Phew!
It’s not often I post in the evening on a Friday night but after such a hectic couple of days I wanted to share the few photos I took at yesterdays Marvellous Cocktail Party that I organised with Karen from Blue Skies Vintage Events.
We had an official photographer there, Esther Ling, so hopefully I will have some fabulous shots to share from her soon, but in the mean time the few snaps I had chance to take will have to suffice!
We had a Chinese Auction, with a variety of suitably vintage themed prizes. In case you don’t know the idea behind a Chinese Auction is that you get a full set of raffle tickets and you chose which prizes you want to “bid” on by placing half of your ticket in the pot next to the prize, and keep the other half. So with a strip of 5 tickets you can place all 5 in one pot to help your chances of winning, or spread your bets across several pots!
Our fabulous evenings entertainment was provided by Charlene Jean singing some beautiful vintage tunes, Swingball with some energetic dancing swing music, The Hot Bopping Girls dishing out packets of chocolate cigarettes and DJ Earl Harlem and his fabulous Deco DJ booth.
For a first event the evening went fabulously well! Farmer Browns bought in a mixologist who created a special 1930s cocktail menu and trained all the staff to make proper, delicious beautifully prepared ice cold cocktails. No maraschino cherries in your Manhattan, these were proper cherries, stone and all, soaked in kirsch and black pepper. Yum.
A slight downside to this was that waiting times at the bar got a little excessive at busy periods as each drink could take almost 5 minutes to prepare. Most people took this in their stride, at least the drinks were strong, tasty, and well worth waiting for when they arrived! New friends were made in the bar queue and the intimate venue meant the entertainment was immediately on hand while you waited. It’s maybe something to address for the next one though, along keeping the windows open to deal with how warm the room got with all those frenetic dancers!
Of course, the evening was nothing without the amazing people who made such an effort and really made me feel like we’d managed to transport the whole venue back in time for the night. Everyone looked astonishingly beautiful. I’m hoping our photographer got more of a chance to catch how amazing everyone really looked, but in the meantime I’ll leave you with a few snaps I took!
Comments
20 responses to “A Marvellous Cocktail Party”
oh wow it looks amazing I really wish I’d been there! Hopefully when you do your next one we might be able to manage it!
Looks great!! Congrats on organising it!! Wish I lived closer when I see events like this down south!
Wow, it looks amazing!!!!! Wish I could have had a cocktail or two with you all!! Coming to Norwich for a day out soon and can’t wait to have a peep round all the places featured on the “Vintage Norwich” website!! X
A fabulous evening! I have to say the wait at the bar was actually a huge plus for me as, having braved it alone, I got to speak to so many people! Wonderful, cannot wait for event number 2! I think you should do one for each decade…40’s tea dance, 50’s prom, 60’s Swing dance or Flower party and 70’s disco, purely so I can buy a whole lot of new vintage outfits! xx
Looks like it was a fantastic event!!! I fancy a real Martini now 🙂
Dying to see more pictures, especially one of you!
You’ve just made me realise how much I’m longing for a cocktail party! x
Looks absolutely fabulous. I want to go to an event like this!
We did that same type of auction at my quilt club, be we called it an Auffle. Pronounced like Awful. It is an Auction and a Raffle mashed up together.
Looks and sounds amazing. I so want to be at one 🙁 Can’t wait to see the official photos. Congratulations on what looks to have been a fantastic first event, x
That looks wonderful – you are clearly a lady who knows how to organise a hell of a party. And those cocktails! I’d have had one of each (for research purposes, of course…).
Wow, looks fantastic. I love all the glam outfits on the guests, your photos capture it all so well.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your future events! 🙂
It was fabbylous, thank you for organising such a fab eve! x
I love cigarette girls! And I’m so impressed with how amazing everyone looks here. Straight out of the Cotton Club. Nice work!
Thanks again Gemma for a great night. The cocktails were great, but I have to agree that the waiting times were probably I tiny bit long; as you say though, it was a good opportunity to have a chat with the other guests. Can’t wait to see the official photos 🙂
want to go to next one 🙂
Wow gorgeous pictures!! Everyone looked fabulous x
It was truly marvellous 🙂 x
Oh wow! That looks like it was such a fun event! I’m loving all the costumes and the classic 30’s drinks menu.
Thank you, it was a superb evening & we made some fab new friends xxx
I unfortunately couldn’t make this, it looks like an amazing night. Well done you, hope you arrange another one some time xx