Modernistas and Minimalistas - rejoice!   Danish design house, Minimii, has recreated a very modern and minimal dollhouse that is a replica of the villa of famed designer, Arne Jacobsen.  The 1928 villa - stark white, spacious, and minimalist - is reproduced at 1:16 scale and ready to be furnished with matching modern furniture like Jacobsen’s Egg chair.

Its sprawling interior and minimalist white color make it friendly to many different design ideas and only limited to a child’s imagination.  For more information take a look at the Minimii site.

Hello! I am the “Wedding Belle,” a practicing planner who is literally starting a business as I write this. Many of you may be students or graduates who have considered self-employment, yet perhaps have had absolutely no idea where to begin. I assure you there is no fool-proof formula detailing how to start a successful business, but if you do your homework you can create a “tool box” of tips & tricks and hopefully uncover some helpful hints as to how to go about this.

The Sheffield Course in Wedding & Event Planning provides you with the education needed to take the next steps, whatever those may be -  event planning as a hobby, volunteering for a non-profit or local community group, starting a new career or furthering your current one, planning your own private event, or taking the leap to start a business of your own. In the competitive world that we live in, knowledge certainly is power.

The Sheffield Forum is also another great resource, packed with tons of great info to get you started including interesting articles, discussions, recommended books, etc.

In addition to all of these tools, a little inside info on how one planner is facing the many challenges of trying to build a start-up could offer a different and enlightening perspective… that’s where I come in!

I will be posting regularly to Stylehound as I go through this process. Follow along and check back as I tackle different issues, obstacles, revelations, share successes and yes, failures - all in the attempt to successful establish and run a wedding planning business.

Like I said, there is no formula, and there is no manual, nor am I giving you a how-to, but what I will give you is an honest FYI as to how I am going to try to make some magic happen.

PS- By the way, it doesn’t necessarily have to be just wedding planning, but I figured I would start with what I know!

See you next week!

Keep an eye out for Start Me Up!, premiering right here on Monday morning.

I was particularly enamored of these flocked deer figurines from TheThinVeil. They are so cute, and beautifully photographed. No wonder they are almost sold out!

Marinella is a student in the Interior Design program. She created a wonderful palette that evolves from the lighter shades of summer to the richer colors of fall, and she chose an impressive set of furniture and accessories to illustrate how she would use the palette to inform a room design.

We are so pleased to have Marinella in our community, and were really impressed with her submission and positive attitude.  You can check out her design, along with all of the other submissions, right here.

Is all this color inspiring you? You ought to throw your own hat in the ring - we are taking entries for our November Design Challenge now!

IML has a simple device, about the size of a large cellphone, which can be used by individual guests to interact remotely, privately, and silently with traditional event technologies like PowerPoint. The company’s strongest suit, however, is their clean adaptability to auction events.

Fundraising is essential for everything from non-profit organizations to cultural institutions, and it is common to embed fundraising efforts in a larger event or party, typically in the form of an auction. The IML handheld bidding device is compact,  fits nicely at a place setting, and enables a seamless interaction between bidding guests and the auction action.

Ray Hansen, the East Coast Director for IML, told me the latest trend they are seeing with the IML auction device is team or group bidding, which allows for even greater customization. The devices can be rented for one-time events, or purchased by an organization that frequently hosts fundraising events.

I think this little device is a great addition to the event planner’s toolbox, and its popularity and use are only going to grow.

Are you wacky for modernism? And you’re in New York, or will be coming during the holiday season? If so, you must plan a visit to MOMA to see their new exhibit, Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity. Until it was shut down by the Nazis, Bauhaus was a hotbed of creative thinking, re-examining all the ways of modern life, and influencing everything from architecture to fashion, from painting to furniture-making. This ambitious survey tries to get at what Bauhaus was through exhibits, a “lounge,” and hands-on art-making workshops.

The image above, from the show, is Oskar Schlemmer’s “Bauhaus Stairway.”

See more at www.moma.org

This time around, in celebration of the upcoming holiday season, we decided to make the them of the contest “Holiday Party Decor”.

The task: Imagine a space, any space.  It can be your home or event, any place you would want to host a holiday celebration.  Then let us know how you plan to decorate the place.  Be as creative as you want and feel free to choose the holiday that most inspires you.

To submit your decor theme, post a description of your party decoration on the forum - in the November Design Contest thread.  A simple description will do, though we encourage the use of any photos or sketches that help explain your ideas.

The contest will run until December 1st, at which time the winner will receive a Sheffield School t-shirt, as well as the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining Book.  Read more about the contest on the Forum.  Good luck to all.

Powerhouse fabric companies Dazian and Rose Brand - think backdrops for theater productions, Broadway, television, events, and awards shows like the Oscars - showed vibrant textiles covered in crystals, bedecked with glitter, and strung with LEDs.  Both booths were so uplifting! Of course, the bread and butter of these companies is their basic duvatyns/commandos and cottons - these inexpensive fabrics are used constantly to drape and hide staging, AV equipment, lighting trusses, and more.

My beloved Party Rental, Ltd. set up a table absolutely choked with pieces from their burgeoning rental collection. Party Rental rents everything from basics like tablecloths and chairs to specialty items like glass chargers and miniature porcelain salt dishes. Their glass and crystal-laden table definitely had wow power - I could barely capture it with my little camera!

Speaking of glitz and glam, the booth for Signature Event Rentals flaunted their specialty: over-the-top furniture and decor rentals. Signature is the place to go for things like mirrored tables, stamped leather chairs, gold and silver lame couches, oversized crystal lamps, and quilted luxe furnishings.

There were many other rental companies in attendance, but two most worth mentioning that I was not able to photograph are Ruth Fischl - the Queen of exquisite fabrics and accessories - and Taylor Creative, THE place to rent clean, modern furniture and props.

Based here in NYC, BizBash is a national media company with outlets both online and in print that has quickly become the go-to source for information, trends, forecasts, and insight into the events industry. In addition to the Expo, BizBash has a Hall of Fame and Event Style Awards program to recognize and reward top vendors.

The tradeshow floor of the BizBash Expo floor brought together thousands of event professionals and exhibitors - everything from event security firms to venues to fabric companies to floral designers.  I met loads of people and took loads of pictures, and will be sharing a small taste of what I saw here on Stylehound.

First up? A truly unique vendor category: all kinds of performers, performance artists, and dancers for hire. Hiring these talented folks is a popular way to add character, atmosphere, and entertainment to an event. Does that seem farfetched? It isn’t! We have worked with professional performers for all kinds of events.  A favorite personal example: for a book launch party, we once “rented” actors dressed in turn-of-the-century costumes to act as guests from an bygone era.

Here are some of the myriad performers I captured at the Expo:

This gent was dressed as a Christmas tree - and was on stilts!

Another chap, juggling - and also on stilts!

Don’t worry, she was on stilts too!

Then, there were performers in incredible, perception-altering costumes:

These performers were from ACROBACK Productions, the firm that provided general atmosphere for the Expo, and BONGARBIZ.

There were also a handful of ladies from one of my favorite companies, the Screaming Queens.  Take a look at their table lady! She was literally standing in the center of a round table on casters that allowed her to walk through the event, offering all kinds of treats on her tabletop.

Of course, some of the exhibitors in costume were not performers at all, they were just dolled up to attract attention or - let’s be honest - for the sheer fun of it! I have a feeling a mix of those factors was at play for these two gentlemen hamming it up at the New York Zoos and Aquariums booth (a rental venue).

As you can imagine, the Expo was a lot of fun, but it was also truly informative. Keep an eye on the blog to see more reports from this industry-insider trade show.