While it was a bit more subdued than usual at Michael’s today with some of the glitterati off to Cannes and a few others up in Greenwich watching Prince Harry play polo (our invite must have gotten lost in the mail),  the usual mix of editors (Anne Fulenwider, Lucy Danziger) and media moguls (David Zinczenko) were in full power lunch mode celebrating each other’s successes and hatching their next big deals.

I was joined today by Kimberly Cherebin and Alaska Gedeon, stars of the new docu-series Newlyweds: The First Year, which premiered May 6 on Bravo. Also in attendance were the network’s PR marvels, Jennifer Geisser and Julia Nietsch, as well as the happy couple’s manager, Camille White Stern. The show is a hit, having snagged over 1 million viewers for the first episode. With Kimberly stuck in traffic en route from the studio where she was styling Justine Skye‘s new video, I got a chance to chat with Alaska first. I asked him what in the world would possess anyone to allow cameras to follow them during their entire first year of marriage. He told me he’d been absolutely opposed to doing the show at first, and Kimberly asked him “about six or seven times” before he finally agreed. Looking back on the experience (shooting wrapped earlier this year), Alaska said having the details of your daily life play out for all the world to see “forces you to raise the standard of who you are: how you treat others and especially how you treat your wife.” He then added brightly, “It’s like a mirror and like therapy.” So did he like everything he saw reflected back at him? “I just don’t think I’m that big of a jerk,” he said with a laugh. (After meeting him, I’m inclined to agree). “My sarcasm doesn’t always read well on camera.” He also told me that it wasn’t until after he viewed the scene where he and Kimberly discussed their bi-coastal marriage that he realized just how “heartbroken” Kimberly was at the prospect of their separation.

Alaska Gedeon, Kimberly Cherebin and Diane Clehane

When Kimberly arrived, I asked her why she was so enthusiastic about  doing the show, and she admitted that she didn’t exactly know what she was getting into. “At first, I thought it was one of those David Tutera>-type ‘planning your wedding’ shows, and I thought that would be fun, but it was nothing like that,” she explained. Once she did understand that she and Alaska would be agreeing to 10-hour shooting days over the course of year and be required to use their ‘Couples’ Cam’ on each other to capture intimate moments (not that kind, silly), she remained undaunted. “It seems like when you see marriages on TV you either see these fairy tales or something pretty terrible. We have really ‘extreme’ careers, and this was a chance to show how you balance it all.” 

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Even the arctic temperatures couldn’t keep the faithful away from Michael’s today. The scene at 55th and Fifth was, although celebrity-free (unless you count a cast member from “The Real Housewives of New York City) even wilder than usual. The media mavens (Lesley Stahl, Cynthia McFadden), magazine power gals and honchos (Anne Fulenwider, Connie Anne Phillips, Jack Kliger) and fashionistas (Fern Mallis, Mickey Ateyeh) must have had plenty to talk about because at one point the decibel level hit its tipping point and I could barely hear the folks I was with and believe me, they were worth a listen.

I was joined today by Deacon Webster and Frances Webster, co-founders of Walrus, a multi-disciplinary creative agency, and they have quite a story to tell. If you want a laugh, check out the talking Walrus that touts the agency’s work on the company’s website. Hilarious. The husband and wife team, who first worked together at Mad Dogs & Englishmen, founded their award-winning (Ad Age’s 2012 Northeast Small Agency of the Year) in 2005 and, says Frances, have seen their business grow an astounding 300 percent in the last three years. Our mutual pal, PR veteran Diana Biederman, who is currently consulting for The Humane Society of New York, brought us all together and we had a lively lunch dishing about the ad biz. Deacon is the agency’s chief creative officer and Frances handles the business side as managing director. Their yin-yang skill sets keep things humming at work — and at home. The Brooklyn-based couple gave up trying to keep work talk out of their after hours conversations (“We quickly realized that was impossible,” says Frances) but did decide that having their desks facing each other in the middle of their open floor plan office was a little too much togetherness. They now keep their distance on opposite ends of the office and everything is going swimingly.

I’ll say. Having started their agency with the “21 Club,” Emergen-C,  Grand Marnier, CWX and The Economist as clients when the principals at Mad Dogs & Englishmen decided to close up shop and passed the business on to them (“We went to them and asked if they’d mind if we took the business with us and they were okay with it,” explained Frances), the Websters now boast a roster that includes Amazon Kindle, Bazooka Brands and Bloomberg Businessweek as well as hotter-than-hot Rent the Runway and came up with a funny and effective photobomb video campaign to tout to the fashion site’s growing wardrobing capabilities. They’re also the team that AMC tapped a few years ago to develop a brand strategy for “The Walking Dead” and we all know how that turned out.

Deacon Webster, Diane Clehane and Frances Webster

These days, the Walrus team is busy touting the preventative properties of Emergen-C on social media and in the digital realm and is promoting the message that the cold medicine isn’t just for when the flu strikes but rather a wondrous preventative elixir that is best taken daily (they’ve taken the brand from 5,000 to 531,000 likes on Facebook and counting). They are also working on attracting younger moguls, hedgies and the like to Bloomberg’s Businessweek. “We’re telling younger people that the magazine has really changed.” The good news is, says Deacon, since changing to the weekly delivery system that subscribers get along with their daily newspapers, the magazine is getting a lot more attention from subscribers and “there hasn’t been a lot of newsstand drop off. If people read three issues in a row, they’re hooked.” Their mission now: to find different venues for digital sampling for the consumer and keep the buzz going over their eyebrow-raising covers.

You can check out Walrus’ witty, out of the box thinking on Friday in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal with their full page ads for Smith & Wollensky which explain why scoring an internship at Smith & Wollensky is better than landing one at Goldman Sachs, Lazard and Morgan Stanley. The ads explain, among other things, that “Lazard might know a thing or two about capital markets, but when it comes to creamed spinach they might as well be Lehman Brothers.” Got your attention, didn’t it?

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Hollywoodlife.com’s EIC Bonnie Fuller and publisher Carlos Lamadrid with Penske Media’s vice chairman Gerry Byrne hosting Real Housewife of New York City’s  Aviva Drescher, Sirius XM’s Serena Kodila, Island Def Jam Music Group’s Laura Swanson, Comcast’s Julian Broadsky, Activate’s Michele Anderson and Matrix’s Patrick O’Keefe.

2.  Fern Mallis and Mickey Ateyeh

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong and David Zinczenko. One of today’s hot topics among the regulars was “When is Dave going to announce his next move?”  Plenty of folks stopped by Table 3 to inquire. Our lips are sealed …

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‘Tis the season for power lunches disguised as holiday celebrations, and this afternoon at Michael’s it was SRO as the moguls (Harvey Weinstein, Tommy Mottola), a perennial party giver (Peggy Siegal and her indefatigable minions) and boldface names (Star Jones, Muffie Potter Aston) poured into the dining room for one head-spinning scene. While Bonnie Fuller and company shoe-horned 14 people comfortably into Table One, Peggy presided over a lunch for 34 in the Garden Room honoring “The Untouchables.” (Although I didn’t see them, I did spot — I think — Malcolm Gladwell and Stu Zakim in the crowd). The rest of the dining room was full of table hoppers and gladhanders — Harvey Weinstein works a room like nobody’s business — and I noticed there was plenty of glasses of red and white wine all around. Cheers!

I was joined today by Anne Fulenwider who has plenty to celebrate these days having  “come home” to Marie Claire in September. She was tapped for the top job after Joanna Coles departed for Cosmo when Kate White left to write her best sellers full-time. I know, you need a score card for all this, but do try to keep up. Anne’s extraordinary rise to the top of the masthead is a master class on how to succeed in publishing by being very smart, working hard and staying grounded amid all the glitz and glamour (yes, to civilians and the uninitiated this is a glamorous business). The Harvard graduate came to New York in the mid-nineties and landed her first job in magazines working for David Lauren at Swing. An internship at The Paris Review turned into a gig as research assistant to George Plimpton when he was working on his book on Truman Capote. Anne got quite an education diving into boxes of fascinating transcripts, fact checking scores of Plimpton’s interviews and, occasionally ”chopping carrots” at his home and pitching in whenever needed. All in a day’s work.

Diane Clehane and Anne Fulenwider

When the book was done, she went on to become senior editor, moved to Vanity Fair where she was editor of the magazine’s popular “Fanfare” section, and wound up editing the work of Leslie Bennetts, Buzz Bissinger and Dominick Dunne. Except for a brief sojourn to San Francisco, she spent a decade at the magazine where, she said, she “grew up” and was “inspired” by Vanity Fair’s great reporting and writing and learned that “maintaining quality” and upholding the highest journalistic standards (“There were armies of fact checkers and researchers!”) were critical to the vitality and relevance of a successful magazine.

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Marie Claire is shaking up its creative leadership. Alex Gonzalez is joining the magazine as artistic director, while Nina Garcia has been promoted from fashion director to creative director.

Gonzalez comes to Marie Claire from W, where he served as creative director since last year. Prior to that he was creative director for GQ. At Marie Claire, Gonzalez will be responsible for its overall look, and will add photographers and artists to its roster of contributors.

Garcia has been at Marie Claire since 2009. Prior to that she was fashion director for Elle for 13 years. In her new role, Garcia will seek to expand Marie Claire’s fashion coverage and grow its influence in the fashion world.

“Alex and Nina are both inspired visual storytellers, and I am excited about what they will each bring to this new phase in Marie Claire’s evolution,” said Anne Fulenwider, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, in a statement. “Alex’s impeccable taste and discerning eye will add a fresh point of view, and Nina truly embodies Marie Claire from a fashion and style perspective.”

Gonzalez will join the magazine on November 19.

For a more intimate look at Hearst — Marie’s Claire’s publisher — check out the below video featuring a tour of Hearst Tower, hosted by Zanna Roberts Rossi, the magazine’s senior fashion editor.

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Howard Stern (left) Marks 30th Anniversary of New York Debut at WNBC, August 30
2. Cover Battle: The New Yorker or Vice, August 30
3. Fox Execs Move to Fix Good Day New York, September 4
4. Anne Fulenwider Succeeds Joanne Coles at Marie Claire, September 4
5. Vanity Fair Offers Preview of Michael Lewis‘ Obama Piece, September 5
6. FishbowlNY Poll: Readers Again Make Case for Dave Price‘s Exodus from Good Day New York, August 30

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

We just told you about Joanna Coles jumping from Marie Claire to Cosmo, and now we have word on Coles’ successor. According to WWD, Anne Fulenwider is Marie Claire’s new editor-in-chief.

Fulenwider comes to Marie Claire from Brides, where she served as editor-in-chief since last year. She had previously been Marie Claire’s executive editor, from 2009 to 2011.

“Anne had been an invaluable senior member of the Marie Claire team, working closely with Joanna Coles on the vision for the brand, and we are thrilled to welcome her back as editor-in-chief,” David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, told WWD.

Anne Fulenwider, the Editor-in-Chief of Brides since September, has begun to make the magazine her own. According to WWD, there is a redesign coming next spring, and to prepare, Fulenwider has made several changes.

Amy Rosenfeld, the Creative Director at Brides since last year is out; she’s being replaced by Cybele Grandjean, who is joining the magazine from Real Simple. Likewise Sally Kilbridge, the Deputy Editor at Brides, is being succeeded by Keija Minor, the former Editor-in-Chief of Uptown.

Fulenwider has also added Lisa Harman Gooder as Brides’ first Digital Content Director, and Denise Penny as a Senior Editor.

One of those rumors we mentioned yesterday turned out to be true (no, not the Kevin James one). Millie Martini Bratten, the Editor-in-Chief of Brides magazine since 1986, has been fired.

The New York Post reports that Anne Fulenwider, the Executive Editor of Marie Claire is replacing her. There has been no word on Carolyn Kremins, Brides’ Publisher yet, but she is still expected to move on from the title.

The shakeup at Brides might not be the only moves. We mentioned Lucky’s Publisher Michelle Meyers yesterday, but now there is word that tensions are mounting between Self’s Publisher Laura McEwen, and its Editor-in-Chief, Lucy Danziger.

Hearst Magazine‘s womens’ magazine Marie Claire has named a new executive editor, Anne Fulenwider.

Fulenwider, who will start in her new role on October 13, previously worked at Vanity Fair as contributing project editor, Fanfair editor and then senior articles editor. Before joining Vanity Fair, she had worked as senior editor at The Paris Review and served as the research assistant to George Plimpton while he was writing the book “Truman Capote.”

Related: Hearst-Owned Marie Claire Adds A Hearst To Fashion Dept