Wear What When

A Magical Event

Want your wedding to be magic? Hire a magician.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Feb 17, 2010 at 07:30AM 0 Comments

It’s probably best if no one gets sawed in half, but couldn’t a card trick or three put a little charge into your cocktail hour?

At the core of every wedding is a party; a bunch of people in full-bore celebration mode in close proximity to food, wine, and music. But because stuff sometimes happens — rain clouds create pause, salmon takes longer than expected to bake, someone doesn’t quite make it to the altar on time — it’s nice to think about creating excitement, interest, and little pockets of action throughout the event. It’s hard to imagine the gall of a guest who might dare to feel bored at a party like yours, yes, but why not guard against downtime in general with some unexpected magic.

Yes, magic.

I have a friend who always hires a fellow named Alakasam to come to her dinner parties and birthday fetes (and if that sounds anything other than perfectly random, I’m here to tell you it isn’t), and moms and dads access kid-friendly lists of performers for kids turning two or three or eight all the time. But magic, at weddings? You don’t see it all that often—which is why it’s really fun to consider it for yours.

Today we turn to Nash Fung, a master of slights-of-hand, disappearing acts, mind reading, card tricks, and all-around alchemy. Familiar to many who work in the wedding biz, Fung makes a name for himself by showing up at industry events and baffling, impressing, and entertaining his colleagues.

Here, he answers a few questions about his chosen art form, and how it works at events like yours.

Caught in the act: Nash Fung at work

Wear What When: We don’t see a lot of magic acts at weddings around here, but you’ve said other countries are into the hocus-pocus thing.

Nash Fung: Most magicians, like myself, focus on corporate events and dabble in the wedding market. There are a lot of UK professionals who bill themselves strictly as wedding magicians, and their weddings are a lot like ours. I have colleagues in Hong Kong that perform magic at weddings, too. Now, they operate differently.

Chinese weddings receptions are usually sit-down dinners with eight or nine dishes served throughout the evening. Because of that, the magician’s performances take place in-between courses. They have maybe 5-10 minutes maximum each time they perform on stage. I had the pleasure to perform for my friend’s wedding in Hong Kong three years ago. It was not easy and I do not envy my colleagues overseas.

Wear What When: Where and how does your act typically go down? How do you corral the energy and yet let the party continue to unfold organically at the same time? Is any wedding too big or too small for magic?

Fung: Typically I start during the cocktail hour, where I mingle among the guests and perform what I call interactive magic. This is great because there will be people who don’t know each other, and my interactive magic helps break the ice and brings people together.

And then I’ll do something that is different from what most other wedding magicians do. Usually the most boring part of a buffet reception is the waiting. I developed this concept with Adam Tiegs (owner of Adam’s DJ Service): I will perform one short trick (30 seconds to 3 minutes MAX) for each table, and the end of my trick signifies that the table can go get their food! So it creates a buzz among tables keeps people entertained while they’re waiting for dinner.

I’ll usually stop during dinner, but I can resume when its time to take pictures with the newly weds, or if and when people don’t want to dance.

And if they want me to do a trick on stage, I have a few quick tricks that will get everyone involved and hyped up for the reception. I choose material that is short because the real stars are the bride and groom, not me. But sometimes, they just want me to entertain their guests and turn the spot-light off of them for a minute. In fact, I met with a bride recently that specifically told me not to put them in the spot light.

Because the way I perform is by interacting and mingling from group to group, my performance is completely flexible to the time-line or the size of the party. If there are more people, it simply means that I have to be there longer to make sure I get everyone. The flexibility and unique quality of the experience makes magic a perfect entertainment solution for weddings.

Wear What When: What kinds of tricks are we talking about here? Grooms sawed in half? Guessing whether Granny pulled the Queen of Hearts from the deck? Bunnies pulled from hats?

Fung: If I have to use one word to describe my magic, I must say it is modern. My show involves magic that is visually stunning and psychologically driven. The magic is done in an intimate setting for groups of 5-10 people. You will see magic done with everyday objects, such as playing cards transforming when they are underneath your hands, coins visually disappearing, one-dollar bills turn into a-hundred dollar bills. My personal favorite is to make guests driver licenses appear in my wallet.

You can check out some of my performance videos here.

I also do pseudo mind-reading, where I combine magic and psychology. You will see me read the guests minds, influence their thoughts, as well as make them the mind-reader. One example is to have someone make a drawing, and then I read his/her mind and duplicate the drawing.

Wear What When: What is the crazy, best, or most magical thing you’ve ever seen at someone’s wedding?

Fung: A Halloween wedding I performed for last year in Issaquah was a surprise wedding. Everyone thought they were going to a Halloween party, no one knew, not even the best man or bridesmaid. They had a costume contest, and for the last award, the bride and groom came on stage and announced they are getting married. Initially, I didn’t know how it was going to work out, but everybody stood up and cheered when they heard the news. It was the highlight of my year.

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For more offbeat ideas, see our Resource Guide

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Tags: Weddings, Receptions, Party Favors, details, entertainment

Cute Quotient

Bella Cupcake wrappers take cupcakes from adorable to adorablest

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Feb 03, 2010 at 07:30AM 3 Comments

Photo: Courtesy Bella Cupcake Couture

The cutest part of a cupcake is rarely the paper lining it’s sitting in. Gold or silver foil is nice, sure, but rarely worth writing home about. Oftentimes, the cupcake is awfully darn cute on its own and no further cuteness is required. Especially in a city like this with no shortage of top-notch cupcakes. But should you require a little something extra to cute-up homemade or -gasp- store-bought miniature, self-contained cakes, it’s good to know about the local woman who invented Bella Cupcake Couture wraps.

In recent weeks a number of soon-to-be-married folks have mentioned purchasing a smaller-than-usual (and thereby cheaper) show cake for their reception and enlisting Aunt Agnes or whomever to bake cupcakes for the guests.

“Oh, so you know about Bella wraps, right?” I said, hopefully. It’s a good money-saving strategy, one we’ve written about in past issues for sure. And it’s not that I don’t have faith in Aunt Agnes, but those perfect pieces from Trophy, Royale, New York, Sugar Rush, et al don’t look perfect on accident. The people who make them have, like, higher education degrees in sweet stuff, and maybe in cute stuff, too.

So back to Bella. There are dozens of adorable designs — definitely something for every color palette and decor scheme,

If you’re thinking about a DIY solution to dessert, please do check out Bella’s list of stockists in the area, or order wrappers directly from the site and see for yourself the cupcake make-over that is just that easy with these little cuties.

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Last week on Wedding Wednesday: A slideshow of the Luxe Wedding Design’s designer wedding party at Georgetown Ballroom

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Tags: Weddings, Locally Designed, desserts, details

Secret Lives: Floral Designers

Every rose has its thorn, and every rose arranger knows balance, agility, strength, color theory, and pagan gender roles

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 20, 2010 at 07:00AM 2 Comments

Photo: Jennifer Stanton Photography

Miki Maxey of Miki’s Flowers

Remember the Secret Lives of Wedding Photographers post? You asked for more so we’re doing more. Up this week: the floral designers.

Keep in mind: This series is meant to shine some light on what goes on behind the scenes; what makes these folks crazy, and what makes their day. Fees and rates can seem awfully abstract until you walk a few paragraphs or so in the vendor’s shoes.

(Interestingly, none mentioned walking or dashing or crawling or sweating thru the wholesale flower markets. And anyone who’s ever accompanied a designer to the markets on a busy day knows how strenous and stressful - and sometimes really hurry-up-wait boring - it can be.)

So here goes. I finally had the good fortune to meet Miki Maxey of Miki’s Flowers in person a few weeks ago at Luxe Wedding Design’s smash party at Georgetown Ballroom. That’s her there, with the bright pink blooms, and this is her two cents:

Miki: I should have read the danger signs when a bride once told me all of the florists that she talked to prior to me with didn’t want to do her wedding. It was a pagan wedding. Since that was a first for me, I took on the challenge. I ended up working harder than I ever had for any other wedding for little profit. I slept little and stressed much. I had to research the history of all flowers and if they were “feminine” or “masculine” because the bride and groom both had bouquets. By request, hers had to be flowing and 15 feet long and his must be up and erect. If any of the wrong flowers were in them, I was told bad luck may come my way. All of the attendants and close friends had capes with hoods and had names like “he who flies with the eagles” and “the princess of crystal waters”. I had to run around trying to find who they were. The groom had opened toed sandals with blue fingernail and toenail polish. The placement of every single floral item had to match what symbolized east, west, north and south. I ran around Seattle trying to pick up specific bird feathers, hard to find sea moss and rare stones to place them in their arrangements. At one point, as I was decorating the ceremony site, one of the caped attendants screamed at me for stepping on the holy grass. This was in the grassy area of the U of WA urban horticulture center and there were no signs saying what was holy and what was not. There is much, much more to this story, but I’ll save that for another time.

Being a wedding florist is very different that I thought it would be in that your floral skills sometimes come hand in hand with being a therapist. Sometimes the bride, groom and/or family will get so stressed and emotional that they are completely out of character. They are not who I met at our first meeting. One bride asked me to scoop up dog poop that was in the grass. Another bride told me to fix her straps on her shoes when I was 8 & 1/2 months pregnant and couldn’t bend down (she had 30 other people standing around in her getting ready room when she asked me this). I try to remind brides that the most important thing to remember is that they are getting married to the man they love. Everything else may be important, but secondary. Luckily, many brides know this and are able to keep it together and enjoy their big day. I have definitely learned from my experiences in calming others down.

All in all, I wouldn’t trade my job for anything. I used to be a HR director, sit in an office and everyday felt the same. I felt suffocated. I still pay for my Masters of HR degree to this day and do not regret my career change. Now, every day is different, every wedding is exciting and most of all, I care deeply about each job so much that I cannot wait to get my hands on the flowers. I am very blessed to do what I do.

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Photo: La Vie Photography

Christopher Smith of Christopher Flowers

Next up, Christopher Smith of Christopher Flowers:

A bride getting married at the Seattle Asian Art Museum asked me to decorate the two camel statues in front as a bride and groom — veil and flowers for the “girl” and top hat and bow tie for the “boy.” It was a fun idea, so I said “sure!” I spent hours and hours searching for a top hat big enough to fit the statue AND that looked like a real, classic top hat. Eventually I realized that I would have to make one. Hours and hours of craft store shopping and building later I had a great-looking, giant-sized top hat. The bride and everyone loved it. Of course, as the ceremony was ending it started to rain and the hat was destroyed. I had barely charged her enough to cover the materials.

One thing that was a surprise when I first started working in flowers was how physically demanding it is. You have to be a great designer, be creative and helpful, but you also have to be strong. Strong hands, arms, legs, and especially a strong back are essential. Lifting heavy urns and buckets, carrying big awkward boxes full of heavy arrangements, cutting thick branches, painting, stretching, not to mention standing for hours on end — just some of the things that make being a florist sometimes really exhausting.

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And now, Patty at Brittany Flowers in Kirkland (not pictured):

Being a floral designer is similar to living life inside a box of crayons. Life used to be simple for us, when the box only had eight colors. There was black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green. When you consider the fact that crayons now have 120 different shades, you can only imagine how complicated it is for the florist. If you think roses are red and violets are blue…your florist knows that it’s not true. In reality violets are actually periwinkle, which is a shade of blue, but violets can also be violet, which is really light purple, then again sometimes they can be purple, which can be lavender. Color interpretation can be a big problem for a florist. We could make it easier and go with a more common color like red…roses which are red like a ruby, or an apple, or like a sunset. In reality, a sunset is more of a combination or red and hot pink, which is called magenta. Then of course there is Cabernet, which looks more like wine, or Merlot, which is slightly more purple… and let’s not forget cranberry. This all came to mind today when a bride & I were discussing the colors for an upcoming wedding. It is always a funny conversation and a whole lot of fun with regards to color and how difficult it can sometimes be to select just the right shade. I always have to remind people that nature makes the color and we can’t always match flowers to one of the 120 shades of crayons. Even though it is so much more complex, life would truly be boring without color.

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Finally, Anne Bradfield of Floressence Design offers her insight:

Photo: Firefly Photography

Anne Bradfield

Flowers may be delicate, but the wrangling of flowers can be a brutal, athletic endeavor. I must have gained about 5 lbs of muscle mass in each arm in the years since I’ve been a florist. And my sense of balance has been seriously tested. I try not to think about the time I was at the top of a 20 ft. ladder at the Court in the Square, attaching a garland to the enormous arch with one hand, while the other white knuckled the top rung. Or about the time I was hanging string lanterns from a very tall tent, while standing on a ladder on top of a tippy table on lumpy grass. While everyone in the wedding party watched from the windows.

One time I had to babysit about 300 stems of stubborn lilies in the bathroom overnight, where every hour I re-warmed the water in their buckets, ever-so-carefully cracked any buds that showed a hint of opening, kept the lamps and space heater glowing, and prayed that they would magically open in time for their debut.

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You still have time to sign up for the wedding site tour through Woodinville’s wine country

and

You can still enter the Jones Soda engagement story contest and score ten cases of personalized soda for your wedding, rehearsal dinner, or next-day brunch.

More floral designers here on the SMBG site

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Tags: Weddings, details, flowers, vendors

Stories Go Pop

Will you enter the first Seattle Met Bride & Groom Facebook Giveaway?

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Dec 16, 2009 at 06:00AM 0 Comments

Everyone has their story. Some are surprising – some almost shocking. Some are hilarious, and some are so over-the-top that they seem too epic to be to true. Of course, all engagement tales are sweet, and certainly worth sharing. Especially if there are 120 bottles of customized Jones Soda bottles to be had.

On this Wedding Wednesday I’m happy to announce the first Seattle Met Bride & Groom Facebook contest.

Here’s what to do:

-Log on to Facebook and become a fan of the magazine

-Head to the contest page and follow the instructions there; you’ll be prompted to tell the story of how you and your partner decided to get hitched – which is something you pretty much never tire of doing, right? (we’ve all been there)

-Practice patience

Each week, the Jones Soda folks will select one winner based on originality, tear-jerking quotient, and whatever else strikes the local soda pop gurus’ prize-giving hearts.

Weekly winners win a six-back of pop, and the bragging rights of having their story featured on the Jones Soda website.

And get this: The five weekly winners will be automatically entered for the grand prize: 10 cases - 120 bottles - of personalized Jones Soda. You pick the photo and the flavor (I vote for anything other than Christmas ham), and then you get to serve or gift the bottles at your rehearsal dinner or reception.

Full details are on the contest page – get to it!

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For more Wedding Wednesday posts, see

Behind the Scenes: The Secret Lives of Seattle Photographers

You’ve Got it Maid … Seattle’s brand new bridesmaid shop

White On: A great place to find a great little white dress

Do Me a Favor: Give your guests their own flip book

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Tags: Weddings, Party Favors, details