Way Downtown

Wedding season kicked off for us back in March and it's been one busy season.  Hence the long blog entry hiatus.  Anyway, I'm back and I'm ready to share a whole lot of work, inspiration, and Allow Me (and Kerri!) happenings here today.  With more entires to follow!  I promise!  

First on the docket: a wedding at Bridgewaters in the South Street Seaport NYC.  I met Dan and Elizabeth well over a year ago.  It was a really sweet and calming experience creating the storyboard that we ultimately brought to fruition for this amazing couple.  It was really a special event...

It was such a pleasure meeting the photographer for the the wedding, Susannah Gill.  She was just so comfortable, confident and awesome to work with and be around.  She sent along a link to a lovely blog entry of hers a few days after the wedding, which included a sweet collection of her shots from that day.  You'll see them shortly, just keep reading.

In other news: I need a good, real, professional camera, folks.  Even though my addiction to instagram has allowed me look like I'm taking some amazing photos, I'm really not.  This will not be the last time you'll read me complaining about this so bare with me and enjoy below the few decent shots I was able to capture.

The Chuppah pictured was created using cherry blossoms.  The personal and event floral included jasmine sprays, speckled magenta phalanopsis, anenomies (I miss you so much, see you next year), parrot tulips and my all-time favorite...clematis.  

So there you go.  I'm back.  Take a glimpse and enjoy...

Photos by photographer, Susannah Gill 

                                                                                  

                                                                                        Below photos from yours truly...

Mi amiga, Taylor, working the bouquet shot.

An Evening with the Mandarin Hotel

Let's just say this wasn't a typical Allow Me Event Design wedding.  But it certainly was a stunning affair!  With a lovely concept of quince, phalanopsis orchids, an abundance of candlelight, all set in a beautiful venue, you simply cannot go wrong. 

The client asked me to do this wedding only a few months before their date.  That's normally something that makes me a tiny bit nervous, but their simple vision and contagious excitement sealed the deal for me - I was in!  The wedding was held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and experiencing that view and getting to work with The Mandarin's exceptional staff made the entire journey well worth it.  And it was a journey, to say the least.

As the planning process began to gain momentum, I started to realize that their simple vision was much more of a precise and detailed vision - with very little wiggle room - than I had originally thought.  And, although we executed their vision beautifully, it wasn't until midway through the planning that I found myself thinking, "Hey, I don't think I can do a wedding like this again." Don't get me wrong - it wasn't bad. But I found that I was missing our style. I was searching too hard to become passionate for their vision. I started to feel like an intern for a stylist as opposed to a confident and accomplished designer.  

I realize it's walking a fine line when you pride yourself on being able to execute a client's vision, but I do this with the hope that the client has researched our work and has resonated towards it for a particular reason.  It's cool though, it was a well learned lesson and I was able to work with some great and talented folks as well as collaborating again with LI SOUND DJ and Lighting.  They did an awesome job as per the usual.   Margo from Classic Party Rentals really pulled through for me with the gorgeous linens and chairs.  The client also insisted on a lounge area, which Classic Party Rentals supplied as well.  

I was able to sneak in quite a  few Allow Me Design touches by using sweeping pahalanopsis orchids, a ridiculous amount of candlelight and just creating an overall feel of romance, which of course is a vibe I aim to achieve with each of my events, regardless of the client's vision - it's just what we do organically.

My friend, Ivie Joy, who also freelanced for me, had her friend and event photographer Angelica Yabenez Criscuolo come over (on very short notice - thanks Angelica!) to snap a few shots of my work.  She did one lovely job.  Take a look for yourself.

http://www.markjosephcakes.com/

The end.

Meandering in Motion

It's getting busy over here and I feel as though I have been blissfully unaware of the madness that is in front of me.   I've just been so preoccupied with this awesome weather, gardening, welcoming Instagram into my life, checking to see if I have any baking skills (I do, thank you very much!), being a mom and just taking it day by day.  You can't live exclusively in the moment all the time and you must think about the future, but sometimes the future can be exhausting.  Am I right?  So, here I am just floating in my little orbit.  And then it happened - a call from one of my clients asking if 'we are all set.'  "You sure are!" I'm in the future now and I'm ready to hit the road running. 

We are doing  more accounts lately and special arrangements for special folks.  I've been enjoying the last-minute requests to do small designs and non-wedding related events.  It gives me a chance to just be.  To see what's in the market that is fresh, interesting and presently inspiring. 

Below are a few glimpses from some of my favorite designs.  I'll most likely showcase one or two of these photos spotlighting the entire event in a later post, but for now here is a little preview of my meanderings as of late.

 

See you next year Anenomie.

Hey!  How did he get in here?  My son, Jack James.

Pistachio leaf, iris, sweet pea, rosemary, lavender, parrot tulip and amaryllis

I cleaned out the back of our garage and created this.  It's my first nameless home "installation."  I have a massive hosta coming in there on the right and I have since placed some creeping ivy.
 This babe is going to feed my eyes nicely throughout the summer.  

My friend Merida over at Chestnut Honey always guides me softly into the baking abyss.
She recommended that I try this  lemon sour cream cake and it turned out pretty awesome.
 I even took it an extra step, on my own,  and added a lemon icing. You go me!

Speaking of Merida, here is a really cool and earnest interview of her by goodfoodjobs.com