Many of you know me very well enough by now that I would try anything in life…at least once. That can be said of the French Soiree making grounds on American soil in the form of Le Diner en Blanc, for the 8th time. It sounds so chic, and so French of course. I first spotted the member only group last year in Lincoln Center, fully decked out around the fountain in the plaza. It looked so heavenly seeing everyone and everything in white! I dug deeper in my research only to find out it’s now hosted in 80 cities worldwide and can only join after being waist listed since I didn’t know any of my friends doing it yet to invite me to join.
Less than a year later, I became a confirmed member! And so the preparation began with coming up with table decor, acquiring everything white for my debut. Many people get overwhelmed with over planning and spending too much, bring too much only to use too little. I was lucky enough to rely on ebay and amazon for my essentials. For instance, the roll up table (rolls up into a yoga mat!!! Awesome invention) I acquired brand new from ebay, built all white dolly bag for my cart, made everything compact and lightweight -mindful of the group subway ride to the secret location. Yes, you read right, secret. That is only revealed after gathering with your group just about an hour before the start of event, usually between 5 to 630pm. Choosing the attire was easy, they said no heels, grassy venue, might rain…that meant tone it down, go low key. I cooked some of my beloved’s favorite dishes, Nigerian jollof with Korean style braised beef called Kalbi Jim, ordered a bottle of wine from the event and everything went smoothly. We (6500+) danced the night away and made lots of new friends in the process.
While Hurricane Florence’s rain threatened to ruin the affair…the gawds must have heard our prayers. It held up nicely with only a few sprinkles just at the end of the event. Whew! We dodged that one! Besides having to wait long hours to get on the boat ride to this year’s secret location at Governor’s Island, it was an ok night, and according to seasoned patrons…a disaster! Hopefully the organizers would be mindful of that fiasco and keep the event free of any kind of boat rides to any location. Some patrons actually got sea sick en route to destination!
God willing, will try again next year. A bientot!
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