The Wedding Salon at the Roosevelt Hotel

I love the Roosevelt Hotel. No, I've never stayed there. Actually, until this event I've never even been inside. But I'll tell you why I love it. 2 years ago a friend from out of town had plans to meet me at the clock in Grand Central Station. Pressed for time, I ended up driving into the city and of course got stuck in traffic. Said friend had no cell phone. I was late and you know how likely finding a place to park in the middle of the day on a weekday by Grand Central Station is? Yeah - not likely at all. So I pulled up to the Roosevelt Hotel and asked the doorman there for advice on a parking location. I blabbed out the reason for my situation and asked him if he knew anywhere I could put my car for the 15 minutes max it would take me to meet my friend that wouldn't cost me $50. And what that wonderful man said was my salvation, "Leave it here. I'll watch it and make sure that the cops don't ticket it." And that's what I did. I left it in front of the Roosevelt hotel, grabbed my friend and ran back up in less then 5 minutes. My car remained there. Ticket-less. I gave him the $25 in my pocket for it.

But I digress. Customer service kudos to the Roosevelt Hotel aside, I found myself in front of it at 6:15pm on Monday for The Wedding Salon Event. I attended the Wedding Salon event in October which was beautiful (if unbelievably warm) and obviously missed the after work crowd at that event as this go around, I found myself around the corner on a line that snaked up the street, in the side door, up 2 flights of stairs and over the main room JUST to get to the registration tables. I stood behind 2 wedding planners form Connecticut and in front of a bride to be and her friend with the most odd story of the guy she's seeing and his psycho ex-fiance with whom he bought a house with while engaged to yet another man. ODD. It served as a great distraction from the line I was standing on. To the Wedding Salon's credit, it did move fairly quickly. But by the time I reached the registration desks I was already sweltering under my plaid wool coat. I skipped the coat check because of the number of people there but waved at the living plant feeling sorry for how hot he must be and began my walk around.

The sheer number of people there made it difficult to really talk to much of anyone, let alone make your way through the packed rooms and narrow, cramped and congested balcony space. I never made it into the Victoria's Secret Lounge and curse myself for it as I heard that was where David Tutera's company was. I marvel that I stayed there for an hour as the conditions could only be correctly labeled as sweltering. Even then, though, it is always a good event to attend. I especially love going to see the tablescapes. My favorite being the design by Flowers by Topaz, but I'll let you be your own personal judge.

Of course, one of the highlights to the Wedding Salon are the cakes, or better said, the tasting of them. Sylvia Weinstock was there yet again, and I thought it particularly endearing to see her handing out cakes to passerbys.


I must though take the time out to say that Make My Cake II was by far my favorite cake there. Absolutely scrumptious. I went back much to my embarrassment - 3 times. Absolutely delicious.


And of course among the tastings is the beauty of the cakes and cupcake tiers displayed





Visiting the vendors at took a back seat this go around because, like I said, the number of people and the heat of the venue. But I have to give a shout out to Joseph Edwards (wedding filmmaker) for remembering me from the last show (I told you, you are still on my roster ;) ) I also got to speak with Allison from Style made Simple with whom I really clicked with and who I can imagine is the perfect wedding dress concierge and stylist.



I was to meet up with the photographer from Jason Groupp there but was just too hot and left shortly after walking down the block with my jacket still flung over my arm trying to cool down. I would have stayed longer and talked more had the location turned on the air conditioning. But maybe that was the whole point.

Fall busy-ness, October wedding madness & Trade events

admit it. I’ve neglected my blog. Noticeably. So much so that three of my recent brides have said “weren’t you going to blog about this??” OOPS. So apologies for falling behind in so many things and thank you all for your reminders as not only do they motivate me to actually UPDATE but it makes me realize that people are reading along with the blog (if not actually leaving comments *hint, hint* )

October is without a doubt one of the busiest times for us as the fall foliage decorating the backdrops, the semi warm yet cool temperatures and the general beauty that is the autumn season makes it especially popular to get married. As Rob and I got married on Columbus Day weekend six years ago (has it really been 6??) I have to agree that this is one of the best times of years for a wedding. And I have many ‘real weddings’ to showcase to you over the next few days/weeks - beautiful garden weddings, elegant hall weddings and weddings that seem to be spiritually engulfed in emotion. I may be exhausted over the work but I’m renewed each time with the reality that I truly get to see such beauty, such love and such emotion in each individual celebration.

Beyond weddings we were busy with some tradeshows and events to attend. Rob attended the Photo Plus Expo which is without a doubt the largest Photography Expo. I was rather jealous that I was not able to attend that with him as he reported back to me how absolutely enthralled he was in the latest in technology and offerings. These events always serve as inspiration for new ideas and opportunities to add to our already illustrious list of contributions at Colorblind Productions. They also serve to deplete bank accounts in the desire for the newest and generally coolest gadgets. He attended with one of our photographers Maggie who took advantage of several seminars. I totally expect to attend this event myself next year!

Rob and I took the time to visit The Wedding Salon. It is a luxury wedding showcase in New York City. We went specifically look at the latest in luxury ideas, designs and companies. It is generally a bridal show but one where the exhibitors are by invitation only and the target market is elite clientele.

Not being a bride (and lesson learned as I made the mistake and told the registration desk that I wasn't one) I missed out on the goodie bag. I did get samples at booths. It was held at the Prince George Ballroom a stunning space that had to unfortunate luck of losing the general aesthetic of the room's grandeur in the midst of vendor booths and throngs of guests. Models walked around in stunning gowns and honestly answered my questions on the weight of the dresses and their personal opinion as to whether they could feasibly dance in them. I did speak to some vendors and exchanged business cards. The illustrious Sylvia Weinstock was there and I was able to talk to her, but I was so flustered and intimidated that I couldn't even bear to ask her to take a picture with me which I really wanted. And with cake tastings of her and other cake artists I was in heaven. I took pictures (mostly of the tablescapes design firms/florists put together.)

What you can't see in this first one (Rob took the pictures as I perused the vendors) was that the flowers actually wrap around the entire pedestal of the table and is visible through the glass tabletop.

I met the designer of this and got to talk to him about his inspiration on this piece. It was pretty damn cool to have that conversation. I love gold and he was as happy as I was to know that gold has made a comeback in its competition with silver based metals

What was cool about this florist is they had price boxes. You gave them your cost of centerpiece and they provided a box with examples of work that was in the budget you gave.

And how gorgeous are these seat covers? My friend Michelle of Everyday Celebrating was so infatuated with them that not only did she blog about them but she has told me how much she loves them EVERY DAY since I showed them to her and is obsessed in finding them.

Delicious cakes!!!

Small Event Planning and Decoration – Milk & Cookies 1st Birthday

In my pursuit of new endeavors, I’ve decided that I’m going to expand to other very fun and exciting things. In other words, I’ve decided to start designing and event planning for small events! As fabulous as weddings are, they are large scale productions and I find that creativity can shine the brightest in smaller events. The plan is to give a good dose of design and theme unity to baby showers, wedding showers, dinner parties, birthday parties and the like. It’s perfect for those who have a ‘vision’ of the kind of event they want but either don’t have the time or means to get it accomplished.

I recently did a 1st birthday party with a fabulous theme! Milk & Cookies. What better way to celebrate the 1st birthday of an adorable little girl! I find many parents are looking for innovative themes and ideas for birthday parties.

The color scheme was yellow, brown and white. Polka dots helped highlighted the milk and cookies that abounded.

A full scale tiled image was used as decoration. These tiled images are available for purchase using your own custom image HERE.

A custom banner was also displayed

Centerpieces were individual jars of chocolate, oatmeal and sugar cookies and each was surrounded by photo boxes made of assorted pictures of the birthday girl’s first year of life.

Individual ‘lollypop’ style descriptions of the food available told guests what the culinary treasures were

A safe zone was set up for those non walking children to play and roll around without worry of being stampeded by older children. It also allowed the parents of said children to put their kids down and mingle with guests without too much preoccupation

Individual sized FRESH milk from Ronny Brook Farms in both whole and chocolate along with brown bags of cookies were given to guests as favors

And my favorite balloon guy was on hand to make fabulous balloons for the guest. An absolutely SWEET time.