not enough blogging…

Went out for dinner with a photographer friend the other night…

Was told i need to blog more..i laughed, when? a good excuse of no time, yet as i reflected i saw that there is always time if one wishes to take advantage of it. We choose to keep life on pause, keep the here and now in full throttle, and think when i get some “free” time i will do just that…guess what? all time comes with a price.

we all need to communicate more, so recently i have taken to writing more, to old friends from College days. You know catch up, reconnect, feel that sense of the roots of friendship and shared experiences.  It has been amazing to see that they are grandparents, have made wonderful strides in life. What i see is that Its like connecting with brides from the past. We have a shared time together that with some lasted for a year or in some cases two! They all move on, and the next thing i know they are calling us for their kids parties and times of celebration and sometimes their times of sorrow.

As “florists” we are very similar to your hair dresser or that talkative dentist, we pop in and out of your lives as needed, yet we catch up quickly and connect once again about the trials and victories they have had. The same has been to catch up with these old friends of mine who wandered off to life, as i did, and we pop back into each others lives, just as if nothing has happened. Its really amazing that we can almost put a “pause button” in our hearts for people we love, and feel no loss to time. Maybe its that great ability of knowing that life’s values are not in the “things” or the “stuff” but in the lives lived and lived well…

so i shall attempt to share more here of the fun we have everyday…from events to the personal.

is that better oh wonderful photographer friend??? thanks for the motivation and inspiration.

Fresh 2008

Take a space and make it FRESH…here you will see a room transformed …

 Here is the start of FRESH…Jen and Daryl with David and Venus amongst the lemon trees…very pretty.

 

 here Megan does Venus…the set up at this point is getting done.we try and do things with more organization than this shows, but for the most part we do have fun. 

 

 What is FRESH? it is an industry trade show for the Philadelphia Region of ISES. What is ISES? it is the industry for Event Professionals. What happens at a Fresh event? besides a lot of eating, networking , drinking and loud music? we get FRESH ideas for Events. .. we get inspired by some of the most talented people i have ever met. Philadelphia is the third largest city in America, (depending on who you ask), with a wonderful city full of venues, the old Victorians mansion, new cutting edge spaces, Charity events, Corporate events, there is some thing to do every night of the year here. and most of all those Events are designed, with lights, photographers, music, flowers you nameit. Imagine what we would do without potty Queen? there ya go.In event world there are many unsung heroes, the behind the scene makers of magic. This is our evening to admire the creative genius  that we all bring to our Clients, and share in our collective desires to produce excellence in production. 

Here is our crew, Jennifer Angelo Design: Draping and Props, Hope and Dona:designers, Denise Sartoelli: Culinary Concepts, and one of our Crew members who dressed up as an Imp to hand out information and flutter amid the Venetian Garden.. 

Special THANKS to all the Vendors who were in our POD as well…

 

•  NACE: National Association of Catering Executives
• Studio Nine: Photography by Jonathan Rubin
• Marilyn Zeff: professional card reader.
• Studio Signs
• Carolyn Diamond: makeup artist to the stars
• Potty Queen
• Big Events: Lighting
• AMP: Audio Visual

Dinner with Style-after the plates are cleared….

 

Dinner with Style has again happened.  memories are of a wonderful night, filled ballrooms, lots of food, drink, music…This year’s Dinner with STYLE, held at the Hyatt Penn’s Landing on Jan. 21, not only raised over $200,000 for PAWS, but also featured 25 of the most gorgeous tablescapes in the history of the event. Please browse the photos and select your favorite tablescape design. We would hope you would vote for us!The best picture that somewhat shows our table top design…was for Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House. We were honored to design for the DMG Group, which comprises of Kildare’s, Doc Magrogan’s and Grady David’s.The tables were done to reflect the Old World with the New World flavor, which the DMG Group has married so well. Starting with the draping, we draped our section in deep aubergine velvet, with stain glass windows hung for each pod, and then we flooded the space with teal blue pin spots to add even more drama to the space.Our goal was to have the guests feel they were outside of the castle walls, sitting amongst the gardens enjoying the warmth of an evening dinning experience.The tables were draped in colors that we felt reflected the heart of each Restaurant. For Kildare’s we used the green moss colors of Ireland. The chairs were from Ireland as well, hand hewn wood and very stately. Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House was in turquoise to reflex the Ocean’s harvest. Grady David’s which is one of the more contemporary of all the restaurants was draped in honey bear linens to express the warmth and style of Grady’s.All the tables were connected in design by pewter water goblets, pewter chargers and votives of lime green, blue and amber. Each corner of the “pods” were decorated with our new iron extension hangers, standing over 5′ in height. Each hook held a long brick of florals, comprised of English garden roses of red, lavender and dusty royal pink, then draped with red and green Amaranthus, artichokes and mosses. Each post was then decorated with a variety of sized moss balls.Finally the tables were all scaped with small glass squares of hyacinths in lavender, purple and pinks, creating a garden floor for the dinners to feel the warmth of an old world experience.Please click on the link below and enjoy the great designs of so many talented Decorators.We thank you for taking the time to vote for us. Remember, that the pictures that are posted were not of the best quality.We hope that this description helps you picture it better.

The winner will be announced on Monday, Feb. 18!

 

 

Dinner with Style-2008

This past Monday night after a weekend of putting together a wonderful event in Princeton for the Eden Institute. We had a blast table decorating for Dinner with Style.30 chefs had “pods” that sat 12, each table was decorated for COMPETITION. You  will soon be able to go on line to stylemagazine.com and vote , hopefully for us! We decorated for the DMG Group, which is Kildare’s, Grady David’s and Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House.  Will be posting pictures soon for both events. The Eden Institute which holds an annual event to raise funds for Autism, is something we have supported for many years. This year’s event was themed, an Evening in Venice. It was so beautiful and packed with fun. Just wanted to get a note out to all our readers, more to follow. loves, hope Another update: voting starts Feb. 1-15, go to http://www.phillystylemag.com  They raised $200,000 for PAWS, which is great for this small Charity!! 

US Artists Show-H&D Design will be there!

 We will be decorating the upcoming US Artist show October 19-21st at the 33rd Street Armory held by the Women’s Board of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. We are very excited to have “our artwork” on display for so many. If you love the Art’s this is a wonderful show to go to. They bring in these awesome Galleries and you can view their best pieces all in one place. They also have a “new collectors” which features pieces of up and coming artists. A great way to start collecting. My daughter who is studying to become an Artist, and who is in the Honors Art Program at Abington H.S. , ( no pride there..)  was saying to me that she took for granted the original pieces we have in our home.Collecting has always come easily to me not just because of the years of study. It’s that as you go along and see something, and you just know that its something that will evoke a thought, an emotion, a memory.

Here is more information that I got from their website for your enjoyment….

USArtists: American Fine Art Show is the major annual fund raising event created, organized and chaired by the Women’s Board of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to benefit the Academy’s mission. The world’s largest show of American Art is held the third weekend in October at the 33^rd Street Armory in Philadelphia. In 2007 the 16^th annual USArtists show will run Friday through Sunday, October 19, 20 & 21, with a gala opening on Thursday, October 18.

USArtists is a celebration of American artistic talent, reflecting the vitality, history and uniqueness of our nation’s art. Since USArtists debuted in 1992, critics have praised it as “the premier American art fair.” USArtists is an opportunity for collectors and art lovers to see, under on roof, what is available in the art market from leading galleries across the country.

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is American’s oldest art museum and school of fine arts. The Academy’s museum collections and exhibitions display the work of distinguished American artists including Benjamin West, Charles Willson Peale, Thomas Eakins, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Robert Henri, John Twatchaman, Georgia O’Keefe, Richard Diebenkorn and Helen Frankenthaler.

Fresh Breeze.

A fresh breeze. A theme we have been developing this season.
Its full of earthly elements, wind, water and light.
Palms fresh with breezes, cool tropical waters, lighting that refreshes the soul.
This Fall we will be decorating a wedding reception that will follow a marriage in the Tropics. The bride wanted to reflect her Carribean heritage, and her Philadelphia home.
With a beautiful Venue called Colonial Danes.

There are lots of surprises to come, and will tell you more this Fall…
It will be a Colonial Carribean reception. Catering by Culinary Concepts as well. yum.
Here is a picture from an event we just did with them that will give you more of an idea of fresh breeze.

Pineapple Unside Down Centerpieces….

Okay, now thats what we call a centerpiece….
It looks heavy, but really its really not that bad.

About 7 feet in height, and somewheres around 250 sunflowers. figuring out how to make it was the real challenge. We had all sorts of ideas, and trials, then after a few days of fussing we got it. We premade the form, then trucked it over to the site for final trussing. Bet you did not know unless you are from Kansas, that sunflowers have a tar to their blooms? oh yeah, like 2 days later we were still trying to remove the black sticky substance from fingers.

It did look great when all was said and done, would we do it again? We have decided to let it go out into the design world and let you all have fun with it instead…

Think of the possibilities… a giant strawberry for a champagne flute…a James and a Giant Peach theme… oh we could become the next great thing in floral fruits…

oh wait. think we would have to get in line.

enjoy the week. h

The New Bride- A Portrait

• The new bride of today averages in age of about 27.
• She has had some College and or Graduated.
• She holds some sort of Professional Job.
• Highest percentage in decades of Home Ownership prior to marriage.
• Uses the internet for most of her needs for the up coming event.
• Has had the dog longer than the boyfriend.

Love that last one… When i started in this business, the average bride was somewhere around her early 20’s, had not left home, and would have corrected you if you said you had a blog, you must have meant dog.

Times have changed, but really the Bride has not. I learned this lesson many years ago working in a shop in L.A. , it was the early 80’s and these 2 girls came in for prom flowers. I was taken back due to the outfits they had on, totally punk-ed out. Well, i opened the book of corsages for them to look at to get some ideas, and within minutes they had picked out the cutest, pinkest, softest corsages in the book. I looked up at them and recalled, never judge a book by its cover.

The same holds true today, with how the marketing gurus tell us in our industry how brides are tending towards this, or that. They spit out these facts to us at every turn, you could judge the bridal market as such, however, it is still just a girl, wanting the day the way she has dreamed of since she was a wee thing.

This is what i have seen, the Brides today still fall into the categories that did 20-30 years ago, dang i sound old here. The ones who buy the realllly fluffy, full skirted, lots of bells and whistles gown, want romance. The ones who buy the a-line gowns, with some brocades, pearls, etc. want to incorporate romance with contemporary. The final category is the brides that fill in all the other categories, and that darling runs all over the place. We have done weddings for brides dressed in buck skins in meadows of wild flowers to city hall just got out of work for their lunch breaks. To say that today’s bride is a category would be wrong as well. What i am attempting to say is that even though times have changed, the heart of what we do will never change.

Flowers bring emotion and a sense of beauty to the day. They sometimes reflect the style of the bride, but more than that , they touch the pulse of the heart beat of the couple. Flowers project emotion. That’s another blog for another day, but i will say that if you carry yellow roses on your special day, you will forever be reminded when you see a yellow rose of that one special day.

The new bride of today…is the same one that walked the aisle miles ago before her.

She is wanting to have a moment of time, held in a bubble, that will be the starting post for a life of all the joys, loves, and adventures one can only have with someone walking beside them.

enjoy the adventure. you deserve all of them.  

2007 a New Year

 

In just a few days we will welcome a New Year this is not optional.

We will advance into our own destiny, a clean slate so to speak. On this blog i will write about the parties, and events that will shape many lives this coming year. Events that will shape lives, act as stepping stones for the years to come. Some will just be “another party” that people went to, drank, danced and ate hopefully some good food at. Yet some will be events that will live on in story tellings and pictures that capture that moment in time that symbolizes a new destiny. History of families and the people who attend will define this destiny.

Some of the best events we have attended or decorated have lasted for days. A rolling party, one that just rolls along in fun things , surprizes and moments of sheer delight. One was a Bird Mitzvah, for friends of ours whos parrot Soph was turning 13. I will write about Soph again some time, but the point is , that parties can be for anytime you wish to have friends and families together in the same spot and enjoy the milestones of life. That is what makes life so much more savoury, the time we spend not just on the day to day things but the moments we designate as meaningful times to celebrate this gift we call life.

We hope you will enjoy the pictures, stories, and celebrations we will share here. We hope you will post comments, and have some fun enjoying being apart of these events in some way. We will post about the many Charities we do decors for, and hope that you will be able to support them as well. That does make the world better, just one petal at a time…………

Have a great NEW YEAR, a prosperous, healthy, fun filled, joyful and exciting one.

enjoy the adventure. H&D Design.

Christmas Is Alive again….

Christmas has been hiding.

Over the years, I have enjoyed seeing the Seasons new styles, displayed in the Malls and windows of Philadelphia and New York. Yet somehow, over the last few seasons, it seemed less festive and bright.

Was it just me? Was i just so consumed with the Holiday tasks that i forgot the glitz that makes the Holiday bright? Is it the decor of a mall the pace maker for my holiday? I think it has always started me, as much as i hear the moans of folks when they hear the holiday radio tunes, for me it starts that little Grinch heart a beating.

As i walk the mall with my teenage daughter i find the jingle of bells and the smile of the kids as they rush past us on their roller shoes fill my holiday heart and make it beat just that much faster.

Every year after the last turkey tidbit is consumed by the ravenous holiday beasts, aka-my kids, i set forth looking to what the “elves of design” are doing at the malls and stores. I research the colors, materials, the size. All the glitter and wonderful glamour of what my house would really look like if i lived in that beach house i saw on the commercial for investing. You know the one, where the guy says, i swam here as a kid….now i own the whole dang thing. Yes, i would design that house to be seen in a dense fog.

So as i sat in the dentist chair this week, i began to think as i listened to my dentist and assistant discuss their tree decorating challenges. Jeez, i said after i was allowed to speak again, you both know we decorate a forest of trees before you all even think of putting on your first string of lights. Then as i thought more, as the sounds of dental joy surrounded me. Where is the Christmas spirit i had relished for so many years. When as a child i heard the song “you better not pout, you better not cry” for SANTA CLAUS is coming to town….i am telling you, those were factual lyrics to me.

Well, its coming on Christmas, and i am happy to report, i got my holiday groove on. We still have a herd of parties to decorate, we still have lots of making spirits bright. But as my daughter and i walked the mall, played at some stores, critiqued the decors. i am happy to report, we saw Christmas was back in all its glitz and glamour of old.

So here’s to you all, wishing you all the best of the Holidays, with all the hustles and bustles, i wish that everyone finds the time to once again enjoy the season of peace and good will.

thinks we all needs a little Christmas ….. now.