Black tie at the Savoy - Another night of Drinking for the Children..

Monday, March 14th. Andrew calls me at 10 AM and asks if I would like to attend the Duke of Edinburgh's Vintage Voyage Gala black tie at the Savoy with the usual T. Rowe crew for these things - that very eveing. Why not right? 

Once I agree and he sends me our eticket confirmation, I realized that I only have two black tie appropriate dresses - both of which I've warn multiple times in front of this group of people in the last few months. I immediately use my lunch break to research something fresh and new! 

After my quick recon of what the usual suspects were carrying, I was off for the quickest go-sees ever. I started at French Connection because they have simple, understated elegance vibes that I usually go for in my everyday wardrobe and I have some really gorgeous dresses from there, in general. The original one I went in there for was the Shelby Summer Maxi. It was gorgeous and totally me BUT I thought that other than black tie events (which are honestly few and far between) I couldn't really wear it anywhere else. That is, unless I wanted to be THAT girl at the wedding who wears white.. So after literally 3 minutes, I was onto Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen, Coast, Mango - anywhere and everywhere! The stores didn't stock ANY of the pieces I was interested in! I even had Andrew check out the Oasis by his work. No luck. 

Then another quick look on the French connection website and I found the Darcy Dress! I emailed it to Andrew for confirmation/reassurance that I had found "the one" and he loved it! I thought it was cute too that it was called the "Darcy" dress since my brother Jesse's girlfriend's name is Darcy! I always look for signs like that. My boss was nice enough to let me slip out to pick up the dress. In 10 minutes I was there, tried the dress on, purchased the dress, and back at my desk. That's gotta be some kind of record! 

So I raced home, threw myself together. Andrew immediately tells me he wants to leave in 10 minutes. Not happening. I got myself looking decent in about 30 minutes and then we were off to the event! I was not a happy camper because I really don't like feeling like I don't look my best. But once we entered the Champagne Reception, I immediately relaxed. Everyone took the 1920's vintage look really seriously and I wish I had had more time to join in the amazing glam theme!! It was the most beautiful cocktail reception I've been to in a long time. We saw Andrew and his wife Vicky - who we've come to really enjoy, and the newly engaged Kenna and Neil.  

After an hour we were ushered into the ballroom for dinner, entertainment, and an auction. The Ballroom was unreal - completely unique and over the top. It reminded me almost of the gaudiness I saw in St. Petersburg with baby blue everywhere and giant gold fixtures and detailing. It turns out our table was situated directly next to the Earl of Wessex. We felt rather posh. 

The gala was to raise money to help children in Africa and when the Auction began, we soon realized just how out of our league we were! There were trips to South Africa, famous sculptures, and Range Rovers being auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars....excuse me, pounds! So we just sipped our wine and enjoyed the company of our table. Not a bad way to spend a Monday night!