For the third year, the rooftop of the historic Hay-Adams hotel was the scene of John and Cristina McLaughlin’s morning-after Sunday brunch on April 22, where a group of 150 guests, including Morgan Fairchild, Desperate Houeswives’ James Denton, and CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo compared notes on the previous evening’s Correspondents Association dinner festivities. The decor, a collaboration between the hotel and McLaughlin Group managing producer Allison Butler, echoed the season, with clean yellow and white tones.
Mini invites were back again this year, created especially for McLaughlin to hand out to last-minute invitees at the dinner. The White House was in full view across the street, the balmy spring weather was in full force, and talk of the Crow-David-Rove spat was in full effect. The crowd was a mix of some dinner attendees, some of the strictly after-party crowd, and some who saved their energy for brunch.
We talked to guests to get their perspective on the weekend:
“There are too many Republicans [at the dinner] for me. The Bloomberg party was too crowded. [As for the Capitol File party], the Colombian embassy itself is exceptional, and it’s a very attractive crowd—extremely well done without being too crowded.”
—Tom Quinn, Democratic lobbyist and attorney, Venable
“I think the fact that the president’s a lame duck didn’t help [the tone of the dinner]. The salmon was good.”
—Anonymous
“Bloomberg was a great party. What really impressed me was that they never ran out of anything. For people who arrived late, it was a fresh party.”
—Diana Biederman, public relations manager, 21 Club, New York
“The Hay-Adams is the best venue in Washington.”
—Anonymous
“Well, the brunch looks very exciting so far. Very exciting people here and great style, so we’re looking forward to it.”
—Finola Bruton, wife of European Union ambassador John Bruton
“It wasn’t my favorite dinner. The Virginia Tech thing put a damper on the festivities.”
—D.C. journalist who has been attending the dinner since 1984
