NACE 50th Anniversary • Palo Alto Hills Country Club

By Creative Ice Studio

While I have attended a National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) meeting before, I'd never been to the Palo Alto Hills Country Club in Palo Alto, CA. It was a very fun evening.

Locating it was a piece of cake. Coming from San Jose it was a left off the Pagemill exit, driving straight a bit then a right and another right and I was there.

This gorgeous view is from the patio where the cocktail hour was held. It's part of the golf course. Something you may not know about the club, I was told it is the only Country Club in this area where you don't need a sponsor to have your wedding there. That's right, you don't have to be a member, and you don't have to know a member to be able to rent the venue for your wedding and reception.

The tables were beautifully set with linens from BBJ Linens, flowers by Asiel Design and the chair covers by Creative Coverings.

What a treat from Satura Cakes

These adorable cupcakes were made by Cake Coquette. Because details count, the color of the teal icing matched the napkins and chair cover sashes perfectly.

When it comes to sheer novelty I really got a kick out of this "Screen Booth." A fusion of a traditional guestbook and photo booth, this high tech device with a camera at the top, is a screen that gives you three options in place of a traditional guest book.

1. You can pose for a photo.

2. You can pose for a photo and type in a message to accompany it.

3. You can create a short video clip and leave your message as an audio greeting.

OK, just how cool is that?

The upper picture is the camera taking a picture of me taking a picture of the Screen Booth. The lower picture of me is the picture I had just posed for and was giving me the option of either approving it or posing for a new picture if I didn't like the first one.

Yummmmmmmmm!

I did buy $5 worth of raffle tickets and won this fancy bottle of champagne! Only problem is that I don't drink alcohol. Those of you who have already read my Wine Sanctuary post already knew that. At my table to my right was flirty florist Karen Hsu of Grandiflora. I'd noticed at dinner the two of us were both drinking water. To my left was Gabby from Cake Coquette who I had noticed did enjoy wine with her dinner. So I gave the champagne to her. LOL she forgot it but I saw her two days later so I took it and gave it to her again. I figured it was the least I could do. The cupcake was that good.

The first person I ran into upon my arrival was DJ Carl Mindling. Other Flirty peeps were Robbie Schlosser of the Magnolia Jazz Band who is on the board of the Silicon Valley NACE chapter and videographer David Ethridge.

If you're interested in learning more about NACE here is a brief description from their website: "NACE offers members, partners, and the public a variety of rich resources that support, promote and enhance the catering and special events industries. We invite you to explore and enjoy the many offerings of our association."

With both San Francisco and Silicon Valley chapters it's easy to attend a meeting in the South Bay or the city.