Don't miss these favorite NYIAD wedding and event planning articles.
- Deeply Rooted Love
In the myriad design options for brides and grooms to choose, a new, emerging motif is dovetailing beautifully with the current interest in farming, simplicity, and sweetness: beloved, humble fruits and vegetables.
- Weddings Around the World
Students from all over the world enroll in our Wedding and Event Planning course; a small reminder that marriage truly is a common human tradition. But while every marriage is and has always been essentially the same – a ritual or ceremony bonding the couple and a party with friends and family to celebrate – the details differ widely, and delightfully, across cultures.
- Harvest Nuptuals: Barn Weddings
Farm and barn weddings are becoming one of the most popular ways to celebrate fall nuptials, and with good reason. A bucolic setting chock full of rustic charm and cozy, rough-hewn buildings is hard to turn down at harvest time. All of the colors and splendors of the season are realized on the farm: pumpkins, apples, squash, and wheat; hot cider, maple syrup, sweet honey; freshly-baled hay and gold, red, and brown leaves. It’s impossible to not be inspired.
- Library Weddings
Libraries are iconic structures, anchoring schools, universities, communities, and urban centers—but in recent years they have assumed a new role: as venues and inspirations for modern brides and grooms. And why not? A library can be found in almost every town and city and are fundamentally user-friendly.
- Peacock Weddings
Imagine a nervous gentleman. He is shyly, cautiously approaching a woman whom he has been admiring for awhile. He knows she has other admirable suitors from which to choose. He finally gets her attention and presents a dazzling display of iridescence and beauty. Will she take him to be hers? No, this is not the tale of a groom presenting the love of his life with a sparkling diamond – it’s the courting ritual of the peafowl, the male member of which is known familiarly as a peacock.
- Beach Weddings
Rustic vineyards, weathered barns, chic downtown studios, clipped garden estates – all of these are wonderful wedding settings. But of all the dream locations to celebrate “I Do,” perhaps none stands out as much as the beach.
- Garden Weddings
I recently heard a story about a bride who was very specific about her wedding palette: she wanted "the color of new beginnings." What did she mean? Spring green of course: that soft chartreuse shade of new shoots and sprouts. It was the perfect color for her June nuptials.
- Special Report: Mary Cleaver
In recent years, food has become a social and political issue. Amidst the larger movement of go-green eco-consciousness, American consumers are increasingly thinking about the impact of what we eat and where it comes from. A movement towards a diet based on local, organic, or sustainable foodstuffs has swept the country and the message can be found everywhere from restaurants to pop culture.
- Quinceanera — A Latin American Celebration of a Girl.
Two of the most important events in a Mexican woman's life are undoubtedly her Quinceanera and her wedding day. These two milestones celebrate an ascendance for the woman from one stage of life to another — in the former, a coming-of-age; in the latter, a lifelong commitment — and both are marked with similar rites and traditions that are deeply embedded in Mexican culture.
- With this Ring, Another Ring
An anniversary commemorates the completion of a year centered around a specific event. We celebrate all kinds of anniversaries but nothing more commonly than that of a wedding. The word "anniversary" is derived from the Latin annus, meaning year. In good company with the wedding band (an infinite, unbroken circle), the circular nature of our calendar year allows married couples and their families to celebrate the date of their original union again and again.
- Wedding Trends: Putting the You Back in "I Do"
Everyone wants to be a star — and when are you more famous and beautiful than at your own wedding?
- A Lot of a Little Looks Lovely
The invitations. The dress. The catering hall. The food and beverage. The band. The photographer. The limousine. The flowers. The cake!
- Simple, Sweet, and Chic: Contemporary Centerpieces
In this age of environmental consciousness, many designers are turning to vintage motifs, recycled goods, and simple, organic materials. Coupled with the economic recession, this movement has evolved to be both ecologically and economically sensitive. An aesthetic of polished, sweet simplicity has taken hold, and modern brides are reveling in the undeniable charms of a pared-down approach to wedding design.
- Trading Wedding Bells for Waves on the Beach
Looking for a non-traditional way to tie the knot? How about a wedding "By the Sea". Join us as we go behind the scenes of an ocean-side ceremony.
- Green Weddings
If you think that in order to have a low carbon footprint a wedding has to have the bride in a potato-sack dress and the honeymoon at a campsite, think again.
- Wedding Themes — French Inspiration
While trying to wrack my brain to come up with an idea for a wedding article to fit our "April in Paris" theme this month, I came across details of a recent wedding that used Paris as an inspiration point. So stunning was the design, I immediately contacted the event’s planner and photographer for permission to feature the wedding in Designer Monthly.
- When Good Flower Girls Go Bad
As a wedding coordinator, I am often called on to coordinate not just the reception, but the wedding ceremony as well. Each reception is different and presents its own set of c hallenges, but the ceremony should be the easy part. Most Western ceremonies are similar and there is really only so much a coordinator can do, so my assistance is usually limited to the processional.
- Wedding Photography: The Art and Artifacts of Your Wedding Day
Today, wedding photography is taking unconventional swings. "Wedding portraits can be so much more than a bride and groom standing in front of a fountain," says photographer Jeff Tisman. He started out his career doing fashion and music photography and later got into wedding photography. He does his posed shots in a more relaxed and artsy way; others are black and white candids with a rock 'n roll edge.
- Day-of Wedding Coordinating: Bad Planning? Deal With It.
If you are working as a day-of wedding coordinator, chances are you did not have any input on the choices that were made for the event. But it is your job to make the best of even the worst decisions.
- Wedding Location: From Concept to Creation
Your wedding venue frames the occasion. It should reflect your sensibilities as a couple; as a result, the quest for a wedding location involves a lot of creativity. "When couples are just starting to plan a wedding, I ask them questions like: What gets you excited? When have you been happiest? What have you enjoyed doing the most together?" says wedding and event planner Kelven Book.
- The Guide to Wedding Attire for the Descriminating Bride
Shopping for wedding attire isn't easy. For many women, the wedding gown is a representation of personality, reality, fantasy, and style. Finding one can be dizzying; rules are vanishing, fashion is constantly changing, and there are more options available than ever before.
- Wedding Disaster? Wedding Solution: Take this Coat and Shove It!
Real life examples of how one NYC Wedding Coordinator has dealt with potential wedding and event disasters and the lessons she learned in the process. When working in weddings and events you need to be prepared to do anything and handle everything. No matter how thorough everyone involved might be, something totally unexpected can always pop up.
- Green Weddings
There's a lot to consider when planning your wedding: the guest list, the catering, the flowers, whether you've chosen the right person to meet you at the altar — no, not that last one. But today's couples are faced with yet another choice: how to minimize the damage to the planet that can be caused by a big gathering.
- Floral Wedding Design
Everyone loves a wedding. The bride, who of course is the centerpiece of the event, is glowing. The groom, perhaps relieved that the planning is over, is thrilled. Family and friends are giddy with celebrating the union of two people they love.
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