Ceci n’est pas un cigare…
Last week a zillion of us industry folk were invited to a blow-out event for Creative Edge Parties’ 20th anniversary. While all sorts of merriment and corporate espionage ensued, that isn’t the topic of this post. The topic today is Trompe L’oeil, and how it can be used so wonderfully at events.
The appetizer course was a tomato tartar, that looked in every way as if it were a steak tartar. The consistency, color (with capers visible in the mix), and even topped with a “raw” egg blew us all away when we tasted and realized it was in fact, as advertised, all vegetarian. Clever, simple, delicious and chat provoking. It made me think of a fabulously fun meal that we had at Moto in Chicago last year where the chef’s intent is brain twisting, and he’s really, really good at it; the “cigar with ashtray” on the menu is actually a Cuban beef roll, and the menu itself is printed on something that tastes exactly like a tortilla chip and you are encouraged to eat it, after reading it, along with the wonderful guacamole that is placed at your table.
Sometimes a cigar isn't - cuban beef at Moto
When utilized by someone with artistic restraint, these kinds of sensory tricks amuse and engage guests. Thrillist last week featured a company called style-your-door.com that sells photo film images for closets. The images, which you cut and paste to the outside of closet doors are, because of the process, incredibly realistic- how cool would this be on an otherwise blah closet door in a hallway?
…and of course, we have all seen fabulously realistic murals and faux finishes in peoples homes done by commissioned artists.
I am scheming as to how these could be incorporated into tent decor…
…these are from an artist, J Cochran.
So, I’ve been thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to do a party where nothing is as it seems (I mean even more so than usual)? Now, I have to find the right client…
Real Simple’s 15 Minutes and You’re Done
I was asked several months ago if I would be one of the presenters for Real Simple Magazine’s 10th Anniversary Celebration that was held in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Station last week. The concept was for each presenter to provide “various tips and tricks for people to simplify their lives” and and it was titled “15 minutes and You’re Done”. I was in rather rarefied company; everyone from Norma Kamali to David Burke demonstrated how easily they could pretty much do anything.
My inclusion in this struck me as pretty hilarious, considering I specialize in making things complicated personally and working on things that are absurdly complicated professionally, but how could i refuse – really?
It turned out to be a very good exercise in distilling the essence of home entertaining for a specific audience. I offered my ideas on what to have as your “par stock” or basics at hand, if you decide at 4 in the afternoon that you’d like to have some guests for dinner or drinks at 7 that night. The list follows, now maybe I might consider using it…
*a floral knife- there is no substitute for this dangerously sharp implement (this way you can pick up flowers from the corner market on the way home and arrange them sort of artfully)
*a selection of vases
*a table runner and or placemats (saves the pain of ironing a cloth as the doorbell is ringing)
*a lucite pitcher and glasses- festive and unbreakable, really useful if you have outdoor space- we like this one
*ingredients for a Sangria (no recipe necessary just taste and test-lemonade, white wine, juice, fruit, whatever)
*some good quality frozen hors d’oeuvres
*an assortment of candles- both LED and wax
*a programmed iPod on the ready
I’m curious, what items do you keep on hand in case you want to entertain? (Lingerie is not an acceptable response, by the way.)
David Burke on the BIG stage
Lea and I posing before the crowd surrounds us
All photos taken by our amazing blog designer and chronicler, Bridget Williams, bdub-ny.com
Breakfast in bed for 275 please…
I recently worked with a couple who had an aversion to the “next day brunch”. I have to admit after listening to them describe it - “everyone is hungover and has dragged themselves out of bed to see the bride looking less pretty than she did the night before and the recycled flowers looking mostly dead” – I could see their point.
They did, however, have a lot of out-of-town guests and I always feel that when you drag people to your wedding far far away, it does behoove you to host them for their entire stay.
We came up with a really wonderful solution (and with creative ideas being harder and harder to come by these days, I was truly delighted when this one popped up in the middle of the night).
We decided to build a “Breakfast to Go” bar, a combination of party favor and the makings of Sunday morning breakfast in bed. We offered organic bloody mary mix with mini iced vodka bottles, and Illy Cappuccino in the can on ice as well. Guests could choose an assortment of the best New York has to offer of bagels (Murray’s), donuts (Donut Plant), pain au chocolat, croissants and brioche (Balthazar), with an assortment of jams, butter and cream cheese and have it all packed up for them in an insulated bag by cheerful and model-y waitstaff. You’ve got to admit, makes you re-think brunch the day after, doesn’t it?
And they all left happily ever after…
Eventista here, and I’ve had endings on my mind a lot of late (no, not of the romantic sort).
When I was a baby eventiste, I worked in a restaurant for a gentlemen who was obsessed with all of us saying “good night” and “thank you” whenever a guest left. It was so ingrained in us that often to this day, and to my companions’ severe embarrassment, I’ll say it to people leaving a restaurant where I am dining. Turns out maybe my boss wasn’t that crazy after all.
In Tom Peter’s wonderful new book, The Little Big Things (he also wrote the pivotal In Search Of Excellence in 1982), he cites results from a study by a Nobel prizewinner about our memories and how selective they are, “No matter how extended an event (party, commercial transaction), we form our view and make our evaluation based – with dramatic skew – on the most intense moments and the final moments.”
Mr. Peters continues that hard data supports this “final moment” evidence: “We might attend a brilliant four-hour dinner party, yet three months later only remember that two guests exchanged heated remarks on the way out.”
Wow! Think of the implications to us in the event world if it’s true that a sub-standard dessert can take down an entire five-star dining experience. It means that an extravagant party favor given to a departing guest would mean very little, if minutes later they can’t get their car out of the lot or the garage attendant is surly. It means that no matter how breathtakingly beautiful the ceremony was, if the exit from the wedding many hours later takes guests through the same room, but now it’s half broken-down and the busboys are having dinner there, that’s the image that will remain.
The same boss would never let us strip a tablecloth until the very last guest had left the dining room. It used to drive us all batty, particularly when it was in the wee hours of the morning and we knew that by then they were so loaded we could have put the tablecloths on their heads and they wouldn’t have known the difference. In retrospect, maybe he was right about that too.
Do you pay as much attention to the end of an event as you do to the beginning?
Salesmanship 101- Sell the sizzle (even if you dont have a steak)
On site visits with a bride last week (never been one of my favorite parts of the gig, but she is lovely and it’s always educational), I was absolutely dumbfounded by the disparity of the “sales” people we met with. I’m talking spiffy, expensive places, you realize.
At a big, fancy schmancy, old school hotel, (which I thought would be too traditional for this couple but wanted them to see) someone came in on their day off to meet with us.
He was engaged, engaging, honest about the shortcomings of the venue and seemed really excited to give us all the tour (Academy Award-worthy, I know, but he had me). He was even bizarrely gleeful about the new photos that he had taken of the various spaces. He chatted about new menus and food ideas, showed off the china and silver, was truly charm personified. No question that even though it’s unlikely we would choose the space for THIS event, we will absolutely think about using it for something else. And more important: all of us with our big mouths will talk about the obvious change in attitude there and how they have really stepped up their game- get it?
At a well known and very “fabulous” banquet space (which I deemed appropriate solely for the reception), we were greeted by a porter with “you have appointment?” When the banquet person appeared (someone I’ve known for ages), he was fine- just fine- ran through the gamut of, “How many guests?” yawn, “What season?” yawn, “Typically 3 courses, 4 hours, we put the ceremony there, turn the room..” yawn. Me now, “Oh, as I said before we don’t like to turn rooms, we will be having the ceremony elsewhere if we book here.” Him again, “Hmm, well everybody just puts the ceremony there, I mean, why schlep around? Anyway, stage goes there,” yawn, “30 rounds of 8 or 10..” yawn. And finally, “Hey, remember the Schwartzbaum wedding? You speak to them?”
Get the picture? This is someone who I know knows better- he’s just had it currently. Maybe the recession with too many couples visiting without booking, but, guess what? His narcoleptic selling style can’t be helping.
Last anecdote- We also visited a very sexy, very expensive and very unusual space where we had previously worked with great difficulty. Apparently my complaints had reached someone (you all know how shy I am) and they sent a new emissary to regale us. She was elegant, sweet and smart and SO HAPPY to see us and when the dates we wanted were booked, she checked on others post haste and then e-mailed us immediately with the possible openings. Did she make me forget how they tortured us last time? Not exactly, but it sure went a long way.
So darlings, what have we learned here?
*In case you have forgotten, you are first and foremost a sales person and you had better be a skilled one.
*You are marketing to every person at each meeting- NOT just the client, but the planner, the babysitter, the brother-in-law along for the ride- all are possible brand ambassadors OR brand tramplers.
*If you are tired, take a break or at least fake it.
Any thoughts?