I recently had the privilege of attending the BHG Stylemaker Event in New York City. This was my second time attending and it definitely did not disappoint! The BHG Stylemaker Event is a day-long gathering of around 75 bloggers and content creators from the areas of DIY, design, food, and fashion. It is essentially a “content creator conference” where attendees pay for their hotel, travel, and conference fee to meet in workshops led by BHG editors and stylists. Knowing firsthand from organizing the Haven Conference what goes into planning an event like this, I was so impressed with all of the thoughtful details and organization of the event! Kaelin (Digital Editorial Manager) and Kenzie (Social Media Editor) did an amazing job of making sure the day went flawlessly for all in attendance.
(c) Avi Gerver Photography
Darlene from Fieldstone Hill Design and I took the train up from PA together the day before the event and had a blast taking in some of the sights of the city. New York is such an energizing place, and I always love any excuse to visit!
Darlene & I at the BHG Event. Photo: (c) Avi Gerver Photography
During the day, we met in large-group sessions as well as smaller workshops. Our large-group sessions with the BHG editors, contributors, and this year’s stylemakers included generous tips on how to land a book deal, how to style photos, and how to glean inspiration for content. Stephen Orr is BHG’s new Editor in Chief and he was delightful to listen to and learn from. It will be fun to see how BHG evolves under his new leadership!
BHG Editors (c) Avi Gerver Photography
For today’s post, I thought it would be fun to pass along my workshop notes from the stylists so that YOU TOO can implement some helpful food and flower styling tips at home.
Flower Arranging Tips
The “Photo Shoot Worthy Flower Arranging” workshop was my favorite class of the day and was led by BHG Contributing Stylist, Matthew Robbins. He gave a brief talk and demonstration on how he styles flowers for weddings, events, and magazines, and then it was our turn to give it a try! He gave the class 20 minutes to create and photograph our own arrangements using blooms by FTD.
(c) Avi Gerver Photography
Here are Matthew’s top floral arranging tips:
- Cut stems as you go to vary the length.
- Put your container near the edge of your table and use this as a guide to cutting stem length.
- Create a criss-cross grid within your container by overlapping the stems which will help keep your stems in place.
- Turn the container as you go to keep the arrangement balanced if it will be seen from all sides.
- Design in odd numbers for your “hero” blooms. (The ones that really stand out in the arrangement.)
- When using dark florals be sure to add lighter blooms or filler for contrast to allow the dark florals to show up.
- Use wispy fillers last to add interest to your arrangement.
- Use unexpected fillers such as:
- Eucalyptus
- Hosta
- Dusty Miller
- Geranium leaves
- Rosemary
- Berries or fruit
- Jasmine or other vine
Flower arranging isn’t my greatest strength, so I was grateful to receive some extra practice using fool-proof flowers. Below is a picture of the bouquet we were given to work with. I mean, come on! I could have just plopped this baby in the vase and it would have looked perfect. 🙂 It’s always nice to take on a challenge when you know you simply can’t go wrong!
Here is a picture of my final bouquet. The fun green “flowers” are actually kale! I’ve tried to appreciate kale in my salads, smoothies, and baked “chips” but admittedly I’ve never been a huge fan of it until now. Who knew that instead of eating kale we should be displaying it? 😉
It was fun to see the style variations in all of our bouquets. Even though everyone was given the same flowers and materials to work with everyone put their own unique spin on their arrangements.
(c) Avi Gerver Photography
BHG used all of our arrangements as the centerpieces on the tables for the evening’s cocktail party. It was absolutely beautiful!
(c) Avi Gerver Photography
My next workshop was called “BHG’s Favorite Food Stylist’s Secrets to Amazing Food Photos”. The main thing I gleaned from this class is that there is beauty in the mess. Food styling has moved away from polished perfection and moved towards a more realistic and imperfect look.
How to Create the Perfect Non-Piped Whipped Cream Dollop
Libbie Summers, author of Sweet & Vicious Baking with Attitude, taught us how to make the perfect whipped cream dollop for a piece of pie, a brownie, a bowl of fruit, etc. Although she is using fake whipped cream for demonstration purposes, she was very clear that this works and tastes (and photographs) best with real whipped cream. To make a non-piped, perfect dollop, take the back of a large spoon and run it lightly through your bowl of whipped cream three times, creating three distinct lines in the cream. Next, hold your spoon in line with the lines you created and scoop across to lift-up a dollop of cream. Next, dispense your dollop gently onto your food and enjoy how amazing you are! The cream will fall off of your spoon and will have those lovely lines of dimension in it.
How to Style a Salad
Even if you aren’t planning on photographing a salad anytime soon, I think these tips can also be applied to entertaining. Serving your food in a gorgeous way makes an impact on your guests and helps your gathering feel special!
Jill Lust showed us her salad styling tips and here is what I learned from Jill:
- Mix several greens and herbs and pile the salad greens on one side of your bowl. Think in pockets and pools instead of sprinkles and drizzles. Arrange your salad in the bowl for a “pre-mixed” look.
- Decide on your salad color palette. To make things more interesting use several different shades of tomatoes chopped unevenly and “pocketed” in the salad instead of tossed or distributed evenly.
- To make a salad feel more modern use a monochromatic color palette. Swap out red grapes for green, scallions for red onion, and add an herb to your dressing to create 5 different shades of harmonizing green.
- Instead of drizzling the dressing on the salad beforehand, display the salad with a large ladle of dressing in the bowl ready to go.
- Don’t try to make everything look perfect in your bowl. The back of a leaf and the seeds of a tomato are all beautiful.
One of my favorite things about attending these types of events is getting together with like-minded creatives and networking. There is nothing more energizing than being in a room FULL of inspiring and talented individuals! I am so incredibly proud of bloggers and the recognition they have received in recent years by magazines, publishers, and television. Blogging is typically a one-person show. Most of us do not have assistants, prop stylists, photographers, copy editors, social media coordinators, and PR teams. We do most of the work all-by-our-lonesome and many of us do it really, really well. It’s wonderful to be recognized for that work by BHG and taught how to improve our skills! So thank you my dear readers for supporting bloggers and expanding the world’s ideas on how creativity is distributed and consumed. It’s a great example of the American dream in action to see blogs blooming all around!
Feel free to pin this post for future reference to the tips!
