AtlantiCare Gala

The AtlantiCare Gala was held on Saturday 5/14 at The Borgata in Atlantic City.  Because I work extensively with the marketing department, I am involved in a lot of the planning for the event.  Last year I won a free ticket and we paid the $300+ for Joe to come along.  It was a fun night but not worth $300+ every year so this time around I volunteered to work the event.  The deal is that you "work" the cocktail hour portion of the event and then you are encouraged to stay for dinner & dancing free of charge.  They even give you the opportunity to bring a guest at cost but Joe was already scheduled to work so I chose to go stag.  Maybe next year...

I was definitely excited about the big party but it takes a lot of preparation to be black tie ready.  I spent the majority of my afternoon at the nail salon, tanning salon & having my hair/makeup done.  In fact I was running late and got there almost a 1/2 hour after I was supposed to.  I felt so terrible but no one seemed all that concerned, next year I'll make sure to be early!  Luckily Joe got home just in time to take a few pictures as I was running out the door.

I got my dress at the BCBG outlet in Atlantic City for $89!  It only needed about $20 in alterations, Mrs Patrick took about 4" off the bottom & added cups to the bust.  I used my purse & shoes from Lorie's wedding which worked nicely with the pleating on the dress.  My friend and hair stylist Jessica came over and did my hair and eye makeup.  I received so many compliments I was considering cancelling my appointment for Janey's wedding and asking her to fix me up again but I figure it's rude to bail on the bride...

I was assigned to the reception desk and because I was late they gave me the biggest section of letters (M-R).  I still arrived an hour before the event started so I had plenty of time to figure out what needed to be done.  It was a little hectic at times but everyone was just looking to have a good time so we didn't get too much attitude.

The theme was "An Evening of Hollywood Glamour" so the decorations included plenty of top hats and pearls.  We were even encouraged to wear a few strands & give them out from the reception desk.  There were also a few fake Oscars floating around for photo opps.  Once the majority of the guests had gone into the ballroom we played around taking pictures, I made sure to give my best shocked/excited face.

We made our way in for dinner once we were sure everyone who was coming had arrived.  The decorations were beautiful!  We had had a few issues with getting the florists to understand our vision but everything worked out perfectly.

There are pictures of the delicious food on my daily goal progress post from the day.

There weren't a ton of pictures to take because I really didn't know that many people.  It was definitely a great night though!  I did a lot of networking and getting to know coworkers throughout the organization.  I'm sure it'll be better and better each year and I plan on coming back as long as they'll have me!