Eventista emotes…

Posted on | July 30, 2009 | 9 Comments

While the next post is scheduled to be by Wedhead, Eventista couldnt resist writing a few words before that:

Truly delighted you have all responded to my rant so graciously and all of us here are thankful that you are letting us work out this weird blogging thing in front of an audience (a few kinks I’m sure you’ve noticed). A few of you had some items to add to the “Over and Out” list and, as this is a democratic blog (particularly when you agree with me), and, as I realized that there were a few particularly nasty things that I inadvertently left out, here follows the finale of items we could really do without, even, as I mentioned before, if they were once cute as buttons.

Oh, one further thing, and I really hope I’m crystal clear on this terribly controversial subject; as so many people were offended by my being foodist about cupcakes (so sensitive)- I wasn’t advocating a pogrom against all cupcakes, I was only suggesting that the cupcake tier in lieu of a cake is t i r e d……

So, the addendum:
*Chocolate fountains
* French Manicured acrylic nails the thickness of windshields
* The de riguer truly romantic and beautifully lit ”Designer Shoe” wedding photo
* The concept that sugar flowers on a cake are remotely”edible”

Category: Eventista's Esoterica

Over and Out…….

Posted on | July 28, 2009 | 51 Comments

So rumor has it that at Engage 09, the luxury wedding symposium in the Cayman Islands, a very vociferous planner in the audience attempted to bully the very elegant and very ladylike Darcy Miller into spilling what “trends” she thought had run their course. While Darcy is far too clever to be baited so easily, Eventista has no such qualms and actually has been chomping at the bit to give everyone the list of things she, personally, thinks are VERY MUCH over…

Some of these items (like a favorite song that the radio destroyed by playing over and over until you could no longer bear even a note) were good ideas once. Others were always inane, boring or just plain stupid- she will leave you to decide which things cited fall into which categories:

*Tiers of cupcakes as a wedding cake
*Cutesy and colorful candy displays at weddings (replete with insufficiently sturdy paper bags to take your goodies home in)
*”Celebrity” wedding planners (it says so on their websites) whose celebrity client list consists of having worked with Jennifer Aniston’s body double’s third cousin
*Event planners who are now self-proclaimed “lifestyle” experts (Is there a correlation between throwing a good party and pontificating on styling someone’s life? …I’ve missed it)
*White lounge furniture for after-parties (and pretty soon altogether)
*Poor miserable dogs being stuffed into absurd costumes and dragged down the aisle as a flower creature or ring bearer
*Same goes for terrified small children
*Releasing doves (read this horrendous story today http://news.aol.com/article/wedding-doves-stuck-in-nyc-park/591904), butterflies, or any other living creature as a testament to your new-age fabulousness
*Television shows that not only encourage but delight in brides and grooms behaving horrifically
*Bride and groom’s first dance that soooo unexpectedly (wink, wink) turns into disco madness (by the way, the wedding party groove down the aisle that was everywhere this week- that was actually cool)
*Etiquette columnists in bridal mags that don’t have a clue what in the world they are talking about and are advising [poor women who listen to them] some bizarro nonsense
*Starting a sentence with “In this ecomomy…”
*Bridesmaids dresses for under $200 that anyone actually thinks will be worn again
*Pretentious and absurd pronouncements on entertaining, such as “Rum is the new Vodka”
*Event/wedding designers “demonstrating” with no irony whatsoever how they can shop in a bodega and throw an absolutely extraordinary 16th century ball for 12 dollars max
* Inspiration boards that are Kafka-esque in their relation to a real wedding (uh, let’s see- I’ve got a twig, a sequin, horses, a fountain, a doorknob and George Clooney)
*4-hour posed photo sessions before the wedding ceremony-(bride has to be up at 4 am for hair and makeup)
*”Black tie preferred” (the super-duper passive aggressive attire suggestion)

Oh, and just for good measure, empty restaurants that wont seat incomplete parties…

Category: Dislikes, Eventista's Esoterica, Marcy's Musings

About Robert Isabell

Posted on | July 24, 2009 | 12 Comments

The other evening I was attempting to explain to WH and E who Robert Isabell, who died July 11,was and what he meant to the event world. Being ridiculously young and dreadfully bored with with everything they couldnt have cared less, so dear reader, I will share my thoughts with you…I worked on several events with Robert because my former and I owned a venue that was in demand by the high and haughty and to hold an event there you had to work with us. I took advantage of that to stealthily gain knowledge and eventually, to begin my business. When Robert walked into a space, whether it was a hideous ballroom with a gigunda chandelier or a big glass atrium with track lights like our space,it was obvious he didnt see the venue at all, he only saw what it would look like when he was done with it. Logistics had no part in that vision whether he had to build a new ceiling or ditch the kitchen entrance. For the charity/benefit opening of “Out of Africa” he employed a vast army of beautiful Rostafarians who came in the middle of the night, wrapped the space in brown paper and then sketched on the paper with charcoal-when they were done,we were in Africa. For the premier of “The Natural” with a budget of about 22 dollars, he turned the vast, cold space into a sexily lit ballpark. It was the sort of alchemy that transcended the prowess of an ”event designer”. He was drop-dead handsome, but definitely not the friendliest, and,as I was neither a socialite nor a star, it took a lot of chutzpah for me to approach him and ask if he would ”consult” on my wedding decor ( I was young and gutsy and figured wtf)

Instructing the cooks and wait staff how to do their job (of course)

He actually agreed and accompanied me to Wave Hill, where I would be wed and showed me where to place copious flats of Paper Whites and (to this day the scent reminds me of my 1986 wedding) and how to use potted plants as centerpieces and branches in glass vases to frame the ceremony space. As a grand act of kindess he gifted me with 20 Alencon lace table cloths left from some rich person’s wedding and that he was about to toss-(they were beautiful and I used them on many weddings in the early years)

We sent him a good bottle of wine as a thank you (I had no idea then what he actually charged for his talents). I began my business in earnest soon after,and over the years had several occasions to work with him when clients would hire both of us (often in the mistaken concept that I could or would control him budgetarily) Each time we would begin a project I would remind him that he had “done” my wedding and he would smile/smirk and do his best to politely ignore me for the duration. Nonetheless, it was always a cosmic and extraordinary experience to witness him at work and each time one entered a party and saw that the band had almost invisible white speakers rather than the hideous monstrosities usual on the stage or the centerpieces were flaming torchons that appeared to wirelessly sprout from table centers, those in the know would realize it could only be Robert Isabell at work.