NY Market Highlight : Meeting Darcy Miller

So I missed Martha by 5 MINUTES!!! Unbelievable! The Martha Stewart Party is always THE event during Market and it is a who's who of the bridal world. Who cares who's who- I wanted to meet Martha! By all accounts she looked fabulous and was very friendly. Not all was in vain, however. I did meet and chat with Darcy Miller (MS Weddings) and Bee Kim (Wedding Bee) about blogging in the bridal world. I had met Darcy once before in the past, but was once again impressed by her unpretentious demeanor and most gracious personality. Though not Martha, I felt amazingly fortunate to be able to meet and speak about my little blog with such an influential woman.

A frightfully fun evening

I've never been one for Halloween. Sure, I would don a costume occasionally, but I could never quite get into the over the top decorating and the "ghoulish" spirit of it all. This year was different, though. This year I looked at Halloween as more of a welcome to Fall and a true beginning to the holiday festivities. It seemed that everywhere I turned, I was inspired by the limitless number of fantastic entertaining ideas. What else could I do but host a Halloween dinner party? No costumes or bloody monsters, just great food, witty conversation, and a hysterical game of Cranium (for more on this, visit my other blog- you won't be sorry!). Do I sense a new tradition for the Palmers?

It's good to be home

I just got back from the New York Bridal Market with Erin Cole and cannot wait to share the highlights in the coming days. As always, there was a ton of work to be done, but the experience is always well worth the effort. The lines for Spring are going to blow you away! Oh, how I wish I had more time to post! I am simply too tired and am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. All said, it is great to be back, even if flying in last night looked as if we were flying straight into the fiery depths of Hell.

A sneak peek of the Erin Cole clan at the end of day 1:

l-r: Erin, Karin, Han, me (No, Erin and I are not sisters!)

And I'm off!

Posts will be sparce for the next week as I prepare and leave for Market. I'll be back on the 24th with reviews of the new lines from all of your favorite designers as well as a re-cap of all of the festivities! In the meantime I'll leave you with this pretty pink gown from Luisa Beccaria.

image from Martha Stewart

My wedding in Brides magazine!

OK, I may be exaggerating just a tad, but a photo from my wedding will be featured in the November/December issue of Brides! Granted, I'm not even in the photo and it may end up only being about a half inch in size on page 562 after all of the advertisements, but I may as well have made the cover!

The photo was one of a few taken by my matron of honor and amazing photgrapher, Natalie Moser. Although she was not shooting the entire wedding (she was a little preoccupied stuffing favor boxes and tying programs!), I was so happy that she was able to capture a few of my favorite pre-ceremony images. I am very excited for her to have won the 2007 Brides Magazine/WPJA Photography Contest (read more about the judges' comments here) and to appear in such a fabulous publication. This is a great honor and I'm sure just one of many more to come!

The winning image:

I remember this moment so vividly. The music had just begun and we were taking turns sneaking peaks as the guests were entering the ceremony site. My flower girls were restless and clearly ready to "get it over with"! The anticipation was incredible!

A few more of my favorites from Natalie:

Sale!

Martha Stewart Halloween decorations are on sale at Michael's. Hurry, they're going fast!

Yes, it's time...

...to think about Christmas cards, can you believe it? Sugar Paper has just introduced their new line of holiday cards and invitations. Sugar Paper is one of my favorite boutique card shops and letterpress studios. It's amazing that I can spend an hour in a shop the size of my bedroom!

Got my tickets!

I just booked my tickets for New York for this month's Bridal Market. I will be at The Waldorf Towers with Erin Cole to show our new line as well as to purchase for the salon. I can't wait to see what the new lines look like for Spring. It took some fanagling and I wasn't sure I could make it, but boy am I looking forward to it! Any of you planning to attend?

You need this!

Is it wrong to love something as simple as a basket? While visiting Pretty Little Things I was reminded of one of my absolute favorite things, the collapsible basket. OK, it doesn't really collapse all that easily because of the side supports, but you will be using it so much you will never need to collapse it! It appears that Sur La Table has recently added these to their offerings, but I first found these a couple years ago through Garnet Hill (they're a couple of dollars cheaper here, too!). Yeah, Garnet Hill of all places! Well, I loved them so much I bought one for each of my bridesmaids. Since then, I have convinced everyone I know to buy one of these. You can use them for anything. I use mine for the beach, for hauling all of my things when planning a wedding, for the farmer's market, for taking things from my car to the house, everything! I personally prefer the solid colors, but the prints can be fun as well. Trust me, buy one of these. You will not be disappointed.

Haunted Mansion Inspiration

Inspiration can come from unexpected places. Case in point- I was at Disneyland this weekend and while in line for the Haunted Mansion (which, by the way, is currently decorated as The Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween), I couldn't help but notice the fabulous urn arrangements. I love the idea of using living plants for centerpieces and arrangements as opposed to cut flowers. I was also struck by the use of black with the autumn colors instead of the more predictable brown. Of course you would have to take care to not make it look too "halloweeny" (no, I don't believe this a word) and I would probably forgo the skulls and tombstones! (Forgive the not-so great photos, the people behind were not very accommodating of my holding up the line to take pictures!)

Post Pink

From October 1-14, Sprinkles will donate all proceeds of their strawberry cupcakes to the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Research Fund.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don't know of a single person who has not been affected in some way by breast cancer. It's amazing how many companies are now "thinking pink" by developing products whose proceeds directly impact breast cancer research. Throughout the month I will post on some of my favorites.