The spring gala season is finally behind us, and designers and producers brought their most innovative ideas to the blockbuster fund-raisers that peppered our coverage in the past few months. Though some events had one-off highlights that weren't repeated elsewhere (check out the giant, lip-shaped arrangement of red roses from New York's Met Ball), some similarities connected galas across the U.S. and in Canada. This year, trends included Egyptian tropes, paper decorations, innovative methods of live-streaming, indoor greenery, hanging candles, and even bicycle tires popping up in decor. Here's a look back at our coverage of this year's big, flower-filled functions.
Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Ball
The Daffodil Ball turned the historic Windsor Station in Montreal into an Alice in Wonderland-inspired gala on April 26. To honor the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic story, the 19th annual Canadian Cancer Society fund-raiser brought a surreal and upscale version of the tale to life. The design for the dining room included five different table styles, seven linen combinations, three types of chairs, and four colors of chair cushions.
Photo: Alexandre Chéron
The California Science Center's Discovery Ball
There was gold, gold everywhere at the California Science Center in Los Angeles May 18 for its annual Discovery Ball. The event this year drew inspiration for its theme from Cleopatra, the subject of 'Cleopatra: The Exhibition.' A troupe from Zen Arts processed through the dining room to announce a feast hosted by Mark Antony and Cleopatra, also known as dinner.
Photo: Nadine Froger Photography
Give Kids the World Black & White Gala
Give Kids the World hosted its annual gala in the grand ballroom of the Peabody Orlando on June 2. With a Night at the Museum theme, the event had an area dedicated to all things ancient Egypt, including pyramids, a Sphinx, and hieroglyphics.
Photo: Christie's Photographic Studios
Bridgepoint Health Foundation's Fandango Gala
Bridgepoint Health Foundation transported 450 guests to days of Cleopatra at the 10th annual Fandango gala on May 12 at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto. The theme was inspired by this year’s gala co-chair, Vivian Abdelmessih, who has Egyptian roots. The evening kicked off with a reception in the hotel's grand foyer, where decor channeled a hookah lounge, with tapestry rugs, gold furniture, and hookah pipes. Bowls of pomegranates added to the scene.
Photo: Sonia Recchia/Pimentel Photo
Alliance de Francaise de Chicago Biennial Gala
Another exotic, faraway-land theme graced the Alliance Francaise de Chicago benefit. Dubbed “Le Bal Magique du Maroc,” the May 12 gala at the Four Seasons Hotel was inspired by a Moroccan garden, and scent was important in bringing the vibe to life. For dinner tables in the ballroom, Kim Merlin of KKM Designs grouped Moroccan tea glasses, floating white roses, candles, lanterns, and bowls filled with fruits such as figs, oranges, and mangos added to the look and the aroma.
Photo: Cheri Eisenberg and Mary Clare
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay's Storybook Ball
The Cat in the Hat theme was apparent throughout the ballroom at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa on May 19 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities’ annual fund-raiser. Gold Productions used colorful fabrics and lighting to bring the story to life for the 700 attendees.
Photo: Moorman Photography
Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Ball
Thematic catering at the Daffodil Ball included soup served from a teapot. An edible pocket watch crust rested on top.
Photo: Fahri Yavuz
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital Preview Gala
The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago hosted a glittery, celebrity-packed benefit on April 21. With headliners Sarah Jessica Parker and Harry Connick Jr., the evening had decor with towering paper centerpieces in the shapes of flowers, windmills, and airplanes. Artist and illustrator Jami Darwin Chiang constructed the paper pieces.
Photo: Josh Sears
The Steppenwolf Gala
The Chicago theater company's gala took place on Saturday night, with a performance at the Steppenwolf theater and a dinner-dance at Chicago's Blackhawk on Halsted. Event Creative's decor scheme was inspired by the written word, and pages from the script of that evening's production hung from round chandeliers on the ceiling.
Photo: Kyle Flubacker
Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario Gala
Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario's annual gala at the Liberty Grand April 14 based much of the design scheme around the night's "Inspire" theme. Bill Fulghum, event designer at William Fulghum, wanted to inspire and surprise guests. Eye-catching decor hung overhead. “The large, floating paper flowers, combined with the oversize Moooi chandeliers, created a certain fantasy feeling,” Fulghum said.
Photo: Carla Warrilow/BizBash
Apollo Theater's Spring Gala Benefit Concert
The iconic theater hosted its spring benefit gala in New York June 4 with a concert and an after-party underneath a sprawling tent. Marc Wilson of Marc Wilson Design handled decor for the evening, adding an origami chandelier over the central bar.
Photo: Peter Peck Field
The Apollo Theater's Spring Gala Benefit Concert
Wilson's decor also included plush white lounge furniture, hanging chandeliers, and topiaries.
Photo: Peter Peck Field
The Washington Humane Society's Fashion for Paws
More topiaries—these with a more playful spin—appeared at the the Washington Humane Society's annual Fashion for Paws fund-raiser at the National Building Museum on April 14. Edge Floral Event Designs created large centerpieces shaped like dogs to top select tables in the V.I.P. area.
Photo: Tony Brown/imijphoto.com for BizBash
Museum of Modern Art's Party in the Garden
The Museum of Modern Art's annual event took place in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden in New York on May 22. Long, communal tables and lounge-like configurations provided more relaxed seating on the upper level. For centerpieces, designer David Monn incorporated square-shaped topiaries, illuminated by candles that hung from the leaves in glass cylinders.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Friends of the High Line Benefit
The weather may have been dreary as guests arrived at Pier 57 on May 1 but this year's Friends of the High Line benefit in New York looked to bring some sunshine indoors. For the dining area, the design crew from Van Wyck & Van Wyck built a "sun"—a disc five feet in diameter and filled with more than 4,000 LEDs—which was suspended on a track running the length of the pier using aircraft cable. A metronomic clock operated the illuminated piece, moving it along this path two inches at a time, while a succession of large mirrored sheets alternately hid and revealed its rays. The result was the illusion of an eclipse that continued for the duration of the night.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Relais & Chateaux Grand Chefs
Relais & Chateaux hosted its Grand Chefs 2012 event, “Springtime in New York,” at Gotham Hall in New York on April 18. The centerpiece for each table was tall cherry blossoms with hanging candles. The votive candles were washed with a bronze gilt finish that cut the glare of the candles that often ruin this type of setup.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Hot Pink Party
On Monday, April 30, the nonprofit returned to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York to host its annual Hot Pink Party. A festive ceiling treatment combined balloons and hanging parasols.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Marwen's Paintbrush Ball
A similar ceiling treatment from Event Creative—with hanging umbrellas, balloons, and disco balls—appeared at Marwen's Paintbrush Ball in Chicago on June 2.
Photo: Joseph R. Palmer
Marwen's Paintbrush Ball
The Paintbrush Ball celebrated Marwen's 25th anniversary, or silver birthday, with party hats, confetti, and ubiquitous pops of the metallic hue. To underscore the theme, guests entered the dinner tent through a tunnel of silver balloons from Balloons by Tommy.
Photo: Joseph R. Palmer
New York's Robin Hood Foundation Gala
Long considered one of the biggest and most influential benefits in New York, the Robin Hood Foundation returned to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for its annual gala May 14. This year, in addition to a performances by Rihanna and Neil Young, the 4,000-person event saw a motif inspired by one of the city's iconic visuals: the subway. A tunnel, simply illuminated and filled with the kind of noises typically heard in the underground, lead guests to the reception that preceded dinner.
Photo: Nadia Chaudhury/BizBash
Museum of Modern Art's Armory Party
On March 7, some 1,600 New York art patrons amassed at the Museum of Modern Art for the Armory Party, the fund-raiser that serves as the kickoff for the Armory Show. To give donors following the live stream a presence at the party, the organizers at MoMA worked with technology design studio BuzaMoto to incorporate user-generated bobblehead-like characters that were projected onto the walls during the event.
Photo: Scott Rudd
Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala
For the first time in its history, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala's red carpet arrivals, hosted by Vogue's William Norwich and model Elettra Wiedemann, were live-streamed to the Vogue, Amazon, and museum Web sites. The broadcast of the May 7 event included live interviews with the gala co-chairs as well as celebrity guests, while viewers were invited to submit questions via Twitter. Peppered throughout the live-streaming were pretaped segments on the history of the benefit and this year’s corresponding exhibition, "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations," which runs through August 19.
Photo: BFAnyc.com
Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala
As guests entered the Metropolitan Museum through the Great Hall, they met a 24-foot-tall cylinder covered in 40,000 roses—only one-fifth of the total number of roses at the gala—with a large-scale lip pattern inspired by Schiaparelli and Prada designs. A total of 200,000 stems of red and white roses, shipped in from Colombia and Ecuador, went into the arrangement. A team of 150 staffers worked to prepare the floral decor.
Photo: BFAnyc.com
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball in Chicago May 4 encouraged guests to stop by a new, self-curated exhibit called "Bikes! The Green Revolution." With vintage bicycles and a virtual pedicab experience traveling through local neighborhoods, the exhibition inspired the tone of the entire evening. Event Creative's design took the theme into account, and chandeliers made out of bicycle wheels complemented the black-and-white decor in the dinner tent.
Photo: Steve Becker/beckermedia.com
Hudson River Park Trust's Spring Gala
To highlight the various recreational activities that take place in the New York park, the May 29 gala for the Hudson River Park Trust on Pier 26 included centerpieces of bicycle wheels.
Photo: Courtesy of 360 Design Events, Jamie Watts Photography
