Coordinated by Samantha Burwick, Tia Chapman and Paola Zanzo, the event's A Spellbinding Night theme was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven," and featured eerie decor by Ron Wendt Designs that evoked a spooky autumn night. Faux ravens were perched throughout the tented dining room: in the tall, mossy trees and on the edges of steaming cauldron centerpieces that decorated some tables. Warm gold and orange lights shined through leaf-stenciled gobos to give the room the feeling a nighttime party under a canopy of trees. Tables were covered with orange and black satin tablecloths with sheer black net overlays.

The costumes, of course, were also a sight: Sigourney Weaver happily posed for cameras in her witch getup. Bebe Neuwirth was a black cat. They were joined by Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, Hannibal Lecter, Austin Powers and an assortment of other costumed gala-goers. Entertainers from Carrie Robbins Designage added to the atmosphere with costumed actors and performers who danced, spun plates and walked on stilts among the guests.

—Suzanne Ito

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