Sound of Music

During the cocktail reception, guests could pose in a photo booth with thematic props that included nuns' habits and signs with phrases from the musical. When the photos printed out, they had a backdrop of mountains and blue skies.

Before dinner, guests gathered on the opera's mezzanine for a cocktail reception. Tables had bright blue linens and small vases of wildflowers that could have been plucked from a mountainside.

Entertainment during the reception included live music from a local oompah band.

Calihan Catering provided Bavarian-style snacks. On the menu: pretzel twists with violet mustard, bacon-wrapped veal bratwurst, and sweet potato cakes with braised quail and fresh rosemary.

There were also miniature steins of craft beer.

In the Graham Room, where guests had dinner before the show, tables were named after songs from The Sound of Music. They were also decked with blue linens and edelweiss flowers in patches of faux grass. HMR Designs handled the decor.

Riffing off a part of The Sound of Music when the children wear clothes made out of curtains, co-chairs Alison McNally and Eileen Murphy and their kids wore clothing made from the Graham Room's former curtains. Inspired by a phrase in the song "My Favorite Things," decor included brown paper packages tied up with string.

During intermission, guests gathered in the Graham Room again for cocktails, fondue, and sweets from Julius Meinl, an Austrian coffee shop with locations in Chicago.

Light blue cocktail napkins were customized with the silhouette of a twirling nun and the caption: "Keep calm and sing on mountains."