Shelby's Social Diary
Cocktails in the garden made for a veddy, veddy swell soiree
Oh, to have been a wealth management guru or non-profit development director or even a Jaguar salesman at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens on Thursday night. For there was a gathering of young eagles, up-and-coming community leaders and philanthropists who are just beginning to make their mark — ideal subjects for engaging in "bidness." But the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston had them first.
Under the leadership of chairs Ryan Gordon, Annie Criner, Leslie and Mark Hull, Tennie and David Ott and Katie and Paul Barnhart, more than 300 successful and well-connected thirtysomethings toured the museum's historic house; surveyed the verdant formal gardens and schmoozed in a beautifully-decorated party tent. (Actually, the Barnharts were MIA, having been stranded in Europe by the volcanic ash situation.)
The annual Bayou Bend Cocktail Party kicks off a weekend of events making use of the vast tent erected each spring in the garden in front of the Diana Fountain. Scheduled for Saturday afternoon is the children's party and on Sunday, the Bayou Bend Garden Party, a picturesque dinner evening. Monday night, the 5-A or African American Art Advisory Association takes over for a cocktail party.
Thursday night, landscape maestros McDugald-Steele oversaw the tent decorations that were awash in bundles of peonies and hydrangeas, a nod to the "Pink Perfection" theme. Music by Moodafaruka and endless rounds of appetizers from City Kitchen kept the crowd in social mode for several hours.