Client: Simone & Joe

Event: Wedding grazing table for 300 guests

Joe is a well-known event organizer for Silent Barn, DIY shows of the 2000's, and co-founder of WithFriends. He told me he and his fiancee Simone were planning a very large wedding for 300 guests at the Andrew Freedman House, an artist residency building in the Bronx that is currently going through a remodel. They wanted me to curate and create the cocktail hour while a family friend handled dinner. “Alien Organic” was Simone’s guiding theme. She explains,

"You know when you're on a hike, and you find this incredible sight that grabs your attention-- a mushroom, a fern, or maybe some lichen and the longer you stare it you realize how weird it is, but it's alive and totally exists in the same reality as you --- that's Alien organic. It's not extra terrestrial, but terrestrial that's extra."

Keeping with the theme, I constructed a 16-foot grazing table that resembled a forest floor. I ordered a wheel of sage derby, a surreal-looking cheddar cheese swirled with green sage. I made hundreds of painted teal bao buns in chicken ginger and Sichuan mushrooms. Piles of charcuterie chips, papadum, and freshly fried furikake rice paper created a shelf-like height. Mounds of mushroom pate were drizzled with truffle oil and more roasted mushrooms. I made beet-tinged long bean and bright pink daikon pickles. The whole scene was dotted with fairy lights, moss, and large jutting branches. Guests had fun pairing items from across the table. Someone told me it reminded me of the food fight scene in Hook.