A-list event planner Bronson van Wyck is the creative visionary behind some of New York's (and the world’s) most memorable events. His family’s firm, Van Wyck & Van Wyck, has an array of blue-chip brand clients in the fashion, luxury, corporate and non-profit space and in addition, is expanding into their own product line. Bronson shares with us the backstory to his success as well as his top tips for the perfect event.
What does your company do?
Our family-owned firm is distinguished by innovative designs and an
unsurpassed level of service. We incorporate whimsical details, natural
materials and theatrical elements into every element we design.
We work with
private, corporate and non-profit clients throughout the United States and the
world. For private clients, we focus on age-old notions of hospitality,
graciousness and generosity, and on creating experiences that share these
qualities with guests. For corporate clients, we tie guest experiences to
brands, seamlessly conveying key messages and creating lasting and deeply
personal impressions that drive purchase behavior and brand preference.
How did you start the business? What were you doing at
the time?
I sort of fell into it as part of an extended process
of elimination in which I came to realize that I didn’t really have any other
marketable skills. After college, I did a stint at the State Department,
and then worked on sets at Paramount in Los Angeles. In 1999, my mother and I
took a leap and planned a dear friend’s wedding in Maine and as we charged
through uncharted waters, we knew we could do this, and in fact that we had to
do it. We realized that we had actually already been doing it for years –
all my life, in fact – together and singly, for ourselves and for our friends.
Part of this was a simple matter of geography: growing up on a farm in a remote
area of Arkansas, everyone who visited us had made an extra effort to get
there. We felt obliged to make the trip worthwhile by making the welcome
extra special.
You also have a product line called Arrowhead
Farms…what’s it all about?
My sister Mimi and I used
to create big batches of house cocktails in a bathtub at the holidays to give
to family and friends. After several years, the demand was so high that
we had to bottle them and forgo the mason jar – tub method. Three years
later, we’ve got seven different flavors and now we are in West Elm,
Anthropologie and coming soon to Dean & Deluca.
What have been some of the highlights of your career thus
far?
My favorite is usually
the party I just planned, but these three are certainly at the top of the list:
1. Bergdorf Goodman
It was their 111th
birthday party and we got the keys to their window dresser’s prop
warehouse. I was a kid in a candy store with lions and tigers and bears
and ostriches and dragons and clocks. Wow!
2. Opening the new Whitney Museum
We’ve been working with
The Whitney for years but it was especially exciting to be the first to help
celebrate the museum in the new Renzo Piano space. We practically moved
into the Meatpacking District since we were there for 8 events in 9 days.
Each night was another party and another celebration. We got to watch the
art come in!
3. Barneys/Baz Holiday Windows Unveiling
This past holiday,
Barney’s partnered with Baz Luhrmann and we transformed their vision with the
products and windows into a whole evening celebration. Madison Avenue
came to a complete standstill as figure skaters (the sidewalk was iced!),
dancers, and acapella group Pentatonix performed outside the store. Then
curtains covering the windows opened, revealing tableaux of a talking owl,
giant Koonsian metal mushrooms, and spiraling sculptural snowflakes. Following
the show, a select group of guests walked to Central Park Zoo for a dinner and after
party, where I helped bring the guests into the world of the “Baz Dazzled”
windows.
Top five tips for creating the perfect event?
Make sure drinks can be served fast. There is no
bigger buzzkill than waiting for a cocktail.
Remember that you are programming human interaction.
The party is really about bringing together all the many different people from
your life. Take your guest out of his comfort zone and allow him to make
a new friend. Make sure that people meet each other and that you as the
host are there in the room and not stuck in the kitchen with your head in the
oven. Don’t forget that they came to see you!
I always try to change
something every 20 minutes. Introduce a new drink, amuse bouche, lower
the lighting, turn up the music, something savory then something sweet then
something savory again. Change their palate, keep them guessing.
Use 3x as many candles as you
think. A mix of votives, tapers and various heights give the best glowy,
Instagram effect.
Send your guests away with a small
memory or party favor of the night. A hand tied bouquet of wildflowers
for their nightstand, an airplane-sized mini bottle of bloody mary mix for the
dreaded hangover or even a Polaroid or two of them talking to a crush that
night.
What can we look
forward to from Van Wyck & Van Wyck in the future?
We just wrapped up Allure’s annual Best of
Beauty event, this time at their new home at 1WTC. Next up are ongoing
projects for the Whitney and Architectural Digest, and then we’re bringing our
reindeer back to NYC, this year to The Standard High Line.
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