I worked with Taylor Cantrell, event manager, and Arlene Espino, senior catering sales executive, and the event team, putting together the room design and flow of the evening. Their flexibility allowed us to tailor everything to our taste, particularly with the food! Steven Starr, an American celebrity chef, is the head of catering. The style of food surpassed every expectation. Planning from NY, I found a lot of my vendors through social media. Our band, photographer, and florist were all wonderful choices and were super easy to work with, even with most of the planning being done by phone and email.
At our ceremony, Jason’s sons, who are both musicians, surprised us by performing songs as I walked down the aisle. The band helped them pull off their surprise beautifully. We originally planned an outdoor rooftop ceremony, but the weather didn’t cooperate and the hotel and Benny, from our florist Daniel Events, handled everything while I spent the day with my bridal party. We had our contingency plan and everything turned out perfectly. We walked down the aisle in the bright space of the ballroom, our parents and grandmothers walked down as well, and the entire ceremony was really special.
For cocktail hour, we had passed hors d’oeuvres along with a sushi station, shrimp cocktail station, and more. Lamb chops, burger sliders, and mini grilled cheeses were some of our favorites. Of course, we had to have pigs in blankets and The W was kind enough to accommodate that special request. Our sons played music at the cocktail hour as well, and we had Julie from Master Musicians playing electric violin. It was so impressive, some of our international guests thought it was the reception!
