In late April, we introduced you all to the upcoming charity event known as Date with A Plate.  The event took place on the 4th & 5th of May and was just incredible. All of the designers and collectors who provided an insight into their interpretation of a fabulous table or entertainment scenario absolutely brought their A-game.  I do hope that a lot of you were able to make it out to see the amazing work that thrilled all of the guests. It was truly a feast for the eyes!!!

This year, the charity, known as the IMAJNZ Foundation –  which is the very innovative charity created by Judi Goodman and Sharyn Berman to support selected area charities – supported The Noreen O’Neill Foundation for Melanoma Research. It was an honor to step up for this particular charity as there is a history there for us.

We teamed up Beautiful Blooms to design and create our own interpretation of what would be a great night out with close friends. The inspiration began with a simple photo out of the January issue of InStyle Magazine.

And then the vision grew. We LOVED this beautiful combination of Sangria and White and decided that what we really needed to do was create wine and cheese party under the stars using this incredible contrast of colors. When we finally concluded what we were out to accomplish, we found the perfect name for our dining adventure:  ”Private Escape.”

Next came the ruffles –  which, until this year, I’ve never really found a place for in my heart. Now, suddenly, I LOVE THEM!  But not your grandmother’s ruffles, as you will soon see.

Beautiful Blooms has these awesome arbors created from beautiful wood beams.  We just had to use them!  Then we went in search of sangria colored ruffles, and WHITE ruffled plates.   No easy task, but a fun one nontheless!  And of course, being the detail crazies are, we lined everything out from drawings and measurements to make sure that our little plan would work.

Then, on the day of installation, the Beautiful Blooms and Eclatante teams carefully taped out the dimesions of our space, laid the the carpet, built the arbor, and carefully placed the linens and all of the other beautiful elements.

And here are the results!  These stunning photos were taken by David Mielcarek of CinematicbyDavidM.   He graciously agreed to shoot our display and we couldn’t have been more pleased.  His photos are wonderful!!!

The chandelier is a phenomenal custom piece created out of square wine glasses.  Beautiful Blooms laced flowers all through the glassware.  The result was STUNNING!!!

Two Paper Dolls created the carefully designed Wine Tasting piece that explained the specific wine and cheese pairings to each guest.   Of course, choosing just the perfect wines was definitely one of the fun parts.

At the corners of the arbor, there were lovely large teardrop glass vases hung containing Japanese sweet peas, Japanese white long stem gloriosa lilies and white peonies.  It was a perfect softening touch.

We were so pleased to have Starr Events work with us. They created a gorgeous cheese and fruit platter and Frank’s Union Wine Mart helped us choose the perfect wine!  The wine and cheese pairings were absolutely amazing.

Thanks also go to Moore Events for lighting our display with uplights and pinspots. It truly made the difference by having this lighting installed.

The guests were thrilled to discover that this incredible “Private Escape” could be their reality — if they bid high enough!  Apparently, there was quite a little bidding war over our Private Escape.  We don’t know who won, but we can’t wait  recreate this look on Liberties Walk for one lucky winner and their friends.  Starr Events will create a lovely wine tasting menu for 8 and Frank’s Union Wine Mart will provide the wine for the event. What could be more wonderful than dining under the stars with great friends in their own “Pefect Escape.”

Our parting shots are the team photo!