As I was walking towards the wall, I overheard a tour guide say, “There is a reason why the Memorial was placed away from the street. The people who built this didn’t want to dishonor the men and woman who died for our freedoms, by having a car just drive by and be a regular part of the landscape. This Memorial is a place of reflection, sadness and honor, and should treated as such.”

I happen to be here for Memorial Day weekend, so many Vets came to remember their friends.

People are quite when they walk by the wall. They reach out to touch the names of our fallen. It’s a bit overwhelming – there are so many names. I found my Uncle Steve’s brother, George H. Chace. He is located in section E11, line 93. The park ranger asked me if I knew this person, I never met him before; he died in the war at the age of 23.  He gave me a piece of paper and pencil to do a rubbing of his name.

This is my Uncle’s brother who served in the Army, he died when he was 23 years old.

So why do I give thanks on this day (weekend)?  I am allowed to live in a country where I have the freedom to be the person I am today.  So many people have joined our armed forces to protect our freedom and our country, for hundreds of years. They have done so bravely and with much sacrifice.

Even young people were taken aback at how many names there were.

So today I say, “Thank You.”  To my Dad, my Grandfathers , my little brother and my friends who all took a turn in the service and allowing me to live the life I have today.

I too, took a moment to say my quiet thanks.

The lovely Lisa Raffael and one of her beautiful creations.

1. When did you start your business? What has been your greatest challenge?

I started Delicious Desserts in 1992 – 21 years ago!!! My biggest challenge was perfecting the basics: base frosting, leveling cakes, etc. It takes so much practice to do this well, and in the beginning, you don’t have that many cakes to practice with!

2. What is your favorite cake decorating technique?

Any technique involving a modern theme. I love making abstract flowers out of gumpaste or fondant (or a combo of both), I love painting on cakes, and textured finishes. (I’m sorry – that’s 3 techniques, but it could be all on one cake!).

3.  Who are your inspirations in the cake and pastry world?

Oh my gosh…..SO MANY! I don’t want to leave anyone out!!!  Ron Ben Israel (really – I have been a HUGE fan of his since BEFORE the cake world became what it is today!) Norman Love
, Maggie Austin
, Peggy Porschen, Marina Sousa and CakeFace.

4.  What are your favorite seasonal ingredients?

Living on Cape Cod, I’m surrounded by farms so I literally can pick my ingredients fresh from the garden! My favorite seasonal ingredients are cranberries, strawberries and blueberries.

5.  What tool do you use the most when cake decorating? Which one is your favorite?

My bench scraper and Exacto knife! I think I’d have to say my Exacto knife is the one I can’t live without…

Please visit Lisa and Delicious Desserts at the following:

Facebook

http://www.deliciousdesserts.net

(Thank you to the following photographers for providing pictures: Amy Dykens, Armour and Martell, Corinna Raznikov Photograpy, Tommy Colbert, Chris Cook Photograpghy.)

Using certain colors, arranging furniture a certain way, using textured fabrics, dramatic lighting, candlelight – these are a few things that can really make or break a great event design.

When Ed sits down to start discussing our clients design needs for an event, he asks them how they want it to FEEL.  Our clients may use the words cozy, intimate, inviting, romantic – these are great adjectives to describe how something feels.  So how can this translate into a design?  Create small furniture vignettes for your guests’ to sit around during the cocktail hour with lots of low, soft candlelight and flowers.  This is an inviting, cozy feeling that inspires conversation.  When you start bringing in the other senses:  sound (good music) and smell (delicious food) you have now have the makings for a memorable event.  People are going to remember how the event looked and the yummy food they ate, but they will also remember the great time that they had, and that feeling is happy.  Mission accomplished.

This is a great example of using your senses to design a space. This is the Terrace Room in the famous Plaza Hotel. Our client wanted to use this space to for the ceremony. They wanted a romantic, cozy feeling that gave a nod to the great outdoors. Ed used every aspect of the room as well as the equipment that was used to do the installation. He used the staging truss to make large trees to create the Chuppa, he hung chandeliers 8 inches of the floor with soft lighting, the bride walked down a mirrored aisle and there was candle light that surrounded the room. The mirrored aisle reflected all of the warm light that was in the room giving that warm, cozy intimate feeling.

(I have to thank my Facebook friend Cathy from Cathy’s Creations for this one…)

Let me introduce you to my friend Jove.  He is the owner and creative director of Jove Meyer Events.  He will plan and design your event from start to finish.  Jove is creative, friendly and really pays attention to every little detail.  His designs are whimsical, thoughtful and fun.  I know a lot of planners/designers in this industry so I wanted to know what makes him different from all of the rest…

This is my friend Jove Meyer. Not only is he a talented planner & designer but a good person and great friend. (How freakin’ cute is he! I just want to squish him!)

1. What is your approach to planning an event?  My first step is to get to know the client as intimately as possible, ideally over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. I want to know their intent, their vision and goals for the event. I strive to create authentic experiences by incorporating as much of the clients personal favorites as possible with a touch of my own flair. I approach the planning of an event by making sure I plan details for all five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight and sound) of the event. By touching all five senses the event becomes an experience not to be forgotten!

2. What is your favorite part of the planning process?  I love the design aspect of planning an event. Taking in all of the elements and creating a  look and feel for the space, transforming things to create memorable moments! I love planning unexpected moments and details! I love the joy on the clients face when they see our vision come to life!

I love how Jove gave this wedding in the woods a chic and whimsical feel.

3. Any fun trends that you are embracing this season?  This season I am all about color blocking flowers, using single flower types and using unique vessels for vases. I love using vases of various shapes, sizes and textures and filling them with only one type of flower, a single stem when possible! Then I place the various single flower arrangements together to create a visually beautiful look! Its simple, chic and elegant!

Jove in his own words…

I have been planning events since I was a kid. Starting with family holiday parties and birthdays I would decorate the house with whatever I could find or make! My first job in high school was in an event company where I learned all about balloons and flowers. We designed and planned events of all shapes and sizes for Disney, Walmart, Dave and Busters and many others.

I officially started my own company after planning my best friends wedding in 2007. She called me one day and said she could not think of anyone better to do it, I was honored and fond myself loving every moment of the process and knew this was what I wanted to do with my life!

My company was born out of a passion for event and wedding planning! We are a boutique event planning company based out of New York City and we provide full service planning, partial planning as well as month of / day of wedding coordination.

Here is Jove with one of his couples.  Please take the time to visit Jove’s website here.

The folks over at Macy’s sent us over the poster for this year’s show and where Ed was to draw his inspiration.

The poster had a very Asian feel to it and Ed decided to be inspired by the Chingmai Flower Show in Thailand.

Here is the “bouquet” Ed designed for the flower show.

The next step in our process was creating templates so we could create the base and placement of the flowers to complete the design.

Here is the structure being put together in our warehouse. The photo on the far right shows one of the more intricate details that will be placed in the final design on site.

On the left, our crew on site putting all of the pieces together. On the far right some of the finished details of the bouquet.  Flowers used were roses and various kinds of orchids.

Here is the final bouquet. It stood about 8 feet high and at the widest point 4 feet across. Isn’t she a beauty???

]]> http://nyccakegirl.com/2013/04/09/behind-the-scenes-for-the-macys-flower-show/feed/ 0 bexrbicakes Macys Flower show poster 1 Sketch Image 18 2 3 4 http://nyccakegirl.com/2013/04/08/its-time-for-some-color/ http://nyccakegirl.com/2013/04/08/its-time-for-some-color/#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:44:14 +0000 NYC Design Girl http://nyccakegirl.com/?p=1932 ]]> Springtime.  One of my favorite seasons is here, where color comes back into our lives.   I am also happy when a bride is not afraid to add a bit of color to her personal flowers on her wedding day.  It adds richness to the environment and not to mention is really beautiful to look at.

Here are a few tips when picking colorful, personal flowers:

- Chat with your florist/designer about what is season, not only is it a bit more budget friendly buying a flower that is in season, but you will have more variety to choose from.

- Choose greens and fillers that create some interest and texture.  It’s those little bright pops of color that create interesting moments in your bouquet.

- Mix up your colors!  You might be surprised how bright lush colors can coordinate with each other.  Be bold and try different and interesting color combinations that excite you.

- Pick a fun “wrap” for the handle of your personal flowers.  It can be a bright colored textured ribbon or maybe it’s a piece of left over fabric from one of your bridesmaids dress.  This finishes the look of any personal bouquet.  This is also a fun area to add mementos, maybe a charm with your grandparent’s pictures or the silk buttons from your great grandmother’s dress.

Bright colors and seasonal flowers make this a fun “springtime” bouquet. Tulips, Ranunculus, Roses and Mimosa are great for this time of year.  Ed choose a bright yellow grosgrain ribbon to tie in the bright yellow of the Mimosa.

TV is so much smaller in real life! The studio is not nearly as big as what you think it is and their “green” room is really tiny. There was a lot of prep form Ed the night before his segment, we were in the Today Show kitchen making a wedding bouquet as well as the trophy for the winner of the challenges.

The total time for both segments was 75 seconds.  That’s right, I said 75 seconds.  Do you know how long it took us to prepare for 75 seconds? It took 5 people (just on our end) and about 30 hours total to prepare for 75 seconds.  It’s a lot of WORK.  It looks really put together on television, but every little nuance of each segment is thought out.

There were many emails that went back and forth between our office manager and Macy’s/Today Show (Macy’s invited us to do the segment because of our involvement with the flower show).  Then there was a few hours spent at the flower market picking out flowers.  Even this part is well thought out, you want something that is going to “read” well on television and you want something big enough to see.  Once the flowers were picked out, they were delivered to our studio where the flowers needed to be conditioned, but we didn’t have that kind of time, so we forced the flowers to do what we wanted. (There is a way to do this…perhaps another blog post?)  Typically you want a few days for the flowers to “condition”.  Ed and I packed everything up and went to the set the night before the morning segment to set up with the producer and props director.  It took Ed an additional 3 hours of flower arranging onsite to finish up.

All of the flowers that we brought over to the Today Show studio. Needless to say our van smelled amazing! Like spring!

Here I am on set doing some finishing touches cleaning some roses.

Our part of the set looked beautiful and vibrant, clearly the beautiful colors of Spring. If only the weather felt the same way…

We arrived on set at about 6:45am and I had some last minute things to do….like clean thorns off the roses so the co-hosts would not cut themselves.  Once everything is in place and Ed went through hair and makeup, you wait.  Ed was whisked away outside, put on set, cameras rolled, fun ensued and then it was done.

If you missed the segment, you can watch it here. A job well done Ed Libby!

James with his own gum paste product through Fondarific. You can buy his product here: http://shop.fondarific.com/product.sc?productId=29&categoryId=9

Who did I find in the mix?  My friend and baker James Rosselle,  he was making an appearance.  He was manning the Fondarific booth with owner Lois Judy.  Fondarific is what James chooses to fondant his cakes in and even has his own product with the company.  I had the opportunity to try a few samples (orange and cinnabon, both really yummy!) and Lois demonstrated for me how thin the fondant can be rolled out. It seemed like a pretty easy product to work with. There are lots of different flavors to choose from and the colors are really pretty.  Besides, James seems pretty happy with it.

James and I at Catersource in Las Vegas, NV. It’s always fun hanging out with him, and this time was no different. Why go for dinner when you can go out for dessert – that’s how James’ roles…