Showcase at Eagle Oaks

Part of working in the wedding/ Bar mitzvah industry is taking part in event showcases. These are gatherings for future brides and their families to come and meet all sorts of relavent vendors in one place.

Eagle Oaks golf and country club in Farmingdale, NJ is a stunning location for a special event, and they hosted a wonderful bridal show on Feb. 16, 2011. Over 50 Brides-to-be came with family and friends and mingled with photographers, djs, and for the first time, a live event artist. Sometimes at a showcase people do not understand exactly what I do just by glancing over at my set up. Once I explain to them that I come to their wedding and create a painting depicting the scene of the reception or ceremony live, for guests to see, and them to take home at the end of the evening; most want to book my services on the spot.

I'm very pleased to announce that Eagle Oaks Golf and Country Club now has me on their website as a preferred vendor, and I look foward to creating many live wedding paintings there.

The Venetian in Garfield Live Wedding Painting

One of the most popular wedding venues in NJ right now is the Venetian in Garfield, NJ. They recently renovated their palazzo ballroom, and its just stunning. The room has a very high ceiling and can be uplit in various colors, really adding to the feeling of a reception. There are massive crystal chandeliers, and the whole room has a very regal and Italian feel.

For this wedding the ceiling was lit with shades of pink and purple, and the dancefloor was soaked in green and yellow from the gel lights above. The Cake was atleast 5 feet tall, so sitting on the table in the ballroom it towered over guests, and was a true centerpiece for the party. In the painting I captured the bride and groom's frist dance, as well as the bride's parents, the grooms parents, and all four of the bride's  grandparents. What a lucky girl to have all four grandparents there to celebrate
 
 The centerpieces are tall glass vases with hydrangeas, ranunculas, roses and orchids dripping from the top in shades of white, cream, pale yellow, with accents of lavendar. There were smaller arangements of white tulips and purple lavendar in next to the taller arrangement. I personally love the look of different heights of flowers all on one table. There were also very modern crystal candlesticks all around the floral displays that truly illuminated each table.

The reception was actually so large (400 guests) that many of them never noticed me in the corner painting. Needless to say, when the groom presented the painting to the bride (it was his wedding gift to her ) guests were stunned and the bride cried. She told me later she managed to hold it together and not cry durring the ceremony, their first dance, or the father-daughter dance; buther new husband surprising her with the live event painting blew her mind and she couldn't hold back the tears of Joy!

http://www.thecelebrationartist.com/

November wedding at Bonnet Island Estate

The Bonnet Island Estate in Long Beach Island, New Jersey was the venue for this beautiful wedding. Located about 30 minutes from Atlantic City, this is a unique venue with a real Martha's Vineyard feel. The Bonnet Island estate was recently featured on Platinum Weddings, and the guy from American Chopper got married there this past year. I captured the bride and groom's first dance ( not an easy thing being that there were 200 guests in a ballroom that holds 125 ).

Vendors:

The Bonnet Island Estate http://www.bonnetislandestate.com/
Jason Craig Orchestras http://www.jasoncraig.com/

About a month prior to this beautiful summer wedding at B'nai Tikvah, in North Brunswick, NJ, the groom called me wanting to surprise his bride. This grrom owns a party planning showcase business called Next Event Party Showcase. He said that he and his bride-to-be  had seen my work and loved it, and he knew having me paint their wedding reception would be a perfect surprise and a unique wedding gift to his new wife.Needless to say, the bride was speechless, and guests absolutely loved to watch as the painting unfolded. This was a beautiful wedding, and the icing on the cake for me is that B'nai Tikvah is one of my favorite NJ wedding venues and its all because I love their food! I'm posting a link to their caterer below.

Some of this weddings vendors:.

http://www.classicalcaterers.com/

http://www.missiondance.com/

http://www.davidtoddphoto.com/

ian@nexteventpartyshowcase.com