The wedding vendor search can be overwhelming. There’s so much talent out there to compare, and you’re trusting them with one of the most joyous and delicate days of your life.

Where do you even begin?

Having been in the wedding industry for 10 years now, I’ve met and collaborated with countless wedding vendors in the 100’s of events I’ve documented. In an effort to make your vendor search easier, and in order to lift up other small businesses I love, I’ve collected my favorite wedding vendors (aka “friendors”) in this exhaustive list.

Here you’ll find professional, experienced vendors vetted and curated by me, with an emphasis on those who are not normally centered in the wedding industry, including queer & BIPOC-owned businesses, and those who are values-driven and prioritize eco-friendly practices in their businesses.

Note: I have no business agreement with these folks, just support and love. 💛

Happy Booking!

My “Friendors

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RIE Makeup & Hair

RIE is an NYC-based makeup artist/hair stylist for Beauty, Fashion, Portrait Photography, and Weddings.​ Her makeup style is natural. She loves creating a look where you still feel like yourself, but the most elevated version of yourself!​

She loves animals and all her makeup and hair kit are cruelty-free.

RIE used to be a professional ballet dancer and has performed with companies in NYC and Canada.

She enjoys being in nature, taking pictures of birds, and taking care of her many house plants.​ RIE also speaks fluent Japanese.

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Willow House

Michelle Schultz, creative director and founder of Willow House, has worked over the last 15 years to hone and perfect her vision and skills in beauty and weddings. Now, with over 300+ weddings under her belt, Michelle is a leading expert in the wedding and beauty industries.  She is a regular beauty contributor to BRIDES magazine + was selected as one of The Knot’s “Ones to Watch” for 2024.

Michelle shares: “Our team of 15 elite hair & makeup artists is composed of folks of all backgrounds. We are seasoned professionals who have done weddings all over the globe, each with over a decade of experience. We’re a tight knit crew who love being around each other, which makes for a fun wedding day! We’ll make you feel like you’re in the company of old friends while also putting you at complete ease with our expertise. We are well-versed in all styles of makeup and hair with experience ranging from editorial, red carpet, TV and film, and beyond.

Each appointment is a personalized journey, where our skilled artists work meticulously to craft looks that harmonize with the unique style and vision of each Willow House client.”

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Her Own Beauty

“Zhané Thorpe is a licensed Natural Hair Specialist, who loves love and decided to pivot into becoming a bridal natural hair stylist! Within 7 years of experience in the beauty industry, Zhané's focus has been caring for & styling all textures from wavy to coily hair textures. Because it has been such a rewarding experience thus far, it led her to create HOB Bridal! Ready to connect with Zhané? Contact email! Info at herownbeauty .com (Please note: Only hair services are provided. Zhané does not provide makeup services)

HOB Bridal was created to provide each bride with an opportunity to embrace her natural hair on the day she says "I DO!" with an experienced hair professional. The ultimate goal is to give each bride her desired look that will embrace and enhance her existing beauty and allow her to remain true to her essence on such a sacred day! There’s no need to encourage you to wear a wig or a weave! I’m here to service you & provide you with your desired hair vision! I’m looking forward to providing you with ease, great energy, and a beautiful time. I’m truly looking forward to meeting you and excited to partner! - Zhané T.”

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Leda NYC

“Any great hairstylist can replicate a look in a photo, but it means nothing if it doesn’t suit your lifestyle or work for your hair. With over 15 years in the industry, Chelsey has settled beautifully into her niche creating trendy yet timeless looks specializing in hair extensions and lived in hair color.

Leda is a boutique hair salon specializing in luxury hair extensions, eco conscious hair color, and hair cutting. The team at Leda truly believes in the magic of matrimony. I mean, who doesn’t love a little romance! After being a part of hundreds of weddings, and being featured in some of the most incredible wedding publications, we still get butterflies seeing a look come together.”

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Stems Brooklyn

Stems Brooklyn is a woman owned small business founded in 2013 offering daily flower delivery services and more to the New York City area. We are dedicated to creating artistically inspired, farm fresh bouquets while striving towards a more kind, sustainable and equitable future in floristry by maintaining our commitment to our earth, community, customers, and team.

We keep Stems eco conscious by:

Composting which reduces our carbon emissions.

  • Buying seasonal, locally grown flowers reduces waste and provides a lower carbon footprint. Our flowers are never painted or dyed!

  • Sourcing recycled products and environmentally friendly driven products for our store.

  • We never use flower foam which is a single use petroleum plastic which harms our oceans.

  • Taking care of the people in and around Stems

We also support mutual aid groups and non-profits dedicated to racial/food/environmental/social justice in NYC by hosting a reoccurring event called Solidarity Sunday. As a mission driven business, building inclusivity and giving back to our community is vital.

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Firecracker Floral Design

Specializing in responsible floral and botanical event styling in the greater New York City area, Firecracker Floral Design LLC launched in 2018. My design aesthetic is the product of an educational background in visual arts and work experience in urban landscaping, container garden design, and floristry. With an emphasis on locally sourced material and seasonally available flowers, my sustainably driven wedding and event floral work is rooted in a passion for the natural world of horticultural. Each celebration is unique, and I find great joy in creative collaboration with clients in developing designs that are singular to each event.

I chose the name “Firecracker”  for a couple of reasons: For me, the word evokes a  bit of nostalgia and lighthearted fun. I think of sparklers and the summer holidays of my youth spent with family and friends. In a headier respect, people have marked special occasions with fireworks  for nearly 2,000 years. Flowers have been incorporated into the ceremonial for untold millennia more. Forms common to both flora and pyrotechnics have given us a shared vocabulary: Chrysanthemum, Peony, Dahlia, Palm, Willow, Pistil, Bouquet are all horticultural terms that have been adopted to describe fireworks effects. Between symbolism and my (usually!) ebullient demeanor, “Firecracker Floral Design” seemed to describe my business perfectly.

I look forward to bringing a little floral “Boom!” to your next celebration!”

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Hair by Alison Farfan

I have over 10 years of professional experience and am always seeking to further refine and advance my skills. I have been specializing in bridal, event and editorial styling for over 5 years now. I feel so fortunate to say that my work has been donned by beautiful brides and celebrities, has been featured in commercials for Maybelline and even seen on set at Amazon studios. It is such a pleasure to work and collaborate with the finest professionals in the all over New York City!

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Brooklyn Blooms

LaParis Phillips is the owner and principal designer of Brooklyn Blooms, a boutique flower shop based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, known for its creative and fashion-forward floral arrangements. Founded in 2017, she transitioned from a background in fashion to create unique, sustainable, and vibrant botanical designs, expanding to multiple locations.

Originally from Missouri, LaParis moved to New York for fashion but found her niche in floristry, combining the two by treating floral design as art. Known for using unusual flowers, vibrant colors, and unique textures, her designs often feature "spicy" and artistic, unconventional styles.

“Brooklyn Blooms draws inspiration from fashion, nature, and art while using flowers as the medium. Mixing textures, colors, and silhouettes applies to arranging flowers just as much as it applies to creating the perfect look. We believe that everyone is an individual and deserves to have florals tailored just for them, even down to the vessel! By using curated seasonal blooms in interesting found vases we create “beautiful things out of beautiful things” with you in mind.- LaParis P.”

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Miriam Bloom Designs

“I'm a sucker for a love party! It’s a big fucking deal. Seeing my couples gather their most beloved folks together for the celebration of love is magical.

In this really tough world we need to have more beauty,
kindness, and joy.I bring my heart and passion to creating beauty for your event.  When partnering with me you will get my focus and collaboration.  From our initial consultation to the day of your event I will listen and guide you on how best to bring your vision to life.

I call my style wild crafted and asymmetrically designed with inspiration from what is seasonally available. Building relationships with regional flower growers, I strive to bring the freshest and lowest carbon footprint flowers to your event.”

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Mimosa Floral

“Mimosa is not your garden variety event design studio. We liken ourselves to interior designers for our client's celebrations, guiding them through the process and designing a customized, cohesive, and transportive event.

Showing every living thing kindness and respect is one of our core values. Mimosa believes that love is a verb, and that belief extends into our relationships with clients, creative partners, and our family of employees.

We are passionate about our environment and committed to maintaining a sustainable, eco-friendly operation by using locally sourced florals, foam-free materials, and composting whenever possible.”

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Fox Fodder Flowers

“Founded Fox Fodder Farm in 2011 by Taylor Patterson, Fox Fodder Flowers is floral design studio based in NYC. Known for its merging of the naturally driven aesthetic with fine florals, the studio's work uses seasonal materials and champions lesser known varieties and heritage breeds.

Our services are available for events and installations, residential and commercial accounts, as well as daily deliveries through out the New York City area.

Fox Fodder partners with local farms and renowned growers to source our flowers and materials.”

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Molly Oliver Flowers

“Since 2012, we have worked in partnership with regional farmers to connect New Yorkers with the freshest, rarest, seasonal, locally farmed flowers. 

Our goal is to connect you with the simple, sublime beauty of flowers - the most unusual varieties, harvested at peak freshness - while supporting small farm businesses in our region who approach farming with sustainability at the center of their practice.

Whether you’re sending flowers to a loved one, shopping for yourself or need a designer for your upcoming event, we are here to provide an eco-sensitive option. Composting waste, packaging plastic-free, avoiding harmful chemicals and products is how we've operated from Day 1. 

We’ve built our reputation on quality and sourcing transparency, and look forward to helping you learn more about seasonal flowers through our subscriptions, floral design, and retail offerings.”

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Wild Floral Designs

“I have spent the last years discovering my own voice, which is a mix between a Dutch Masters painting, the Audubon Society, and a Dolly Parton Outfit.  I’m constantly caught between ‘more is more is more’ and minimalism. I find equal beauty in the curve of a single bare branch, a lush, overflowing urn of flowers, and mounds of hot pink baby’s breath hanging playfully from the ceiling. I am inspired by everything around me and love to combine the traditional and more the uncommon together. My signature lush, romantic, organic aesthetic is influenced by nature and the untamed and ephemeral beauty of flowers, and maybe a little disco too.

Part of my desire to start my own venture was to create a workplace where my womanist ideals could be upheld. Wild is an inclusive floral design studio that supports social justice and Black Lives Matter movement with the goal of making the wedding industry and our world a safer, more representative, and more equitable place for all. It’s easy to say, but takes conscious work to uphold. I am actively participating in antiracist education and in community with like minded small businesses to stay accountable to these goals of inclusivity, liberation, and anti-white supremacy.  A portion of the total profits are going to reparations to the Black community and I volunteer at a local community garden that helps address food insecurity issues in my neighborhood in the Bronx. T.”

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Garbage Goddess

Garbage Goddess was founded by florist Liza Lubell (New York’s Peartree Flowers) in 2019. Liza has spent over fifteen years producing and dismantling events. Disillusioned by the amount of waste that her industry created, Liza realized she could no longer work with florals unless she meaningfully shifted the industry towards earth-supportive practices.

Garbage Goddess is a solution to the trash left behind by traditional event breakdowns. We donate used decor and compost organic waste, diverting trash from landfills.

The Garbage Goddess team relies on a constellation of freelance professionals – including artists, musicians, and teachers – who care for this work and for one another.

“Our community reaches beyond the composting center. What we don’t compost we donate, and over the years, we’ve developed relationships with donation sites like Material for the Arts and schools where event decor becomes fodder for artists, students, and educators. - Liza L.”

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Luckybird Cakes

Luckybird is a Brooklyn-based cake studio specializing in handmade, flavor-forward cakes for weddings, birthdays, special occasions & everyday celebrations. Each cake is made with the finest & freshest ingredients available and adorned with gorgeous fresh florals.

Owner Amy says her previous career in fashion has shaped her unique visual sensibility that she now brings to catering events, weddings, & intimate gatherings.

“I’ve been in love with baking since I was a little girl. I love creating salty or spicy updated versions of my childhood favorites. I have a huge sweet tooth myself & an incredible passion for feeding people desserts. With a vast repertoire at hand, some of the most fun is had collaborating with customers. Working with clients for their special day or night is my favorite thing to do.” - Amy B.

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Aesthetically Complex Pies

“Hi! I’m a sculptor, performer, and food artist based in Brooklyn, NY. After receiving an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I studied experimental music at Universität der Künste, in Berlin, on a Fulbright Fellowship. In 2016, I founded Sprechgesang Institute, a research-based collaborative for artists working between multiple disciplines, which I continue to direct in NYC.

I started aesthetically complex pies in 2020, to explore my fascination with edible art. As a visual artist, I approach the world of food from an aesthetic perspective, balancing flavor and texture with form, design, and a bit of anxious perfectionism.

Let’s take care of each other,
x Sarah K.”

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Clementine Bakery

“Plant based and community rooted, Clementine offers vegan pastries, custom cakes, baked goods, meals, and provisions in the heart of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and online. Both our offerings and our shop reflect our love for the planet and all of its inhabitants.

Our seasonal, fresh ingredients and provisions are 100% vegan and, whenever possible, local. Our meals are cooked to order, and our baked goods are handmade daily in small batches. We welcome and celebrate all races, nationalities, abilities, genders, orientations, and religions, and we actively support our community through cause-based charitable initiatives.”

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Vici Designs

A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and former head creative director of a cake studio in Upstate New York, Victoria has spent years transforming dreams into delicious realities. With a whisk in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, she crafts unique narratives through edible art at Vici Design.​

Vici Design's cakes and sweet creations are more than just desserts – they're centerpieces that tell a story. From delicate sugar flowers to intricate architectural details, Victoria uses her expertise and creativity to capture the essence of your event. Her passion lies in collaborating with clients to create unforgettable moments that delight the taste buds and leave a lasting impression.

“The dream for Vici Design is to keep growing alongside the couples, clients, and creatives who inspire us. We want this future home to be a place where the doors are always open to the next generation of cake creatives. A space for cake education, creative classes, and a community where we can foster the same passion for detail that started this journey. Every small step we take leads us toward this dream, and every couple who trusts us with their wedding day brings us one step closer. You aren't just helping us grow a business; you’re helping us build a home for artistry.” - Victoria

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RentQuest

“Our full-service, New York City based company strives to bring your ideas to life! We are constantly evolving and looking to make your experience with us like no other. Here at RentQuest, we pride ourselves on quality customer service and our wide selection of rental furniture and prop rentals. Illuminated displays, luxurious lounge sets, or custom requests—we have it all! A closely knit, highly skilled group of individuals work together to provide you with high quality service. Full of passion, our sales team prioritizes each event as its own. 

We are happy to offer inspiring design suggestions to put words to your vision. With around the clock contact, we have your event handled!”

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Patina Rentals

“When I started Patina 10 years ago it was never about building the biggest rental business, but a service that could truly help a select few clients who really valued quality and design to do their best work. Clients who would come back to us again, year after year, and learn to rely on us for their most important events. Building that type of rare company where clients become friends, and employees become family, starts with offering a product we believe in and providing service that is truly personal and coming from folks who really do care – a lot. We hope you feel it when you work with us.

We work with the most creative clients in the world, and our team is made up of artists and rock stars (literally). We support each person’s unique expression of creativity.

We embody truth in all we do - it takes bravery to live and breathe by the truth. It’s not always the easiest route, but it is an important value that we acknowledge every day.

We rise to the challenge! Our team is smart, collaborative and experienced. We’re event experts - but we are always up for navigating new challenges and learning new tricks - it keeps us on our toes.”

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