celebrations
A special section of The Record-Review, February 24, 2012
Picture Perfect
Look and feel your best for every photo
By JACKIE LUPO
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hen you look at your wedding photos years from now, will you see a bride with a glowing face, flawless shoulders and perfect hair and makeup? If you’re spending big bucks for a wedding dress and headpiece, it makes sense to also invest in skin, hair and makeup to make sure everything about your look is picture-perfect. Experts at top Westchester salons provided input on the best beauty treatments for anyone preparing for a big event. Experts agree — don’t do anything extreme directly before the wedding. That includes aggressive facial treatments such as dermabrasion or chemical peels. If you’re contemplating any facial service, ask the salon what the “downtime” is after the treatment. That said, spas offer a host of treatments. Some are gentle enough to be done directly before the event, while others should be done well in advance.
Best face forward At Julius Michael Salon in Scarsdale, stylist/colorist Jennifer O’Neill recommends a gentle rejuvenating facial. “It just makes the skin feel fresh and takes away the top layer,” O’Neill said. This type of facial doesn’t involve any pore extractions or peels, so there’s no “downtime” for potential irritation. “It’s moisturizing so makeup sticks nicely,” she said. O’Neill also recommends that brides come in for a hair and makeup trial a few weeks before the wedding. “They should have their headpiece with them,” she advised. “Sometimes, they have something in their head, and realize after we try it that it’s not the best look.” The salon will also assess whether the client needs any hair color or treatment before the event. Grooms should also pay a visit before the wedding. “Grooms get a haircut, a sideburn cleanup and a nice hot shave,” O’Neill said. “Some older guys are doing gray ‘blending’ that takes away just some of the gray.” At Oasis Day Spa in Dobbs Ferry, spa services for wedding parties can turn into parties themselves. The spa has an event room with a rooftop garden that hosts many catered bachelorette parties, according to owner Bruce Schoenberg. The spa also specializes in getting everybody beautified directly before big events. “One of our guests came up before her wedding with the entire wedding party of 24 people, and all of them had massages,” Schoenberg said. “We did all their nails, blew out their hair and at 11 a.m. the dresses were delivered and the limos picked them all up at the spa and took them to the church.” Oasis also offers the option of having a makeup and hair stylist come to the bride’s home. Schoenberg doesn’t recommend giving facials to everybody in a big party of prewedding guests at the spa, because the guests might not know how their skin will react to particular treatments. Oasis and other local spas also offer gentle facials to grooms to help get rid of shaving irritation. Continued on page 6A
It’s their party: terrific teen events By JACKIE LUPO
I
t’s my party!” Parents of bar/bat mitzvah kids and soonto-be sweet 16s, take note of these three words. If you’re planning a big event and you’re thinking about an elegant dinner where everyone sits on gilded chairs for a three-course meal, start thinking more like a child, and get the child of honor involved from the beginning. It’s a family event, but it’s your child’s party.
Personalize it Your child will probably have lots of ideas for a theme, and big events such as bar/bat mitzvahs and sweet 16s are more exciting when they do have a motif. It can be anything you like, but it should be something the child is interested in. A shy boy who likes to read and to play adventure games on his computer might be horrified at the very idea of a karaoke party.
Obviously, any party planning starts with a budget. Once you start to look around at venues and talk to a few party planners, you’ll get an idea of the costs involved. Renting a space because the space itself is spectacular — the Metropolitan Museum, say, or the New York Public Library — is going to cost a bundle, and doesn’t lend itself to themes or personalization. But a big, empty loft or airplane hangar can become anything at all in the hands of a skillful event planner, and probably for a lot less money. A sweet 16 girl who was an avid celebritywatcher had an awards show theme for her party, complete with an actual red carpet outside the venue, a photographer to snap guests as they entered and a Joan Rivers impersonator to interview the “celebrities” on the red carpet. Inside, guests had their pictures taken with “virtual” celebrities, with the kids put into the picture with real movie stars via computer. Room décor was Hollywood all the way; even the centerpieces on the tables looked like award statuettes. A bar mitzvah boy who was a NASCAR fanatic
brought his fantasy to life for his party guests, with lots of racing themed activities in an arcade setting created for the occasion. Another boy, whose family had systematically visited the biggest roller coasters at theme parks all over the country, had miniatures of each coaster as centerpieces. Whatever the theme, it should be carried out consistently throughout the event. According to Jacqueline Vasquez, whose event planning company, Lifetime Events by Jacqueline, is located in Scarsdale, once the theme is decided, all the printed materials and décor follow. “Themes have been from sports to movie themes to fairy tales,” she said. “No matter what the event, the invitation is the beginning of the story for the celebration. So, depending on the budget, the invite could either be color-coordinated, a photo or themed. After the invite has been selected, everything else follows, with the same tone to bring it all together.” A good party planner can take any interest, no matter how obscure, and run with it. “I assisted a family from North Carolina, and their son wanted
to have his bar mitzvah in New York,” Vasquez said. “Specifically, he wanted to have the ceremony and a mini-lunch reception in the model boat area of Central Park. He loved model boats and Central Park, so what better place? The designated area was directly across the Model Boat Pond and next to the Krebs Boathouse where they store the model boats.”
Keep the action going Kids don’t like to sit around at banquet tables. Certainly, you can host a sophisticated catered affair with beautifully decorated tables. But that’s really for the adults. Kids like to keep moving, playing and eating. Even if you were hosting a sitdown dinner for the grown-ups, most 13-year-olds would greatly prefer to graze in an international food court set up for the occasion. The idea is to keep the kids active and entertained — and food is definitely part of the entertainment. There are instant doughnut-making machines (neater than cotton candy!), candy trucks where all the mer-
Great gift ideas for every occasion By EVE MARX
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h oh. The invitation has arrived in the mail and while you’re excited, even delighted to have been asked to attend the wedding/anniversary party/bridal shower/graduation/ guest of honor/job promotion, you’re already breaking a sweat about what to give. Nailing down that perfect gift (even harder if you don’t know the recipient all that well) can be a problem, unless you’ve got professional hints and tips. Marie Labropoulos, owner of Kalliste Soap Shop in Scarsdale, and purveyor of a unique, artisanally made line of all-natural skincare, said a popular item from her shop is the gift basket, which she will customize. The shop stocks an insanely delicious sounding and smelling collection of handmade allnatural soaps, including coffee, oatmeal vanilla, fennel poppy, lavender, almond and rose. Certainly a great gift for a guy would be the beer soap, accompanied by the Whisky Whiskers shaving kit. The store also makes soaps that look just like cupcakes. Pretty sweet! “The basket may include the cupcake
soap or the cake soap slices,” Labropoulos said. When customers suggest her soaps look and smell good enough to eat, Labropoulos said, “Well, many of the ingredients we use are edible. Many are made with olive oil. We try to keep it as pure and clean as possible, and of course we use no products made from animals.” Labropoulos, who is American, but spent summers making soap with her grandmother in Greece — “I learned at an early age” — said all her soap is made to her specifications right in nearby Hartsdale and sold in shops across the United States. “My grandmother was
a soap maker and I learned it all from her,” she said. “I like to call it boot camp when my parents sent me to Greece every summer.” Kalliste Soap Shop also specializes in custom party favors. “Soap can be molded into any shape,” Labropoulos said. “We do soap party favors for bridal showers, birthday parties, we can match or create anything.” She talked about little soap lambs she created for a bridal shower that were a huge success. When asked if the shop ever creates any soap that is erotic, she said, “Of course. We’re also thinking of bringing back a soy-based massage candle we used
to have. When you light the candle, it melts into massage oil.” “I think people really appreciate soap as a gift,” Labropoulos said. “Soap can be very personal, but at the same time, it’s also a gift you can give to someone you don’t know well at all. I also get people coming in the shop who say they need something for someone who already has everything. But everyone can appreciate a beautiful handmade soap.” All the soaps in the shop are made with essential oils, not commercial fragrance. No nut oils are used. The soaps are all certified by PETA. The shop carries various soaps that work well with various skin types. “We have soaps that are gentle enough even for people with very sensitive skin or allergies,” the soap mistress said. What’s the hands-down most popular soap she sells? “The tea tree and black clay,” Labropoulos declared. “I think that’s because the soap is black. You always associate clean with white, so a black soap is a bit funny.” Darci DeMatteo, proprietor of Say Cheese And Thank You, an exciting shop in Dobbs Ferry, sells stationery, books, candles, wrapping paper, cheese spreaders, coffee cups, picture frames and much more. DeMatteo is a also a professional photographer specializing in family portraits and children’s picContinued on page 6A
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Inside
3A Where to party: locations, locations, locations.........2A Dance the night away with style and confidence....... 3A Feel the beat with best music choices................. 5A Drama Dresses: Wedding gowns get gorgeous and glamorous in 2012....7A