When Peggy Laborde told all of us – her best friends – that her daughter Blayne was engaged, we all went into “high gear” on parties that we wanted to have for her! There were parties here and in Houston, but five of us really wanted to host her bridesmaids’ luncheon. The first question we had for Blayne was where and when and, of course, she had her heart set on lunch at Galatoire’s downstairs on Friday, March 18 – one of the busiest days for the restaurant.
Everyone knows that you must have people in line by 6:30 in the morning in order to secure tables that seat 30 people on Friday. We also had to be able to decorate the table in 15 minutes because you can’t get in early, so the answer was to delegate jobs to each of us to complete our tasks. Barbara was in charge of cupcakes from Sucré and hot-pink M&Ms from Blue Frog Chocolates. Karen and Mimi hand-stenciled 30 linen napkins for her to use for her first dinner party. Mimi and I were in charge of decorating the mosquito netting; I used all of my centerpieces and added hats, shoes and flowers to tie into Blayne’s love of shopping and beautiful things. We ordered ahead and Galatoire’s created Blayne’s Bubble, a champagne cocktail, in her honor. Of course, we had John Parker serenade everyone as they came in, and we had a second-line all around the restaurant. We definitely surprised Blayne and all of her friends and family, and we started the wedding weekend in grand style!
