I’m pretty confident that The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Dinner is one of the most anticipated evenings of Manhattan’s winter social schedule. I was thrilled to receive an invitation to celebrate orchid viewing with dinner and dancing at The PLAZA HOTEL.
The evening started at 7 p.m. with cocktails served during a sale of rare and exceptional orchids. Fashionable guests like Maureen Chilton, Martha Stewart, Marilyn Kirschner, Molly Beauchemin, Paul Drezel and Ambassador Sandra Fuentes-Berain, mingled and purchased their favorite potted orchids.
Some of the world’s leading orchid specialists were on hand to assist guests with their purchases, silly me thought they were bodyguards for the glamorous socialites in attendance. They were actually orchid chaperones.
How wonderful the NYBG chose The Plaza Hotel at Fifth Avenue & Central Park South for this visually stimulating evening. The iconic hotel is a landmark building constructed in 1907. It is said that “nothing unimportant ever happens at The Plaza” and the 2016 NYBG ORCHID DINNER substantiates that statement.
The important Hearst Corporation, along with stylish VERANDA Magazine and BNY Mellon are underwriters supporting the Garden’s esteemed orchid research collection. There is a long list of important names dedicated to Botanical Conservancy,Sustainability, Garden Membership, Children’s Gardening, Gala Chairs, Research and Sponsorship– I could go on but I’ll let you do that here.
The annual Orchid Dinner is a colorful evening that highlights dramatic orchid arrangements curated by New York’s leading designers from the worlds of fashion, architecture, horticulture and literature. Luxury lifestyle houses like Ralph Lauren, Baccarat and Tony Duquette provided beautiful tabletop accouterments for their themed presentations. Gorgeous fabrics graced tables and chairs thanks to leading textile firms like Pierre Frey, Fabricut and Zoffany.
Dinner at eight and dancing soon after took place in the Grand Ballroom. A sublime, historic, opulent, Neo-classic, Rococo atmosphere with gold, cream and mirrored details. (I could go on) This is the majestic room where Truman Capote had his infamous “Party of the Century” in 1966.
“The Garden is thrilled to celebrate its 125th Anniversary with special exhibitions as well as new gardens and collections ” announced Gregory Long, President of the New York Botanical Gardens as he welcomed guests as they sat for dinner.
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| ORCHID DINNER DANCE @ PLAZA HOTEL IN MANHATTAN |
and are valuable hothouse plants.
There were 3 courses to dinner – all were scrumptious including the decadent chocolate cake which I insisted was too big to finish .. . hehehe. Thank you New York Botanical Garden, BFA’s Angela Pham for the photo mix and Gala Chairs: Sharon and Bill Jacob, Kamie and Richard Lightburn, Tina and Steven R. Swartz your Orchid Dinner was a cultivated delight.
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| Huntress centerpiece designed by Hilary Pereira |
In addition, The New York Botanical Garden presents The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium from February 27 through April 17, 2016, the nation’s largest exhibition of its kind. Visitors to this year’s Orchid Show, inspired by the 19th-century craze sparked by a single orchid bloom, will be transported on an epic journey that engages all of the senses and underscores the allure and intrigue of these exquisite beauties. Filling the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory—a New York landmark—will be thousands of orchids in a stunning array of colors, sizes, shapes, and textures, highlighting the far-flung adventures of daring explorers who risked life and limb to secure these captivating and exotic flowers from danger-laden jungles around the world for determined collectors. Don’t miss it . . .
