Where Flowers & Fashion Meet! Inside The New York Botanical Garden’s Annual Orchid Dinner

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Bloomin’ lovely. Over 350 gorgeous guests rooted out their best and brightest looks for the New York Botanical Garden’s beloved annual event, the Orchid Dinner. Returning to upstage the already beautiful Grand Ballroom at The Plaza by transforming the space with celebratory centerpieces designed by talent from around the country, the event also fêted this year’s show, which has been created by three fashion favorites Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour, Dauphine’s Olivia Chen, and FLWR PSTL (aka Haus of Stems’ Kristen Alpaugh.)

The beloved evening, which raises crucial support for NYBG’s global plant research and conservation and education initiatives, was presented by Guerlain, which set a suitably elegant tone for what was to come. Guests arrived for a cocktail reception to the sounds of singer Melodie Ray and made the most of the opportunity to get up close with rare orchids during the pre-dinner sale. A multi-course seated dinner followed, although attendees were keen to still flit around catching up with one another and marveling at the creations on each table.

Among the room were notables of the fashion, philanthropy, design, and entertainment worlds, including Dascha Polanco, Sutton Stracke, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Charlotte Groenveld, Jenny Cipoletti, Natalie and Dylania Lim Suarez, Christopher Spitzmiller, PJ Mattan, Robert Couturier,Michelle Ochs, Christie Tyler, Christina Grasso, and Madisin Rian, among others.

The designers and companies that contributed their talents this year included Doug Bate, AIFD of Designs by Vogt’s, Ace Berry, AIFD of Ace in Full Bloom, Bowman Dahl Floral & Event Design, Marcella Rodriguez Broe of The Parcel Flower Co., Brittany Cooper of Rathell Designs, Calvert Crary of FlowerSchool NY & LA, Jacqueline Elfe of Stellar Style Events, Marc
Eliot of Fleurish NYC, Keiko Ellis of Botanique K by Cloud, Molly Ford of Flowers by Ford, Michael Gonzalez of Verde Custom Flowers, Inc., Denise Gordon and Tanya Lewis of AusTn Gray Design Group, Keslie Hayes of POPUPFLORIST, Malka Heli of Think Chic Interiors, Dru Hilty of FloraModa, Carroll Conway and Doug Hoerr of Hoerr Schaudt, Sarah Khan of Sarah Khan Event Styling, Nolan Kiser of Bottega de Flores, Crystal Kotei of Crystal K Events, Karina Lopez of KC You There, Canaan Marshall of Canaan Marshall Designs, Williams Martinez of Casa Martinez, Alan Masters, Lori Miller and Selin Bektas of Lori-Girl Creations, Inc., Carlos Muina of Petal Productions, Eriko Nagata of Eriko Nagata Floral Studio, Xiomara Ortiz of Xioma Design Studio, Michelle Pelletier of love me not floral, Hillary Pereira and Joseph Augello of JSA Studio NYC, Laurel St. Romain and Miranda Slack of Dead Flowers, Semia Dunne of SEMIA, Sebastin Trujillo of In Situ Garden Design LLC, Philip Thomas Vanderford of Studio Thomas James, Missy Vanseggen of Missy in the Meadow Bespoke Floral Design, Robert Ventolo of Crian and Ventolo, Pennylyn Woosley of Blossom, and Bee Floral & Event Design.

As a keepsake from the evening, some lucky guests even departed with centerpieces with permission from the designers, and everyone, thankfully, was gifted a complimentary facial treatment at Bergdorf Goodman, courtesy of Guerlain, and the luxury brand’s new Orchidée Imperiale Gold Nobile products. See inside the event, below:

Olivia Cheng

Jenny Cipoletti

Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Sutton Stracke

Gillian Hearst

Dascha Polanco

Freya Drohan, Christie Grimm

Celia Ellenberg, Bertrand Pochet

George Matelich, Susan Matelich

Kristen Alpaugh, Isabel Leeds

Natalie Lim Suarez, Dylana Lim Suarez

Olivia Cheng, Sutton Stracke

Rachael Burraw

Sharon Jacob, Stella Jacob

Naeem Crawford-Muhammad, Lizzie Asher, Kevin Cornish, Sara Arno, Isabel Leeds, Casey Kohlberg, Christopher Griffin

Steve Swartz, Tina Swartz, J. Barclay Collins II, Jennifer Bernstein, Gillian Hearst

Holly Lowen

J. Barclay Collins, Jennifer Bernstein, Congressman Gregory Meeks

Images: BFA

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