Meredith and Philip - St. Xavier + Gradisca, NYC

Meredith and Philip had a beautiful Catholic ceremony at St. Xavier followed by a very intimate, small dinner for their 50 guests. They wanted a very cozy and DELICIOUS, Italian restaurant in NYC and Gradisca was just that!

The back room of the restaurant is also ideal for rehearsal dinners. The staff and food are A-MAZING and at a great price point with reasonable minimums.

BORROW THIS IDEA: Why buy more paper for place cards if there's already kraft paper on top of the table linens (common of bistros and trattorias particularly). Be resourceful and creative and write the guests' names directly onto the table top next to their setting.

Karen and Jonathan - The Altantis Yacht, New York

Karen and Jonathan, two real estate agents who deal with the buying and selling of land for a living, opted for a wedding on water. They held a beautiful ceremony aboard The Altantis Yacht before setting sail on the Hudson River and East River!

I heart these I heart pictures (wall to be found in Meatpacking District, NYC)

Umbrellas, always a great idea for a sunny day!

Instead of numbers, NYC neighborhoods were used to name tables as a nod to their real estate careers.

Daughter of Design on Style Me Pretty

Check out Amy and Sean's beautiful Beverly Hills Hotel wedding featured on today's Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book Blog! More pictures to come on additional SMP post on 4/20/09 (stay tuned!!!) and on our blog as well!

Link: Amy and Sean on Little Black Book Blog

Oscar Party 2009 at Mr Chow, Beverly Hills

It's not just weddings for Daughter of Design! I recently helped produce the "Night to Make a Difference" Oscar Event at Mr Chow Beverly Hills hosted by Leeza Gibbons, Olivia Newton-John, and David Foster. It was an Academy Awards viewing party with a purpose. The evening showcased several celebrity charities like Hilary Duff's Blessings in a Backpack and Jessica Biel's Make The Difference with proceeds from the event and its auction going back to help these causes.

The evening started with red carpet arrivals followed by a 10-course dinner. After dinner came the after party with live performances by Olivia Newton-John, David Foster, Two Spot Gobi (now touring with Jason Mraz) and Michael Buble and tunes spun by DJ Steve Aoki in the tent which we built over the Christie's and Mr Chow parking lots. It was an intensive project but was completely worthwhile and an evening I will never forget. Here are a few photos from the event!

Hilary Duff

Forest Whitaker

Tony Hawk

Paris Hilton

Jessica Biel

Michael Buble

Teri Hatcher

This evening was also a family affair. We brought in my sister and the other daughter of design, Kahi Lee of Kahi Lee LIFESTYLE to help deck out the after party tent. The drapes for the stage were an awesome backdrop for some amazing performances. Fabulous big sister however could not stay for the event though since she was attending the Governors Ball at Kodak Theater with her equally fabulous husband, Jason Bentley who was DJing the event!

Check out the ABC coverage of the event: ABC Live Coverage





I also have to post the performance by Michael Buble who is one charming and sexy mother in person. Are wedding planners allowed to say things like that? In this case, yes. I think the highlight of my evening was when he thanked me, gave me a hug and a sweet compliment. Next time I hear one of his oh-so popular wedding songs at a wedding, you may see a big ol' smile on my face.

Also special thanks to Atelier Isabey who in a pinch created beautiful table numbers and menu folders that went with the black and white chic decor of Mr Chow and to Eat Whatever Mints for making sure after party goers who didn't join for dinner didn't have to smell it on everyone's breathe!


For more general information on the event check out: www.leezagibbonsoscarnight.com.

June Wedding at The Park Restaurant, New York

Check out this enchanting midsummer night dream wedding we recently did with our dear friends at Hatch Creative Studio! Yet another outstanding job with decor!

The Park Restaurant was a perfect venue with great backdrops for photos


how cute is this flower girl?

Wicker fans were placed on each seat to keep guests cool in the non-air conditioned garden on that warm June evening

Guests were also passed lemonade and ice tea with these super cute I do! stirrers

The guest book table was breathtaking, very natural/organic, classic and contemporary all at once

BORROW THIS IDEA: Kiss for the camera! While looking through family photos, the Bride and Groom discovered identical pictures of their parents kissing on their wedding days. We framed these photos and as couples arrived to the ceremony they were asked to "kiss for the camera" just as their parents had on their wedding day!


beautiful. elegant. simple. bouquet of Casablanca lilies ad a locket with a picture of the Bride''s grandparents on her parents' wedding day

HELPFUL TIP: To keep the event private from all the passerbyers who could peer into the street-level windows, we hung up very inexpensive muslin fabric which was literally like a $1 per yard and which went very well with the earthy tone of their decor.

BORROW THIS IDEA: To create that grand entrance into the ceremony without having our staff get caught in the pictures (I'm super photo conscious) we pinned a long ribbon to the entrace fabric and simply synchronized drawing back the fabric to create the perfect entrance for the bride and her father. It's all in the theatrics!

The groom's grandfather's prayer shawl was tied to the canopying tree branches to create a natural and meaningful chuppah


Guests walked through the beautiful atrium to pick up their escort cards and return to the garden which had been flipped from ceremony space to dinner...

and what a conversion it was!

We used a variation of round and long rectangular tables to best utilize the space and add a little variety to the look of the room. Long taper candles, spanish moss, lisianthus, casablanca lilies were ingredients we used to create this very warm and romantic ambiance.

HELPFUL TIP: We rented specialty napkins very loosely tied with long olive ribbon to create a little more texture and dimension to the table and it is a very cost effective way to add decor to the table.

BORROW THIS IDEA: As part of their wedding ceremony, the couple shared wine dipped with rosemary since the herb rosemary is the symbol of remembrance and fidelity and has been used for centuries in weddings. Guests found at each place setting a small jar of rosemary salt to tie in with the rosemary symbolism from their ceremony. During the middle ages all elegant weddings used rosemary as a favor for the wedding guests. Sprigs were dipped in gold, tied with a ribbon and presented to guests. It symbolized that although the bride and groom were leaving their friends and family to start a new life, they would never forget their loved ones.



Butterfly Clips - a variety of butterfly clips that the Bride had collected were nestled in the centerpieces moss as an accent and represented the butterfly garden the couple had visited on a special trip to Amsterdam


BORROW THIS IDEA: This seat is reserved. Guests were not assigned specific seats at their tables but only chairs for the couple and their parents were reserved with signs on the back of their chairs. For the groom's parents the signs read "Ima" and "Aba" which are Hebrew for mother and father.


Cake - by Ron Ben Israel was a 3-tiered chocolate w/hazlenut crunch filling cake. The "silver and bling" design mirrored the swag of jewels on their invitations. The cake topper was a large sugar casablanca lily similar to the one on their invitation and as the bride's bouquet

The bride had a surprise gift for her new husband, the Vespa he had been wanting to get. Guests showered them in streamers as they exited and the couple wore helmets labeled "Mr. F" and "Mrs. F" before riding off to the Gansevoort hotel in the Meatpacking district with cans trailing behind them.

Okay must tell one story about their celebrity wedding crasher before I end this entry. During the Horah, I spotted a man wearing jeans cheerfully clapping his hands near the dance floor and thought who is this wedding crasher! As I walked toward this mystery crasher I realized it was John Corbett. Sorry John, wrong wedding. This was not a big fat Greek wedding! He had been walking by The Park and was drawn in by the decor and came in to check it out but ran off when he was spotted! To this day I am still jealous of my assistant, Meaghan who he said "Hey kid, what's up" to. John, you didn't have to run off we would have loved to have you stay and join the festivities!