Big Band Birthday Bash
Steve turns sixty in style—fifties style
Click on photo above to play video.
Overflowing with love and blessings, friendship and laughter, music and dancing, and cake and more cake! an enchanting evening that will long be remembered and forever cherished.
While observing Steve's 59 revolutions around the sun over dinner, I asked him what he'd like to do for his 60th birthday, and, not surprisingly, his response was, "it's just not that big of a deal." Upon further inquiry I learned that not only had he not had a party in celebration of his 50th birthday, but that he had never had a party in his honor, "...except maybe when I turned 1; there are photos that show my grandma had family over for my first birthday."
What?! Not possible! How had this amazing and generous man lived such a big life and given so much to so many others, yet never had the experience of having an event held for him—a BIG celebration just for HIM. My heart silently broke, contemporaneously my brain went into overdrive: making up for 59 years would require no less than the party of all parties! Oh, the possibilities!
While planning our wedding we had discussed having a huge reception in Austin to celebrate our marriage after we returned from California, but time was getting away from us and six months later we still had not begun planning our reception. So this was perfect! I love planning birthday parties! ...okay, I just love parties, but theme birthday parties are the best.
It didn't take much prodding to get Steve on board. Idolizing Frank Sinatra, always looking for an opportunity to don a tuxedo (better yet, two in one night!), and dying for an opportunity to show off his spats a Rat Pack theme was his obvious choice ;-) Steve was a terrific sport in the planning process: he selected the colors, put together the menu (Steve style—way too much food!), created the playlist for the band, and attended cake tasting—Italian Creme was a given, but this was definitely shaping up to be a two-cake party! Imagining and incorporating brilliant and novel ways to make this the ultimate event for Steve, his family, and his friends was great fun for Steve and I: limousine for guests in from out of town, stylists to assist with retro hairstyles, vintage cocktail menu, handmade tuxedo invitations, dance instructors...indulgent little touches. All coalescing into a spectacular celebration of Steve's 60 years!
A few final notes, this first video (above) is in three sections, so don't bail too early or you may miss out on one last photo of yourself or of Gigi's backflip and Lisa's priceless expression at the end! We'll keep you updated as additional videos, memories, and event details are made available over the next two weeks through the links at the far left of this page.