11. American Heart Association's Heart Ball
#11 Benefit
Some 900 guests attend the black-tie fund-raiser, which returned to Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom this year. The event had an expansive silent auction, a dinner program with a live auction and a heart-tugging video, and an after-party dubbed “Ignite the Night.” It raked in $2.2 million. Next: April 9, 2016
Photo: Bill Richert
Todd Events made a wedding held inside a large barn in Aspen seem more intimate with two tall signature bars and scattered seating and food station vignettes. Hanging glass globes appeared to lower the ceilings.
Photo: Karlisch Wrubel Photography
The backdrop for the green-colored red-carpet arrivals area was a vertical living garden, which the organizers have created at previous iterations of the auction. This year, for the first time, the press wall incorporated found branches alongside palm fronds, moss elephant ears, phalaenopsis, air ferns, clovers, cabbage, Boston ferns, pitcher plants, staghorn ferns, asparagus ferns, busy ivy, English ivy, and lemon leaf. Many of the plants were replanted after the event.
Photo: Carolyn Curtis/BizBash
