On Saturday night, Shedd Aquarium kicked off the summer social season with a wintry gala for 700 guests. Dubbed the "Beluga Ball," this year's fund-raiser had a theme inspired by some of the institution's fair-skinned inhabitants.
"When we were discussing a theme in our brainstorming sessions, our chair, Robin Doerge, said 'I just love the Beluga whales," recalled program manager of donor relations and special events Katrina Clark. "It came up in conversation that the word beluga comes from the Russian word for white. So it morphed into a White Russian theme."
The dress code took on a Russian spin, with the invite calling for "Black Tie or White Tie. Cossack hat optional." During the cocktail reception, servers circulated with caviar and specialty White Russian cocktails. Heffernan Morgan designer John Hensel incorporated wintry touches into the decor, illuminating the pathway to the cocktail reception with snowflake-shaped lights and filling the aquarium's galleries with replicas of the domes from Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral.
Sodexo's dinner menu stuck with theme, offering a gold-dusted white-chocolate Fabergé egg for desert.
![E18515standalone](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2010/05/e18515standalone.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Snowflakes lit curtains along the aquarium's south corridor, which lead to the cocktail reception. Severs circulated with trays of champagne.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image4.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Russian appetizers from Sodexo included baby red potatoes with caviar and crème fraîche.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image5.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Servers poured Grey Goose vodka martinis from behind a bar by Nadeau's Ice Sculptures.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image3.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Another bar, designed by Heffernan Morgan, was covered in white emu skin.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image2.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![The Simone Vitale Band provided entertainment during the cocktail reception. After dinner, they moved to a tent on the lakeside terrace, where guests danced to party hits like 'Billie Jean.'](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image9.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Through the Fund-a-Friend program, guests could pledge support for some of the aquarium's inhabitants. In thanks, donors received plush sea creatures from the gift shop.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image10.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Before dinner, guests headed to the newly renovated Oceanarium for a so-called 'Beluga Ballet' of choreographed routines from dolphins and whales. At intervals throughout the show, Bill Kurtis auctioned off four packages, and a children's choir from Pilsen sang for the finale.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image1.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![Dinner took place in the aquarium galleries and Carribean reef rotunda. The three-course meal included goat cheese brûlée with roasted organic beets and filet of beef tenderloin with ruby port bordelaise sauce. Dessert was white chocolate Fabergé eggs dusted with gold and filled with honey sponge cake, almond-infused whipped cream, and liqueur-soaked berries.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image8.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![In his tabletop decor, Heffernan Morgan designer John Hensel used gold candlesticks and candelabra, silver vessels, and Russian cut roses.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image7.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
![After dinner, a desert reception took place downstairs in the Bubble Net Lounge. Images of Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral adorned Heffernan Morgan's custom bars.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2011/11/e18515image6.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)