From Cipriani To Gotham Hall, Birch Event Design Knows A Thing Or Two About Throwing Haute Events

I got married very young, with no degree and needed to make money. I used to buy my girlfriend (now wife) beautiful flowers every single weekend. After seeing the arrangements I would bring home, my mother-in-law suggested I look into arranging and selling flowers. I started selling flowers out of my father’s balloon shop in Brooklyn, whose motto was to come into work every day and play. He told me that, just like art, some people would get it and some people wouldn’t. He gave me the confidence I needed to push me to pursue my passion.

I was young and eager to please. This lead me to find my way into some of the most affluent homes in the neighborhood and beyond. I was given the chance to fill these expensive vases that homeowners were too scared to touch with beautiful, fresh flowers. This became my niche. After hanging out in peoples kitchens for over a year and a half, you start to become good friends with the families. Those families gave me opportunities to work on family weddings, bar mitzvahs, and any other type of celebratory event. I organically grew the company out of these amazing relationships.

We typically sit with a prospective client for about an hour during which we get to know them, We want to get beyond specific decor but instead get an understanding of their vibes, likes, dislikes – and that is what we build from. We take about two weeks to fully design and curate a detailed proposal for them so that they can understand our entire vision. From there, they decide if we are the right fit. Once that decision is made, we create a sample of the exact tablescapes for the day of their event to finalize the design.. and comes the fun part: the production.

What separates us from others is our process. It’s not just about design, flowers, and production. We really love to connect and laugh with our clients, and infuse passion and excitement throughout the process. We pride ourselves in creating a memorable experience which is just as important to our team as the end product.

Naturally, our aesthetic is one of the things that draw people in and is what separates us. We seek to combine traditional floral arrangements with current and relevant elements. We introduce architectural materials and details. But it’s never just about the vessel or the table cloth – it’s about the overall feeling created in a space–that is the most challenging piece as it requires everything to come together as one in harmony.

My favorite part is having our clients and their guests see our vision come to life. We thoroughly enjoy the design process throughout the whole production period but seeing our clients react to the space we created for them to host their event is the biggest validation a design team can ask for.

5. What three things would you say are the key components of throwing a memorable affair?