More, more, more: Liz & Sean, the MCA and a Real Wedding to remember

With the weekend almost here - & a wet, wet, wet one forecast for our home town - I thought those spending the coming days curled up with their lap top seeking inspiration for their wedding day might enjoy seeing more of the styling touches from Liz & Sean's wedding day at the MCA.

Now these images I captured with my trusty Canon DSLR (point, shoot, works most of the time...yay), so no comparing with what Trish from tealily photography captured & was published in Real Weddings, okay?

And we've also been good & updated our online hire depot, so if any of the items here catch your eye, it's all available for hire - the turquoise blue candlesticks; the mirror table runners; conical glass candlesticks in a range of sizes (I love how they allow us to tuck fresh blooms within); the footed glass vases filled with massed arrangements of white peonies, hydrangea, david austen roses & lissianthus (well flowers for sale not hire but you know what I mean); the tiffany blue, white & darkest charcoal table linens; white chesterfield ottomans; oversized ornately framed mirrors & more.

The stationery we designed just for Liz will be on our online stationery store soon too, but those who don't want to wait that long, just drop us line.

But my favourite shot? Steven Khalil, who designed the dress for his friend Liz, fussing over her just before she made her big entrance. And the simple beauty of the peony bouquet: there's nothing tricky here, just superb blooms at their peak. More wedding flowers should be like this, methinks.

Enjoy. Alicia x

Liz & Sean, the MCA and a Real Wedding to remember

At last, at last it's here. We've been a little bit excited waiting for the always divine, stylish, chic and inspirational June issue of Real Weddings magazine to arrive on the stands and here you can see why. We loved styling this wedding. We loved working for this gorgeous couple (inside and out). And we love the fact we can share all its gorgeous details in living colour with you now courtesy of the talents of Trish from tealily photography, who captured the day so, so beautifully through her lens. We look forward to sharing many more details with you tomorrow.



Enjoy



x

On our marks, get ready, design ten tables now

Our blog has been feeling decidedy unloved because we've been busy working on designing several corporate events, meeting with lots of brides to be and spending time in the country preparing for a very special event later this year, so as we turn to the next thing on our to do list -- designing at least ten different table looks for the open night at Centennial Parklands Dining next month --we thought we'd share some of our favourite tables from the open day we styled at this beautiful Sydney venue in February.

The only thing that makes this fun job so hard is sticking to only designing ten (ok let's make it twelve) tables when we have so much delicious new stock on the shelves in our hire depot and more on the way.

We hope you enjoy the inspiration and if you are wanting to attend the open night on Thursday July 8 (gorgeous canapes, a glass or two of bubbles, the opportunity to see the venue's tables dressed in lots of different ways... what's not to love) cross over to our facebook page, drop us a line and we'll organise an invite for you.

Till soon,

Alicia x

Let Them Eat Cake #2, New York, New York #5

You have to love a dancing cup cake. We did. This New York institution had queues ten deep at the counter when we called in. When we finally made it to the counter we could see and smell why.

Leaving aside the cup cake flavours (not that you would want to when they include chocolate, vanilla, lemon, maple & walnut, lemon poppy, orange & carrot), it was the icing art that caught our attention.

How perfect would these be gracing a spring or garden wedding?

Butter, sugar, colouring and flavouring, apparently in the hands of someone with the right talent, can be transformed into the most delectable blossoms. It's not an icing decorating style we're particularly familiar with in Australia (please let us know if you know of a similar local talent), but it is simply gorgeous, delectable, almost too pretty to eat.

We could try and put it better than the New York Magazine but won't try: “The blossoms on Cupcake Café’s cakes set co-owner Ann Warren’s cakes apart... her colors, shapes, and arrangements seem to bloom from roots beneath the frosting.”

The cupcake craze sweeping the bridal market as an alternative to a more traditional wedding cake shows no sign of abating (thank you Martha Stewart, thank you Miranda and Carrie in that episode of Sex and the City where they devour some on a bench outside Magnolia Bakery in Bleeker Street).

The cupcakes I've photographed here are beautiful examples, and we've got some incredibly talented cake designers in Australia who do wonders in the miniature (Cake Occasions for one), but we're sorry to report we've also witnessed some really, really poor examples of the art at too many weddings. Just be careful when shopping around, and don't base your decision on price alone or you could end up spending the night with a new husband on your right, and a tier of cupcakes on your left that look like a labour of love by your baby brother for his school's mother's day bake stall (and yes, scary but true some have looked that bad and there was no brother involved).

Contrary to perception, cup cakes, if done with the love, care and attention they deserve, are not a cheaper alternative to the trad cake. To decorate one this beautifully, and then duplicate it 100, 150, 250 times over, is every bit as labour intensive as a three tier creation.

So enjoy these delectable cup cakes in mind and spirit, if not in person, and we hope they inspire you to create little wonders of your own - be it at home, or for the party of your life (call in the professionals).

Alicia x

Let Them Eat Cake #1, New York, New York #4

What a gem of a cake artist studio. And we wish we could share the recipe for their triple chocolate spice cookie with you (but we're working on it).

We visited City Cake's Marc Matthias to get a feel for what the ultimate cakes look like in New York and were blown away by the attention to detail and creativity of the team behind this leading studio.

With clients like Kate's Paperie (the exquisite green cymbidium orchid cake you can see above and alongside, and more on this incredible stationery store soon), Rachel Ray (an extraordinarily detailed bowl of spaghetti bologonese on a red and white checked place mat) and a couple who commissioned a massive $US4000 crocodile cake for their reception at the top of the Rockerfeller Centre (they'd married in a swamp), chef Marc Matthias and cake artist Benny Rivera, are on the city's must-call list for event cakes with a difference.

We loved this tower of cushions in their window, the detail of the cherry blossom (see below), the whimsy of their royalty cake which took a painstaking 20 hours to create and mould (see below), and being able to take a peek at the original artworks that are the starting point for each and every one of the cakes that you can see here. And unlike a lot of the cake studios in Australia - they still bake their own on site, specialising in the liquor soaked cakes that are a Latin American speciality. Harder to mould...but so worth the effort when it comes to eating them.

We asked Marc what the hottest cake trends in NYC are, and he said it's all about the personal (the alligator cake case in point). Whilst corporate clients have always aimed for a cake that represents them, their message or the fun of the theme party they are staging, wedding couples are finally moving away from the traditional and incorporating motifs and designs that mean something to them (at Form Over Function we've been encouraging this for some time, too).

Marc shows us photos of the chic, sleek wedding cake enveloped in octopus tentacles because it meant something to the couple, as well as a dizzying array of grooms cakes which are apparently hot, hot, hot. Bride gets the pretty, chic or whimsical cake of her dreams; groom gets the car/the golf bag/the surfboard cake of his dreams (one had a butt cake created - yes, a female derriere in red knickers).

The grooms cake is not a trend that has taken off in Australia yet, but we work with cake designers who would love to see this happen. It's quite a nice idea really, especially when it's a wedding where the bride gets the whole thing to look like her vision, rather than theirs (something we try to gently discourage at Form Over Function - it's a wedding for two, not one after all).

Enjoy the edible inspiration.

Alicia x

Linen Hire Heaven - New York, New York #3

The party starts here - wish we'd thought of that slogan.

When Form Over Function launched into the blogosphere earlier this month one of our missions was to bring you a behind-the-scenes peek into the event industry, and here in New York, there would be practically no event that does not start here - at Cloth Connection.

With thousands of options - yes thousands - to choose from, it is no surrpise to learn that this is the place the crews from Martha Stewart and Preston Bailey come to pick the tablecloths, overlays, table runners, napkins and chair ties for the events they style.

As did Donald Trump for his own wedding (well his stylists anyway) and apparently people with $US500,000 to drop on a Project Runway themed sweet sixteen birthday party for their daughter.

When we visited this week, manager Laurie Brown was preparing a box of samples to ship to a client with a $US50,000 budget -- yes, you read that right -- allocated to styling just the place card table at a bar mitzvah.

Now if Sydney had a population of 9 million and counting, our linen racks at Form Over Function would look just like this (but check out the all things fabric section of our hire depot and you'll be spolit for choice anyway, and there's many new linen lines to be added just as soon as we're back from our Manhattan adventure).

Cloth Connection may cater for events with 1000 tables (that's no typo), and offer every linen on its racks in five sizes, but one thing Form Over Function has in common with this US giant, which began its life as a home business operating from a kitchen table just 25 years ago, is a passion for the way fabric transforms an event space, and a mission to custom make at every opportunity to ensure clients get exactly what they're looking for.

Adding overlays or replacing a venue's exisiting tablecloths is a must: not only does it allow you to put your own mark on a space, and introduce colour and texture to your tables, but it also ensures that the seriously inferior linens many venues provide don't play a starring role at your party.

We're sorry to report that too many venues skimp on their linen and hire in cheap polyester tablecloths. Straight out of their packets and onto the tables, as well as awful to the touch, they are heavily creased, sometimes stained, and never ever cover the ugly table legs of venue tables.

It was nice to discover someone else shares our obsession with a need to lay the groundwork for a beautiful event from the linens up. Just like us at Form Over Function, Cloth Connection hand-presses all its specialty linens and invests in devising ways to pack stock for transport with minimum crease lines (and we never, ever leave home without our steamer).

We love the overlays created for a denim and diamonds themed party (so Dallas) we show above, and the delicious extravagance of these sheer organza overlays with shimmer discs and lush feather edging.

But for a total over the top, only-in-America linen option (sorry but it's true) we could not go past these decadent croteched overlays created from a lavender and sparkle yarn.

We hope you're as inspired as we are by the delicious fabric possibilities here and check out our ever growing racks soon!

Alicia x

Spring Blossom Shower Brides - New York, New York #2

We're in love with spring.

It is literally raining spring blossom in New York's Central Park at the moment, and while we were busy strolling through its glades looking up at the beautiful and constant shower of petals raining down on us (and being grateful we don't suffer from hayfever) we came across two couples making the most of this spectacular backdrop for their wedding photos.

If you're dreaming of a wedding featuring the romance of spring blossom, get thee to a calender and map [or organise a wedding in Manhattan in mid to late April, we'd be very, very, very happy to help you make it happen ;-) ].

Over the years we've had many a bride disappointed to discover that blossom is not in season in December or March or June.

Branches of spring blossom start making their appearance at the Sydney flower markets in late August, early September, and are usually over by mid October.

But a warm winter can bring them on early. Or a bitterly cold one delay them. This is one bloom growers have no control over - they happen when they happen.

If you are wanting an outdoor ceremony with a tree blossom background, head to the southern highlands region two hours out of Sydney to find a location, and aim for a September/October spring wedding.

The lower reaches of the Blue Mountains (as well as its peaks) will also offer the possibility of a blossom wedding, as will Melbourne's city parks, and that city's beautiful hinterland regions.

Want to stay local? Keep your eyes peeled in spring, and take notice of where the blossom trees in your own neighbourhood may be - even if you don't end up with a blossom ceremony, there's no reason you can't have some images taken under the beautiful tree of an obliging neighbour.

Now Form Over Function will happily venue scout for you, and do the local, on the ground research to find you the photographic backdrop of your dreams, but if you are a do-it-yourself bride, make sure you take the time to speak to locals with an intimate knowledge of the area's floral seasons, and who know which tree is which, so there is no let down for you on the day when what you thought was a cherry blossom tree turns out to be a blossom-free Japanese maple.

Till soon

Alicia x

Flowers to go. Super size me. New York, New York #1

Ok, we've all heard about the super size meals, the bottomless cups of alleged coffee (sorry but we'll take espresso every time), but our visit to the Manhattan flower markets on 28th street between 6th and 7th Avenues had me doing a double take on more than one occasion.

You want your flowers big?

This was a case of blooms on steroids.

I have never seen roses, hyacinth, phallaenopsis orchids, hypericum berry, ranunculus, blossom or peony roses this large (and there was more, much more).

See for yourselves, this caramel coloured rose below - the combo rose - is an Israel import. Measure across the top of the open rose and it was more than 12cm across.
Most of the large headed roses in Australia are Colombian imports, and they would struggle to compete either size or beauty wise with this specimen.
















We came across the combo rose in Soho's Adore Me florist, and it took a lot of self control not to ask one of its lovely designers , Sarah, if we could jump across the counter and get to work pairing them with chocolate coloured succulents, aged lotus pods, some pale coffee coloured gingers (not that either of the last two were on the floor to be able to work with!).

We're looking forward to hassling our suppliers to see if they can start to bring this beauty to our shores too.

This is Adore Me on the left, and we spent a bit of time chatting with Sarah about bridal flower trends in Manhattan.

It's shifted from magenta and lime green with a touch of blue, to all reds and a move to the use of more interesting pieces to create more textured arrangements and bouquets, incorporating for example, pods and succulents.

Sounds like our kind of trend. Only we can report this has been at work in Australia for some time: Form Over Function, and other Sydney floral designers whose work we love, like Saskia from Grandiflora, were incorporating succulents, pods and husks into bouquets and arrangements at least a decade ago.

But wandering the flower district I can understand why New Yorkers and Martha Stewart Inc have been reluctant to let go of the softer, prettier arrangements that are a hallmark of this city's top floral designers.

There is an abundance of choice of blooms here that would spoil anyone. A direct result of a mass population that is there, ever eager to buy whatever is put out on the floor, and a case of the more is more.
















On the plus side for Sydneysiders, many of our best flowers are grown just kilometres from the markets. It does not get any fresher than David Austen roses picked off the bush late on Thursday afternoon and at the markets by midnight, ready for us to buy at 5am on Friday morning.

It also allows florists such as ourselves to have a very personal relationship with our growers - we've had some of Form Over Function's growers of choice hold back on harvesting blue hydrangeas just for us so we would have enough for a booked event, or plant a special stash of callas to ensure we would have what we needed for a particular date.

The New York flower markets have shrunk in the name of progress to a very large block, pushed back by the space hungry needs of this constantly evolving city taking over its warehouses to turn into apartments and office space.

Unlike the Sydney flower markets, which are done and dusted by 9am at the latest six days a week, and really only have the best suppliers there Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the markets here are open seven days a week, all day, and instead of one large warehouse, there are dozens of massive stores crammed with flowers, plants, trees (amazing what will grow on a rooftop here), as well as tools of the trade.

We're looking forward to sharing more images of the world's biggest cut flowers soon - but this city waits for no-one and we're outta here for now to go forth and seek inspiration.

Alicia x