Featured Wedding Consultants

Mark Kingsdorf - Queen of Hearts

The Marriage of Great Love and Great Loss 
The last year has been an exciting one for Mark Kingsdorf, owner of The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants. He has taught/spoken at several national industry conferences, collaborated on the latest edition of Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette, coordinated the fundraising gala for the Philadelphia/South Jersey/Delaware chapter of NACE, and appeared on Style Network’s Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? However, the project with the most meaning for him is close to home both figuratively and literally. The second annual “Let Them Eat Cake” event and competition in Philadelphia, is produced by Kingsdorf and raises money for breast cancer research. 
Of all the cause-related fundraising a guy could get involved with, why breast cancer? According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately one out of every eight American women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. All the men in these women’s lives—sons, husbands, fathers, brothers, nephews, and friends—are deeply affected by the disease. 
Hints to the personal part of the answer for Mark Kingsdorf hang on the wall of his office… the last line of a piece called 21 Suggestions for Success – “Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your mom proud.” And a quote by Abe Lincoln “All that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother.” The professional part of the answer is simpler to discern: In the wedding industry, a majority of clients, their mothers and our colleagues are women between the ages of 20 and 50. The marriage of breast cancer awareness and the wedding industry is a natural.  
Three years ago, Kingsdorf paired with City of Hope National Cancer Center’s Philadelphia regional office and its director of development, Harry Giordano, to launch what has become the largest wedding industry event in the Philadelphia region. Kingsdorf, a classically trained chef and former restaurateur, paired his love of food with the desire of current brides to find an amazing wedding cake. “People always say that wedding cake is either beautiful or great tasting…but you can’t have both,” claims Kingsdorf. “I was out to prove them wrong.” 
In 2005, Kingsdorf and City of Hope launched “Let Them Eat Cake”. A competition open to local pastry arts professionals and students, it served as a great vehicle for brides and foodies to try some of the best and most beautiful cakes in the region, become educated about breast cancer, raise money for a worthy cause, and have fun. It was also an opportunity for pastry artists to meet, compete and walk away with recognition and fun prizes. It didn’t matter who won…. everybody won.  
While the incidence of breast cancer continues to grow each year, the survival rate is growing by larger percentages thanks to people like Kingsdorf who devote themselves to the raising of research money. This year’s “Let Them Eat Cake” event was even bigger—more pastry artists, more attendees, wonderful music and a room full of happy people doing good while having a great time. 
Mark Kingsdorf lost his mother, Lois, to breast cancer in 1986. A fighter by nature, Lois outlived her original diagnosis—long enough to see her children grown and on their own. “I’ve always done some sort of cancer fundraising…this was a chance to take it to a new level,” said Kingsdorf.  
This event which now bears Lois Kingsdorf’s name…a plaque, which also bears her name, in The City of Hope National Cancer Center’s rose garden in Duarte, California…the suggestion to follow a mother’s expectations…an acknowledgement of how important she was…and the efforts of a son to honor his mother by linking hope with her name…all these elements have combined to become a testament to this marriage of great love and great loss..