Tuesday, July 15, 2008

An Evening in the Garden

So as you saw by my post yesterday, the evening went very well. Everyone had a wonderful time and we over bought on the booze so I got to take a bunch home. :)



The event was titled, An Evening in the Garden and it was held at the Morris Arboretum. Please check out the site sometime. It is a beautiful place. It was essentially a little gathering for my bosses, financial advisors, to thank their clients for their business and to get new business by clients bringing guests. Got it? The theme was also about going green (of course) and so I tried to be as green as possible with the preparations; no plastic glasses, no paper plates, recycled materials for decorations and takeaways. There were garden tours and guests could wander in the gardens when they wished. We had the whole place to ourselves.



Ok, here's the scoop on the pics you see in the slide show. You either have to click or double click to see the show with the captions. The centerpieces I made with mason jars, kraft paper, blue raffia and 150 zinnias I cut myself the morning of the event. The pic I took of the centerpiece at the event didn't do it justice but I had a lot to do. I took a pic of the bar area so I could mention that we had a special signature drink, it was a hibiscus tea mojito. It was kinda the color of the flowers and it was SO good! We had regular mojitos as well. They used cut sugarcane as stirrers for each drink. We also had an open bar. The food was FABULOUS too. We had a large antipasto table with olives, cheeses, tapanade, sardines (I think P was the only person that ate those). We also had butlered HDO's, spiced scallop on a rice cracker, flat iron steak with chipotle butter on a baguette slice, veggie spring rolls and shrimp.



The takeaway bags had directions on how to sign up for paperless account information and also had a fax back to us for people that are interested in doing a fall clean-up in Fairmount Park (Philly's Central Park but ours is bigger). There was also a retirement planning book that is actually kinda fun to use and a potted herb; Sage, Rosemary, Thyme or Lavender.



All in all we had a little over 100 people at the event. It went VERY well and everyone had a great time. As soon as I got there and saw that my wonderful caterers had everything under control, I relaxed a bit and was able to enjoy myself at the actual event even though I was still doing the work thing. So, enjoy the few pics I thought to get.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool! Awesome. Bet you're glad all that work is over... at least for now.

Los said...

It was a good day for it ... maybe a little hot, but still, it was good. Hopefully, you got some of the guests to pay up!

Mama Dawg said...

Very cool! Congrats on pulling it off!

Anonymous said...

The lilies are beautiful and I love the take home herbs! You did an awesome job! Congratulations!

Acrimony said...

Sounds like an awesome night! But...uh...dumb question. What's an HDO?

Mary said...

How pretty. Looks like you did a great job.

BS5 Blogger said...

Tooooooooooop stuff, Miss America - you sound very pleased about it and full on congrats to you *WELL DONE!* :)

Arboretum is a cool Latin word and a smart thing to visit too!

Dirty White boy said...

very awesome.

Dirty White boy said...

I have a ton of scars. Not as many as Shan does, I mean he has a whole toe missing, but I have a lot.
Chicks dig tattoos also..and they are more visible than a scar.

Suburbia said...

Looks fab!

KathyLikesPink said...

Those zinnias are gorgeous! You definitely went above and beyond. Nice work!

Anonymous said...

Wow I loved all of those flowers... Susie h~

Heather said...

Everything looks soooo great!! You did such a good job.

Jen said...

awesome job! It looks like and sounds like an amazing evening.

Ashley. Unscripted... said...

Looks like it turned out great. Yay!! I know you're glad to be done with that.

As Cape Cod Turns said...

YaY for you and P's back is HOT! Way to go!

Fifty K said...

Looks like it was a great and very green event. Congrats.

AFRo said...

It looks amazing! I love the centerpieces! How long did it take to put them together? Anyway that you'd email me specific instructions along with those pictures. I think I'm totally going to steal your idea for next week.

Aren't the caterers fabulous!?! I swear it takes care of 90% of my "day of" stress just knowing mine is there. She takes care of so much more than just the food.

Seriously though. Email me about the centerpieces.

Muffy Willowbrook said...

Wow! I should have had you plan my wedding!

Love the Hibiscus Pear Mojitos - those sound fabulous!

Lindsay said...

Glad everything went well. I know you're happy that it's over with.

Beautiful choice in flowers, by the way :)

Tootsie Farklepants said...

Um. Yeah. You had me at mojito.

Lula! said...

Waaaaaaait...
Where are the piotures? I came here earlier today to see if you'd posted any, then saw you had. The second I clicked on them my doorbell rang. I just now came back and there's no pictures.

WAH!