The Young & The Guest List party
is both a blessing and a curse.
The morning afterwards when
partygoers share that they’ve had an
enjoyable time in thank you emails, it’s rewarding.
Before the party, however, there is always growing
anxiety about how to throw an even better bash
than last year.
In order to pull off something spectacular,
we enlisted the help of famed event planner
André Wells. Over cappuccinos and muffins we
hashed many soon-to-be rejected ideas, which
included a house party and a key-themed event.
We wanted the night to be spectacular while at
the same time being sophisticated. Our primary
concern was thwarting crashers. As we looked
over photographs from previous years, there
perhaps were several hundred people no one in
our office could identify.
This
spawned the idea to keep the
location a secret.
Before we selected a venue
or even a date, we chose Haute
Papier to make the invitations.
Owner Sarah Meyer-Walsh
personally creates each invitation
and she found gold textured
paper from India for ours. We
hoped the St. Regis Hotel (923
16th St. NW) would re-open in
time to serve as a meeting place
and cocktail hour for our guests,
but we kept a back-up hotel on
reserve in case of construction delays. All of this
delayed the invitations being sent out until just a
few weeks before the party. |
a place that is not a usual
destination for the Y&GL
crowd (Dumbarton House and
Meridian House) and after we
were wowed at a MaxMara
party at Halcyon House (3400
Prospect St. NW), we knew we
had our location. Throwing a
major party is a jigsaw puzzle
and each piece has to fit together.
After we found the right venue,
our catering company backed
out due to bad logistics. Our
transportation company did the
same when they learned large coaches couldn’t
park on Prospect Street. Reston Limousine literally
came to our rescue. The drama continued.
Event planner André Wells carefully
executed three parties back to
back. (Photo by Jaime Windom) |
WL INSIDER 
