do not have bridesmaids and groomsmen, but they are integrated into this wedding).

The leisurely dinner began (mealtime in general here is quite leisurely with even a "right quick lunch" taking more than an hour) and eating, drinking and dancing lasted long into the night. The toasts were beautiful as were the simple white flower arrangements made only of orchids and lilies and wrapped with mango leaves. Despite a quickie power outage (which doesn't even phase an Indian for a second), it was a perfect evening and I was thrilled to receive dozens of compliments on what was most of the guests first-ever rehearsal dinner.

Day 4: Friday, December 25
Christmas in India is a recognized legal holiday, though almost all businesses are fully operational. There is a little less traffic on the streets and more Christmas carols, lights and santas than you may expect, but overall, much like any other day. I didn't schedule meetings in advance for today because I wanted to leave it as an overflow day and I wasn't sure who would work on Christmas. I did speak to almost all of my vendors and team, though, but only on the phone. It worked out perfectly because all of the shopping for the wedding that I had hoped to do earlier in the week hadn't happened yet, so I could spend much of the day buying pillows, baskets and throws for the Mehendi and wedding. I also had a few minutes to buy a handful of things for myself and for gifts. I am almost a bit ashamed of myself that I didn't have the bravado to head out to the shopping areas when I was here in August because it was so much fun and not at all as intimidating as I thought.

There were THOUSANDS of bangles to choose from!

I visited the bride and her bridesmaids at their spa day at the breathtaking White Mantra Spa and then had a little down time to finish all of the paperwork for the wedding and send it to all of the vendors before enjoying a lovely dinner for all of the family and out of town wedding guests at The Century Club where mother of the bride's family has belonged for many years.

Whoa... that was a lot... even for my chatty self! I have certainly learned my lesson and will not wait another 4 days for the next post!

What I could never convey in words or even with photos is the overwhelming warmth and positivity that is in the air here. The pace is slow, but not lazy, which makes it a wonderful place to work.

I can hardly wait for the events of the next two days and look forward to sharing the outcome of this amazing project.

Bangalore Wedding Adventure: Part 1

2009-12-14T23:28:00.008-05:00

I am so unbelievably fortunate to have the opportunity to plan and design a spectacular wedding in Bangalore, India. A number of years ago, I designed a beautiful wedding at a private home in Pennsylvania and the bride and groom were very taken by the art, architecture and design elements popular in Southeast Asia, so their wedding style was created with that vision in mind. It turns out that two of the guests, originally from Bangalore, loved the modern style with Indian influences so much that almost three years after that wedding, they invited me to design their daughter's wedding in Bangalore. That was about ten months ago, and now the big day (or big week, I should say) is only days away and what has been a career-changing opportunity is finally going to come to fruition. With only 5 days to go until I embark on my journey, I am equal parts excited, exhilarated, nervous and overwhelmed - this is a SERIOUSLY big project. I hope you will follow my experience as it unfolds over the course of the next few weeks as I attempt to share my adventures in creating a Western-influenced South Indian wedding.

First, some important stats that everyone inquires about: there will be 500 guests at the "main event" and between 50 and 200 guests at the various events before and after the actual wedding day. The bride and groom live here in New York City, the bride's parents in Pennsylvania and the groom's parents in Bangalore. Bangalore is in the South of India in the state of Karnataka. It is the fifth largest city in India and is best known as the major technology center in India.

In August, I went to Bangalore to get the lay of the land and to meet some of the prospective vendors that I would be able to contract for the wedding. I traveled by myself as the bride and her family were not able to go to India in the same window of time in which I was available. I had never been anywhere in Southeast Asia before, so this was an adventure on so many levels. I could write an entire book on the cultural experience alone, but suffice it to say that everyone whom I met, without exception, was warm, welcoming and hospitable beyond my expectations and the event vendors with whom I met were thrilled and fascinated to work with a New York planner/designer and to learn about the type of wedding that we wanted to produce.

Weddings in India are so different in so many ways. Most people's first reaction to my telling them about this wedding is "wow - are they having a million guests??" And while that is just one small thing that makes Indian weddings different from American weddings, it is actually very telling about the overall approach to a wedding there. Weddings are a community affair. They are as much about the families as they are about the couple. Because they are multi-day affairs as tradition dictates, there is less focus on the singular day of the wedding ceremony and reception and more on the overall concept of being married. Weddings there are so much more about people coming together than about small details, so it was no wonder that I got dozens of quizzical looks in response to my questions about production schedules, timelines, contracts and invoices.

These vendors are accustomed to making a wedding, not facilitating a production. And "custom" (or "bespoke" as would be said in India) is not integral to wedding style as it is here. So, therein lies the challenge: how does a type A+ designer from the most high-strung, contract-driven city in the world direct a team of talented and capable, but laid-back and last-minute, vendors to make a wedding that looks and feels like, as my client says, "something that no one in India has ever seen?" Stay tuned...

But before I go, just a few sneak peeks at the venue called The Tamarind Tree:

The Pond: In the early part of the wedding, guests will gather around the pond for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Later in the night, this area becomes the venue for their amazing 6-tier wedding cake (one of the Western traditions we are incorporating) and dancing late into the night.

The Gazebo: This is one of the highlights of the property. This centrally set round gazebo will be where the live band plays throughout dinner service.

The Ceremony Site: This patio area will be transformed into the mandap, or traditional Indian wedding canopy. Guests will be seated on the stone area and will be treated to some beautiful surprises along the way!

Next post will be from Bangalore in just a few days. Wish me luck! In the meantime, you can follow my play-by-play on Twitter @lindsaylandman. :-)

Hillary and Miles

2009-11-12T22:14:00.009-05:00

The fall is always such a busy time that I find the whole season passes before I even have a moment to reflect on the beautiful events that we've done. Hillary and Miles were married in September and one of my all-time favorite New York venues, The Foundry. Their style is modern and clean with an affinity toward light colors, so the choice of venue for this couple created a clear juxtaposition with their personal aesthetics... and made a fun project for me! I was pleased to collaborate on this design with the lovely Marilyn of Belle Fleur in NYC.

Because we were using and re-using the same two spaces (the indoor Foundry and the outdoor courtyard) for different parts of the evening, my goal was to create a different look for each space each time guests re-entered it. Elegant draping masked much of the Foundry as guests arrived and entered the tent for ceremony. When they returned to the Foundry for cocktails, the draping had disappeared to reveal the beautiful brick work that is the Foundry's defining characteristic.

When guests re-entered the tent for dinner, richly patterned light created a magical atmosphere that gave a warm feel for the feast-style tables. The landscape of flowers and candles combined the sleek, modern look to which the couple was drawn with some more textural elements that connected the look to the rugged textures native to the venue.

For the evening's final transformation, guests re-entered the Foundry for dancing and dessert and were greeted with bold, rich colors and patterns which elevated the mood for hours of celebration into the wee hours of the morning.

Of course, no wedding would be complete without the inclusion of some fantastic late night treats. In addition to our fabulous "Custom Candy Shoppe" the bride and groom requested an appearance from New York staple Mr. Softee for a super-sweet finish to an amazing night. All of that on top of a drop-dead gorgeous cake from the one and only Sylvia Weinstock.

All photos by Christian Oth.

True Blue

2009-09-29T23:57:00.007-04:00

Everyone who knows anything about my personal style and my design sense knows that my least favorite color is blue. Ok... I have been known to say I h*te it... sorry, but I cannot tell a lie. But a funny thing has overcome me lately - a weird inclination toward all things aqua. I can't stop loving it... even the new look for Lindsay Landman Events has a signature stamp of aqua all over it! Everywhere I look I see images of this fabulous aqua blue that just draw me in.

It all started with this store window that caught my eye while shopping with my mom on a recent trip to London's posh Bond Street. I adore this combo of aqua and amethyst:

Now there are more images than I can even keep track of from weddings, parties, home interiors, furniture catalogs and just about everywhere else I look. Here are some of my faves... I have officially been won-over. Who knew? Just please don't call it Teal - that's a deal breaker.

Courtesty of WeHeartIt.com
Ooohh... my future LeCreuset
Courtesy of Design*Sponge

FAQs or TMI... you decide.

2009-08-27T00:07:00.007-04:00

I haven't blogged in an eternity (sorry!) and while I wanted to focus as many of my blog posts on my design work as possible, I have been so caught up in developing new designs that I haven't had much time to ruminate on old ones. In any case, as I was plugging away on my new website content (stay tuned - coming next month!) and in an effort to streamline the copy (since you all know I talk/write too much) I am realizing how little space there is to tell my site visitors about me. And for some reason... inquiring minds want to know! So, here are the answers to the top 20 REAL questions I get about myself (in no particular order):

1. Where did you get married? The Inn at Penn in Philadelphia. My husband and I met our freshman year at Penn and since neither of us wanted to get married in our hometowns, it was a natural choice.

2. What were your colors? Silver and gold. And all of my flowers were white. Yup - you heard it right. The designer who has convinced even the most traditional bride that she absolutely cannot go wrong with aqua and amethyst (or fill in any two bold colors here) had a mostly colorless wedding. At the time (2001), I thought it was very cutting edge. This is not an FAQ, but I'll tell you anyway that the inspiration for my color palette and the entire design of my wedding were these amazing silver and gold pillar candles that were on clearance at Bloomingdales right after I got engaged. I bought the entire stock from the stores in NYC, Philadelphia and Short Hills. They really were beautiful...

3. Who made your wedding dress? The dress I wore down the aisle was by Vera Wang and was the most fabulous dress ever. The dress I custom designed from scratch for 9 months because I was too creative and original to just buy a wedding dress like a normal person went unworn and is now hanging in my two year-old's closet. And it is just absolutely awful. I have thanked God countless times over the past eight years for my Vera Wang redemption.

4. Were you planning weddings before you got married? Yes and no. I had been planning events for a number of years professionally and right around the time I got engaged I had decided to move into social events. So, by the time my wedding came around I had already been hired to plan other weddings.

5. If you could change anything about your own wedding, what would it be? I would have splurged on extra musicians for the ceremony. Hear me out - this is not to say that I think that this is the best investment or most important thing at A wedding - it is just what I would have changed at MY wedding. My husband and I picked very special, meaningful (and I think creative) music and I wished it would have had a fuller sound.

6. Did you plan your own wedding? Yes. And if I could turn back the clock I definitely would have hired someone to at least help me on the day of the wedding, but maybe even throughout. Sometimes you need to have the guidance of someone who is not emotionally vested in the wedding to tell you that doing three different program covers and "zoning" them on the ceremony seats to create a pattern is not a good idea.

7. What did you study in school? English and Art History. Or as I like to say... nothing in particular.

8. How did you learn to plan weddings? I have a pretty astute sensory and visual memory, so I mentally logged every experience I had with parties and weddings, then evaluated the data and decided how I personally wanted to approach the events that I did.

9. How did you learn to design events? I learned a tremendous amount by watching my industry peers. But I learned the most from taking risks and trying new things - color combinations, materials, layouts, etc. I prepare my designs by visualizing the end result and then working backwards to break down the elements and figure out how to make them. After knowing most clients for just a few hours, I can usually envision their entire event in my mind right down to the napkin fold!

10. What is your favorite flower? The tulip. I love how they crane their "necks" toward the sunlight. It makes me feel like they have little personalities.

11. How did you decide to start your own business? I didn't ever really decide - it just happened. My mom, my dad and my step-dad are all small business owners, so I didn't think it was that much of a big deal, honestly.

12. What is your favorite NYC venue? I couldn't pick just one. I love different places for different reasons.... but if you are a client, I'll definitely tell you my favorite place for YOU.

13. What was your favorite wedding you've ever done? I'll never tell! But I will say that the re-launch of my "brand" (coming next month with my updated website) is based on a model I developed from my favorite wedding.

14. What was the worst thing that ever happened at one of your weddings? I find that telling people scares them and gives them fodder for worrying about similar scenarios unfolding at their own weddings. So, mum's the word except to say that the debacles had nothing to do with me nor could they have been prevented by me. That being said, I give a shout-out to two rock-star brides who share the title in my mind. Meghan and Jessica - you made your wedding days perfect despite the drama!

15. Have you ever had a "bridezilla?" Who, in any line of work, hasn't had a client-zilla of some sort? Well, there's your answer!

16. When you are invited to a wedding as a guest, can you enjoy yourself or are you always watching everything with a critical eye? I love going to weddings as a guest. I absolutely live it up and put my work aside. I might even enjoy weddings more than the average guest since I am usually spending my Saturday nights jealous of the wedding guests who can enjoy the fabulous parties that I've planned. But, no matter what, I always carry at least 6 safety pins in my clutch in case the bride's bustle breaks 'cuz when that happens, everyone starts looking my way!

17. What's the hardest part of your job? Functioning on Sunday morning after standing in heels for 14 hours on Saturday.

18. Does your husband mind that you are at events until all hours of the night and that you travel to foreign lands for weeks at a time without him? Ummmm.... probably. But no one in the world could be more supportive of my love of my work than he, so he grins and bears it like a champ.

19. How do you balance your unusual schedule with having a family? By remembering a few important mantras that I repeat to myself often: 1.) You can have it all, but you can't do it all, 2.) Happy mommies make happy kiddies, and 3.) Sleep isn't really all it's cracked up to be.

20. "OMG... You're a wedding planner? Have you ever seen that movie with Jennifer Lopez?" Are you serious, random cocktail party stranger? Of course I have seen it. And Father of the Bride, too. I get TBS just like you do. :-)

Now you know all of my deep, dark secrets. Did I miss anything?

Shedding some light

2009-07-22T17:51:00.005-04:00

We are constantly looking for new media to introduce into our clients' decor schemes and one of the most fun and attainable elements we've been incorporating for the past year is lighting fixtures used in non-traditional ways.

At this fall wedding in Philadelphia, raspberry lampshades hung over alternating tables where low centerpieces were used. These shades did double-duty in bringing down the high ceiling and bringing the color palette up from the tabletops into the guests' sight lines. Furthermore, since The Pennsylvania Academy for Fine Arts doesn't allow candlelight in the building, lampshades offered a creative solution to a potentially problematic element.
Photo by Laura Novak

In Chicago, these giant damask patterned shades stood on 10 foot battery powered lampposts to frame the band and add visual interest to the front of the room (a place many people forget about when planning their decor!).
Photo by Rosalind Weddings, Lamps from Heffernan Morgan

At the same Chicago wedding, this 20 foot chandelier created a custom ceiling treatment over the Peninsula Hotel's dancefloor.
Photo by Rosalind Weddings, Chandelier from Heffernan Morgan

Finally, at one of our recent NYC weddings at Gotham Hall, we custom-built these black chandeliers to act as the vases for the funky flower domes and holders for the color-dipped pillar candles that adorned the tables.
Photo by Barnaby Draper

Wedding Planner In Training!

2009-07-16T23:05:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone! Just a quick introduction about myself before I give you my wedding opinions. My name is Ashley and I am interning at Lindsay Landman Events this summer. I have learned so much in such a short period of time and I couldn’t love this internship experience more! I originally hail from Florida and am doing my best to take on all things New York City, mostly with Allison’s and Lindsay’s help. Thus far, my favorite things NYC include Crumbs, Shrek the Musical, the jewelry vendor located outside J.Crew on 19th and 5th, the 6 train (which is the only subway line I have mastered), and the fact that I can get any type of food I want delivered to my door from Seamlessweb.com. Really, my only complaint of NYC is the Post Office, and finding an efficient post office in my opinion is like finding a needle in a haystack… no matter where you live.

Now onto my bridal find:
Generally, I am obsessed with all things footwear…. to the extent that I searched for the perfect pair of rain boots to coordinate my outfits during rainy days. For me, finding the perfect pair of shoes at an affordable price will probably take precedence over many aspects of my wedding (excluding the dress hunt). Needless to say, I was thrilled when one of my favorite shoe shopping resources, Piperlime.com, added a “Wedding Chic” section to their site a few months back. Piperlime has styles for brides and bridesmaids from various designers, at all price points and colors! Being a frequent customer of their website I can testify the shoes always arrive on time, in their impeccably kept boxes, and their descriptions of the shoes are always spot on. Its really fashionable footwear made easy! Even better they have pulled adorable pumps, sandals, flats, and flip flops so if your wedding is in the city or out by the beach they have a shoe for you! I only wish I were getting married to wear either of these…..

I’ll keep dreaming.

Places, please!

2009-07-14T22:52:00.011-04:00

One of my favorite decor tools is the use of the escort card table as the big opening "wow" for any event, particularly a wedding. This is the first thing that guests interact with when entering an event - they can see, touch and feel it and more importantly, they take a little piece of it with them when they leave. So, when given this opportunity to really reach out and hand your decor to your guests, why miss the opportunity and place a paper card on a standard table?

For this funky wedding at Gotham Hall, we filled a lucite table with water and flowers and then had black acrylic escort cards hand calligraphed with white writing. From the moment the guests grabbed their cards, they knew that this wouldn't be an ordinary wedding - and it wasn't!
photo by Barnaby Draper Studios

At this spectacular vinyard wedding, guests found their names etched on mini chalkboards embedded in a tiered plot of grass. When they arrived at their tables, the coordinating table numbers were also written on slightly larger chalkboards. This echoed the Raphael Vinyard's tasting room in which wine selections were written on large chalkboards. Design by Claire Bean.

For a winter wedding at Oheka Castle, we used cranberries to support escort cards on wooden sticks. A key element here was to create the cards so that they could be removed from the sticks easily so that guests wouldn't have to carry a skewer around all night!
Photos by Christian Oth Studios

Finally, vintage New York postcards were calligraphed with table numbers and inserted into calligraphed envelopes and placed over clear crystals covered with clear plexiglass in the glorious Rainbow Room. This table was one of our most well-received ever as the many out-of-town guests loved having a New York keepsake to take home.
Photo by Lina Jang