What: 2018 Grand Gala Ball: The Courtly Ball
Where: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The scoop: The 2018 Grand Gala Ball welcomed more than 270 guests for a royal affair, celebrating the exhibition "Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol." The Museum’s Cullinan Hall was transformed to reflect the occasion, featuring luxurious, red and blue floor-to-ceiling drapes, glittering chandeliers, and framed projections of royal portraiture featured in the exhibition.
Décor by The Events Company included gold-accented furniture and gold-rimmed glassware, royal blue linens and grand centerpieces overflowing with red, pink, and white roses. As guests took their seats, Gary Tinterow, director of the MFAH; Richard D. Kinder, chairman of the board of the MFAH; and Franci Neely, chair of the Grand Gala Ball, offered their remarks. City Kitchen wowed with a menu that included twice baked stilton soufflé served with salad of celery, toasted walnuts, endive, green apple, and watercress for the first course, followed by pan-roasted breast of pheasant with field mushrooms and Madeira crispy rissole of pheasant leg served with turnip mash with scallions and Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, asparagus, and salsify. The spectacular feast concluded with a trifle with berries, sponge cake, sherry, and cream.
Following dinner, guests danced the night away to the musical stylings of Jordan Khan Orchestra. The museum raised $2 million during the event to support its general operating budget.
The Houston royalty included: Nancy and Rich Kinder, Phoebe Tudor, Shahla and Hushang Ansary, Bill and Sara Morgan, Franci Neely, Bill and Andrea White, Lynn Wyatt, Lester and Sue Smith, Cornelia and Meredith Long, Susan and Fayez Sarofim,Andrew and Mona Sarofim, Diane Lokey Farb, Jane Zilkha, Margaret Alkek Williams and Jim Daniel, Jeanie Kilroy Wilson and Wallace S. Wilson, Robin and Lela Gibbs, Ginni and Richard Mithoff, Macey and Harry Reasoner, Sushila and Durga Agrawal, Rania Daniel, Cynthia and Tony Petrello, Leslie and Brad Bucher, Gail and Louis Adler, Nancy C. Allen, Princess Maria-Anna and Prince Piotr Galitzine, Kathy and Marty Goossen, Amy Purvis, Isla and Tommy Reckling, Nancy and Butch Abendshein, Susan and Lenoir Josey, Lisa and Downing Mears, and Jesse H. Jones II and Terry Wayne Jones.
Margaret Alkek Williams and Jim Daniel.
