celebrity event designer preston bailey goes back to school

for anyone as in love with the wedding industry as i am, you are surely also in love with the work of world-renowned design icon preston bailey. well, you'll be happy to know that now, you can learn from the expert himself through the wedding planning institute.

bailey has joined forces with lovegevity's wedding planning institute, the industry leader in certification and training for wedding and event professionals. together, they will create and launch the first event design course of its kind, based on bailey's 30-years of experience with celebrities such as donald trump, oprah winfrey, uma thurman, joan rivers, donna karan, liza minnelli, matt lauer, catherine zeta-ones, ivanka trump and others.

preston bailey’s signature wedding & event design course will allow students to experience the step-by-step processes and techniques he pioneered. starting august 15, 2010,the course will be rolling out to nearly 2,000 local academic institutions around the country, including university of texas in arlington, miami-dade college, university of colorado in colorado springs and brooklyn college. it will also be made directly available to students through an online program hosted by the wedding planning institute.

for more details, or for curious prospective students, hop over to the wpi site and enroll. college has never been so cool.

win a free cake from pink cake box • charity raffle on 10.17

if you live in the new york metropolitan area and you love pink cake box as much as i do, you're about to have another reason to love them.

in an effort to support breast cancer research, owner anne heap and her team at pink cake box are holding a charity raffle to raise money for the american cancer society. as part of the fundraising effort, they're offering up the following prizes on october 17:

• 1st prize - free cake (any occasion) valued up to $500
• 2nd prize - 1 dozen free cupcakes
• 3rd prize - 10% off next order of more than $300

all proceeds from the raffle will benefit the american cancer society making strides against breast cancer walk. as a team, which is comprised of 95% women, they've raised over $1000, but they hope to exceed that amount.

that's where you come in. click here to enter the raffle and offer your support. or, visit the pink cake box blog to find out more about the raffle and the rules.

for anyone who knows anne's incredible work, from experience or her food network challenges, it is no doubt she will make this effort a success. many thanks to anne and her team!

fashion's night out with vera wang • september 10

listen up, vera wang fans. i've just received some fabulous news for all my metropolitan area readers: on september 10th, vera wang will host fashion's night out — a super-chic bridal event held in both her nyc stores: vera wang on mercer and the vera wang bridal house.

uptown at the vera wang bridal house, located at 991 madison avenue, vera will be joined by industry experts who will be sharing their artistry: decorate a wedding cake with sylvia weinstock; arrange bouquets with michael george; receive nutritional advice from celebrity nutritionist oz garcia; sit back as yves durif consults and styles hair and make-up; relax as exhale spa specialists perform express manicures; listen to wedding tips and advice from vogue’s special events director, sylvana soto-ward; savor the evening with champagne service compliments of the carlyle hotel and music courtesy of elan artists.

raffle prizes include a 2-hour personal flower arranging lesson with michael beorge, a 6 month consultation by oz garcia as well as a glow treatment and mind body package from exhale spa.

make your way downtown where vera wang will celebrate the night with american idol judge kara dioguardi and other special guests at her ready-to-wear boutique located at 158 mercer street in soho. vera will offer advice and tips as she styles guests. for those shoppers who are camera-ready, pose for a photograph with the designer in the “studio booth.” sip the signature drink of the night, “vera vodka,” while grooving to the beats spun by dj’s prince peter and jacob dekat from the box.

giveaways include vera wang lavender label shoes, vera wang fine papers stationery, vera wang rock princess and vera wang sunwear.