Fundraising Gala: Union Station, Washington D.C.

Yesterday was my first official fundraising gala for our client B'nai Brith International (I now feel like I'm a true member of the BDI team).Anyways--the event was absolutely fantastic. The venue itself, sold the show. It was held in the middle of Union Station, Washington D.C. which is still a very active center of transportation for the city. Therefore, our event space wasn't available until 5pm, (with cocktails starting at 6pm).

This may sound a bit nuts, but ironically enough, it is the complete opposite. The tough thing about working with a venue like Union Station, is that they have preferred vendors that you have to use for your events (meaning they can also charge you what they want). Therefore, Design Cuisine did the catering, RCI did the Audio, Future Vision did the projecting, Hargrove did the staging and drape, and another company did the lighting (when usually you can wrap this all up in one company, get a stage from the hotel from free, and call it a day!). But the nice thing about using these preferred vendors is that they know their stuff, and know that venue. All of the vendors staged their equipment in the Main Hall in roped off areas (which also creates some buzz and excitement around the station because people are wondering what's going on as they are passing through). And then at 5:00pm exactly, the vendors in the area (seen below) pack up their stuff, and the vendors move in. It seriously is like an army. Each and every vendor comes in and moves flawlessly throughout the venue, with not one minute to spare.

Let's talk design scheme now: the honoree of the dinner had a bit of an edge, but also likes to keep things classy and professional. His is also a very big love for Motorcycles-which inspired the theme "Road to Happiness". Therefore a motorcycle dealer of DC, brought in 4 motorcycles that we used throughout the dinner as part of the decor. The rest of the color scheme complimented the bikes with reds, blacks, and ivories on the tables. I personally would have chosen a bit more of a statement piece on the linens on the tables, but it was too much for them, so they went with a solid ivory linen, complimented by black rimmed charges, and a red salad plate. The florals in the center were also simple, yet masculine with white spider mums in a low black square vase, with an accent of one red flower to make a statement. Once again wouldn't have exactly been my choice but I saw what they were going for. 

We placed one red motorcycle on the stage that was draped in red and black, and placed two complimentary motorcycles in the midst of the room in the middle of the tables, spotted by textured red & blue gels for lighting. It was a great talking piece! 

All and all the dinner was a complete success both in the look, the logistics, and the fundraising component! It was a nice break from the conferences to do a fun quick event like this one!