As bridal fashion week descends on NYC, shows, meetings and parties start to fill the calendars of editors in the wedding industry. With so much “new” to see from wedding gown designs to must have registry items, the week can quickly turn from exciting to overwhelming. Be Inspired PR fully embraced the madness of bridal fashion week and made sense of it with their annual showcase that kicks off the week by bringing together a collection of select bridal brands for the wedding world’s top editors to preview. With partners including Bed Bath & Beyond, Minted and Green Wedding Shoes, the Be Inspired PR team came to The Venue Report with a tall venue order: standing room for 50, seated dinner for 25, must have in-house catering, need different spaces to create vignettes for the showcase and, of course, a stylish space. Haven’s Kitchen, a renovated three story carriage house in Chelsea, quickly proved to be the perfect space for this insider event.
We spoke to the Haven’s Kitchen team about this event and future event possibilities including their secret ingredient to perfect parties: “We have an entire team that customizes recipes and programs for each and every event, large and small.” Read on for more about this showcase from the Be Inspired PR team and Haven’s Kitchen, and maybe get inspired for your next urban event along the way.
From Be Inspired PR:
"Every fall we head to NYC to kick off bridal fashion week with a VIP media showcase featuring some of our favorite brands in the industry. This year, we partnered with dress designers, registry brands, and detail and favor companies to put together a well-rounded cocktail party where editors could see and interact with their favorite brands in-person. Guests were able to shop a swag wall from Minted, check out Bed Bath & Beyond's top registry items, check out two of Green Wedding Shoes' exclusive fashion collaborations for both brides and bridesmaids, and see all new designs from Emily Kotarski Bridal. We had bites from Haven's Kitchen, wine from OneHope, and live fashion illustrations to complete the cocktail party!
After the cocktail party, a group of select VIP media guests joined us upstairs for an exclusive Bed Bath & Beyond dinner! Every detail on the table was sourced from Bed Bath & Beyond, including the tabletop, glassware, napkins, and flower vessels! Bloom Bar NYC designed amazing fall-inspired arrangements to complement the tablescape, and custom menus and name cards from Minted made each guest feel at home. Don't even get us started on the food from Haven's Kitchen... We're still dreaming about the peach cobbler dessert! All in all, this was one of our favorite NYC bridal market events, and we can't wait for the next one!"
From Haven's Kitchen:
Tell us about Haven's Kitchen and the events you host here.
Haven’s Kitchen was born in Chelsea as a creative space for culinary gatherings. Starting on the ground floor of our refashioned carriage house, the experience begins in our all-day café and recreational cooking school, and continues up winding stairs towards two floors of private event space.
We’ve hosted anything from winter weddings in our airy loft to intimate cocktail parties in our second floor dining room, to endless private cooking classes. Because we represent so many distinct experiences under one roof, our space and team are particularly adaptable. You can think of our events team like its own in-house agency; we’ve transformed our space for anything from branded media events with Everlane, Cazadores and W Magazine to product launches for Huda Beauty, Google Pixel and Goop.
How was hosting this bridal showcase? The images are stunning!
We love a full house at Haven’s Kitchen—this place just has an incredible vibe when multiple spaces are activated all at once. The wedding marketplace split the showcase between two rooms, allowing guests to wander in between our living room and dining room. Both areas showcased wedding vignettes, from gowns to housewares and cocktail shakers.
Did anything special get incorporated into this event?
There was an illustrator using watercolor to paint runway-style fashion portraits—a handful of guests had theirs drawn right on the spot. It was exactly the type of interactive, personalized keepsake we get excited about.
What makes Haven's Kitchen stand out from other venues?
We’ve reimagined an old carriage house, so the heritage details make our space distinct all on their own—but it’s really our culinary team that sets us apart. For starters, there just isn’t any other venue in lower Manhattan with our level of kitchen facilities and culinary finesse. Sure, most events require food and beverage, but culinary tends to be an afterthought at most other venues—we think it’s a missed opportunity to create something memorable. And to make that happen, we have an entire team that customizes recipes and programs for each and every event, large and small. Thanks to our culinary facilities (we have not one, but two professional kitchens) we find that guest chefs and tastemakers (from Christian Puglisi to Martha Stewart) have felt right at home, too.
In the end, we believe food should never feel like a footnote when it can be one of the highlights. We want our guests to leave and say to themselves: “That was so much fun—and omg, the food!”
Can you give us a sample itinerary of a great event here?
That’s a great question. We have a rather untraditional space, and so we end up breaking the rules – we try to approach each event’s itinerary differently.
But if we’re planning a winter wedding, we might let the music take the lead: After checking their heavy coats on our first floor, light music from a four piece jazz band will draw them up to our living room for sparkling cocktails (think Poinsetta and French 75s) and a refreshing raw bar (anything from petite Maine Lobster Rolls to assorted East & West Coast Oysters). Passed canapés (such as boquerones, maybe cured salmon + blinis topped with caviar, or braised lamb meatballs) round out the small bites until guests hear an acapella soundscape calling them up to our third floor. Here, a full band warms up the dance floor as dinner and drinks are served. The progression through our space goes up, up and away—our top floor is such a crowd pleaser, and it really ends on a high note.
Book your event at Haven's Kitchen →
Credits
Venue & Catering: Haven's Kitchen in partnership with The Venue Report | Photography: Asher Gardner | Production: Be Inspired PR | Floral Design: Bloom Bar | Wine: OneHope | Live Sketches: Deanna Kei
