Harriette Rose Katz: Founder and President of Gourmet Advisory Services

admin | Nov 17, 2009 | Comments 0

Weddings can take up a couple’s entire life. Planning the guest list, the color scheme, the food choices, flowers, location, registrations and even seating, and that is just the beginning.

Wedding planner and author Harriette Rose Katz is the ultimate resource to make the most of your wedding, in the easiest most personal and professional manner. Leave the stress to the professionals and enjoy your special day.

As a wedding planner, Katz translates her clients’ dreams into an exciting reality. From invitation design to finding the ideal venue for the ceremony and reception, she strives for detailed perfection while making sure her vision reflects the client’s desires. Katz says, “First, you establish a theme and a working budget, which is very important. I take the wedding from beginning to end, finding and interviewing the right vendors for the client and hiring their services. Then I make sure that these vendors provide what they have committed to providing.”

SHORT BIO: Harriette Rose Katz, President of Harriette Rose Katz Events/Gourmet Advisory Services has built a reputation for excellence in the event and wedding planning business for 26 years. Known as the country’s leading wedding planner, Harriette is an industry trendsetter and one of the most respected event designers today. She recently released her first book that sold nationwide titled Where to Seat Aunt Edna and 500 Other Great Wedding Tips. For more information, check out www.gourmetadvisory.com http://www.gourmetadvisory.com. Gourmet Advisory Services has managed over 5,000 events from Fortune 500 company meetings, private social events and gala fundraisers to the openings of luxury residential towers, weddings of all sizes and intimate dinners. Her talents have been showcased at The Waldorf Astoria, The Pierre Hotel, The Metropolitan Club, St. Regis Hotel, The Rainbow Room and Radio City Music Hall. She has also planned events in private homes in both New York City and the Hamptons. Her clients remain loyal and she often works for families over generations – planning a girl’s Bat Mitzvah and years later, her wedding!

Harriette’s Answers:
How do you create your dream? What inspires you?
I listen to what the bride has to say, as truly it is her day to shine. Then my role is to try to give her what she wants, within the realm of good taste. It also must be feasible, something that can actually be done. You have to discuss the realities of budget versus dreams, and then meld the two so they work to hopefully make everyone happy.

I have done many theme weddings. I once did an entire reception on the four Seasons in each room – Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. Each room brought you into a different time of year, and they were each gorgeous, and yet there was a theme that ran through that tied it all together… nothing was random.

When I did my “All Pink,” that was because the bride just loved that particular color. That was what she wanted, and I made it happen. Winter weddings, to me, are the most beautiful of all. They have drama, just in the way the trees can be sparkling with icicles and the landscape covered with snow. It is pure magic lifted out of the pages of a fairy tale. I also did one “Old Hollywood” wedding inspired by the 1930s and 40s with palm trees, white tie, of course a live band with lots of strings. No one was asked to dress as a character or from a movie, it was just to use as a guideline for the event. It was so glamorous.

I even did one “Surprise Wedding,” and I mean a true surprise! The bride and guests all thought it was a dinner party, but when they arrived at the restaurant, a Rabi was there and the couple was married. The only one to know was I, my staff and of course the groom, who wanted the make the ceremony special for everyone. The most unusual wedding I’ve ever created was a “Muttrimony” ceremony and party between two much loved dogs, which the owners really wanted.

What Guidelines do you offer the bride?
Some people have their own favorite people they use – manicurists, makeup artists, hair stylists etc. But there are other things that a bride may not know about such as how to keep their dress fresh and clean, that they may require help dressing. And you have to remember always to give yourself enough time because everything takes longer than expected. I can offer a bride all those services needed to get her ready, she just needs to let me know.

What are today’s brides asking for the dream wedding?
I have seen a resurgence of the old fashion hotel wedding. Brides want it to be traditional and beautiful and live out the dreams they have had since they were little girls. Others want edgy weddings that stand out, offbeat locations, colors, decorations and food. There are so many choices these days. Some people don’t want to even have cocktails, they want to go right to dinner or vice versa. Every event is personalized, and the bride and groom have many more options to choose from that suit their lifestyle.

Theme weddings are ever popular and destination weddings are really in vogue. What are the key factors for success?
Destination weddings are a lot of fun, but more work than a traditional wedding. It is very expensive for the guests and the bride and groom. They have to give guests things to do for the entire time of the trip. It is not a single ceremony and dinner, it is the day of arrival, ceremony, wedding party, next day (and that is if it is just for a weekend). I have done destination weddings to Italy, Paris, and the Caribbean and, of course, all around the United States. It means that you have to do your homework with the local vendors. You have to make sure that you have back up in case something falls through. You need to check with others who have worked with these florists, caterers, lighting directors, vendors and space for their own events. As the event planner, you must check credentials and verify that liked their work. And you have to go to the destination in advance – and make it work.

Key factors to success for a theme wedding – a lot of people do not like to go to a Halloween or masked ball type event and I wouldn’t do that for a wedding. We have “White Weddings” and ask our guests to wear white attire. When doing a destination wedding, you have to me sure you are always have a plan B, and even this can be the case.

Lighting is an integral part of the beauty and awe of an event, what do you look for in a lighting company?
Lighting makes all the difference in the world at a wedding. I often work with Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging and Bentley creates the most amazing, magical atmospheres with light. He has made with light everything from forests on the wall to just making people look great. Remember, everyone wants to look their best on their wedding day, hopefully this will only happens once in a lifetime. If it is great lighting, it brings a variety of things the event; it creates drama, atmosphere, and makes magic in any style room. I look for people who understand theatrics and drama and also people make people look good.

What was your most intimate wedding?
My own wedding was very small and intimate. I invited 26 of my closest friends and we held the ceremony in front of the fireplace with our children. Then I put together the most amazing cocktail party with an elaborate buffet of only the most exquisite food. This was the most extravagant wedding, yet small. It is absolutely closest to my heart. The only people who were invited were the ones who went throughout the bad as well as the good times with us. It was not really envisioning this one, it was personal. I just made it happen from my heart.

Florals also set the tone, what suggestions can you give our readers in hiring a florist?
My advice – Go and see their portfolios, talk to people who use them as florists. Then you must make sure that they understand what you want out of the wedding and what you are willing to pay. Don’t let there be any surprises.

What is your favorite Wedding?
Every one of my weddings is special to me, but my daughter’s, which was eleven years ago, literally took the cake. It was spectacular, every detail was extraordinary from the strawberry trees to exquisite wines and beautiful food and presentations.

Of course the menu without a doubt is key to success, what are the current trends in foods being presented?
Tasting plates, Bento Boxes, the skies the limit these days, but always the freshest ingredients is key to fine fare. We also plan a desert and must be amazing. Some people have a Grooms Cake, it this is becoming more and more popular. Many times that is served at the rehearsal dinner. The wedding cake finishes off the meal in the grandest way, served last. And I always make sure the top is given to the couple to take home to put in their freezer for a future feast or just to bring back memories.

The art of planning a wedding is difficult at best, when do you relax?
When I get to relax? Between 2 am and 6 am. No, I can only relax until the wedding is over and each guest leaves happy.

Credits:
Additional information from Andrea Correale, CEO of Elegant Affairs Catering and photos and bios at end of Elegant Affairs, Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging, DeJuan Stroud Inc.

Caterer Andrea Correale advice:
Current trends are leading towards healthy and classic. After several years of coming and going veal is back. We sell an oversized classic pounded veal chop garnished with a simple tomato salad losing the starch on the entrée plate…. And instead of a heavy pasta or risotto dishes as an appetizer, we are creating light healthy appetizers like our orange and pickled onion salad with rockette pine nuts and feta cheese. The onions are amazing…. we boil a very intense champagne vinegar with sugar and pour it over sliced red onions the result in a couple of hours is a sweet yet savory onion burst. The salad looks pretty and screams fresh and light, then comes the surprising veal that is rarely seen especially from a caterer.

On to dessert, small, assortments, choices, cutting edge looks, handmade appealing to the eye as well as the palate

Suggestions for Elegant Affairs Catering menu:

Tiny tartlets of fresh berries and cream (our secret for this is we use our crème brulee crème and gratineed it with bar sugar and then top it with hand whipped cream and a fresh berry);
Warm molten cakes with raspberry coulis (this classic created by Jon George has been a bit re-invented in size and taste, baked at the events it gives a wonderful aroma of chocolate in the air);
Pumpkin cheesecakes scented with Boummes de Venice the classic French dessert wine (the seasons best small cheesecakes scented with the sweetest dessert wine similar to Moscato Di Asti only no bubbles and of course from Provance, France not Italy) fro the garnish we make a pumpkin seed brittle

Andrea Correale, President of Elegant Affairs Caterers:
Elegant Affairs is considered a five-star, full service, catering and event planning company, which serves social, corporate and philanthropic clients across Manhattan, Long Island and the Hamptons for over the past decade. Having worked with clients like Billy Joel, Russell Simmons, Ivana Trump and Natalie Cole, Elegant Affairs’ President Andrea Correale and her team know how to cater for the world’s most discriminating palates. Elegant Affairs is the exclusive on-site caterer for The Players, the historic club in Gramercy Park, and the Nassau County Museum of Art, a stunning Mansion on the Gold Coast of Long Island. Additional information could be found out at www.elegantaffairscaterers.com.

DeJuan Stroud, Event Décor Designer & President of DeJuan Stroud Inc.:
DeJuan Stroud has created large-scale, themed events at the official after parties for cinematic blockbusters like King Kong, The Good Shepherd, The Producers, Cinderella Man, The Interpreter and Jarhead. He was also responsible for the décor at Robert DeNiro’s wedding and Jon Bon Jovi and the Weinstein’s are a few of his best clients. With offices in NY and NJ, DeJuan Stroud is known across the country as the floral design and décor king. For more information, check out www.dejuanstroud.com.

Bentley Meeker, Founder of Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging, Inc.
From Melissa Rivers’ luminous Doctor Zhivago-themed wedding, to Star Jones’ nuptials, this lighting guru has done it all. Bentley’s client list reads like a who’s who in Hollywood. Over the last 16 years, Meeker has been responsible for casting the perfect light for the weddings of Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, Billy Joel and Eddie Murphy. For more information, check out www.bentleymeeker.com.

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