February’s Silicon Valley NACE meeting at the Golf Club at Boulder Ridge in San Jose, had my favorite theme thus far since I’ve started attending meetings, Pairing Port, Wine and Chocolate. As usual the details were amazing with even the plates at our tables bearing a chocolate lollipop favor, and themselves being a chocolate color.

One of the first things that caught my eye was the chocolate display outside. It was amazing seeing all the colors and textures that were created just using chocolate. All of these intricate displays are made entirely of chocolate.

These photos were a little tricky as they were taken outside at dusk with little outside light. Still I was able to capture some intricate details with my camera.

There were so many beautiful pieces that it was hard to pick a favorite. Since I could decide on one here are my two favorites, the cigar case (even the box and the cigar are pure chocolate and the chocolate jigsaw puzzle. The former is popular at bachelor parties, the latter make great favors for all kinds of parties and even bridal show giveaways.

Inside the room was absolutely amazing. We learned during the meeting that the cards hanging from the lights were antique Valentine’s Day cards.

After a wonderful dinner it was finally time for dessert with our special lecture. For chocolate each table was brought a box of truffles to share. My favorite was the white ones – white chocolate with honey and hint of lavendar. It was interesting learning which ones worked best with white and white which with red, though I did think the red wine brought out the best of all of the chocolates even the white one which is best paired with white wine. It was a great evening with fun, networking and great tastings.

On Tuesday, I went to the San Jose Hilton for a casual holiday networking party with the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) meeting. When I first entered the room I was struck by how beautiful and dark it was. While I took many shots using flash to modify the room and human subjects later, at first I tried to capture the room just as it was.

The photos, which show the beauty of the green and pink adding to the holiday tone, have more grain then I’m used to having in my photos. Still, they have interesting glow and mood in them.

Having more of a light source, the beautiful candles, this one had a bit less grain.

So after the tone shots were done, it was time to put the flash to work to capture some other colors including skin tones.

Robbie Schlosser of The Magnolia Jazz Band and Mel Gilman of Mel’s Catering By George!, started the evening off right by toasting the soon to be arriving new year with white wine.

The cocktail food was just incredible. I liked how the cheese platter with its purple orchids almost matched my frame/business color.

My mother, who has baked some great Christmas cookies over the years, would call these almost too pretty to eat. Almost is right, they were delicious.

Virginia Santa Ines, Director of Catering, at the San Jose Hilton, and Greg Casella, a national NACE Officer and Owner of Catered Too, enjoyed an animated conversation.

I’m not sure what the joke was, yet Greg and Patrick Duffek of Headliner Promotions, were laughing quite a bit in the corner.

Leslie Butlar enjoyed sitting down with Patrick to look through his portfolio book of satisfied customers.

The end of the evening was my favorite part. Eventually everyone crowded in to one big table and shared favorite stories of clients with lots of good cheer going around. It was a pleasure to see Tony White, of the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, again, his hilarious stories were one of the big hits of the evening.

After socializing (see Over the Top Part One), it was time for dinner. The theme in the room was “Fire and Ice”. Helping make some tables appear hot and some cold, were the amazing flowers from Citti’s Florist.

Dinner’s entertainment was close-range comedy magician, Phil Ackerly. One of his tricks included showing how to turn a dollar bill inside out.

After dinner we had a keynote speaker and raffle. There were many great raffle prizes, one top prize was a year’s membership into The Captial Club.

In the above photos, you can see the reactions of Christopher Citti (who was emcee for most of the night) along with Silicon Valley Nace President, Jennifer Dahlen (Santa Clara Convention Center) who helped with the raffles. The stunned winner was L.T. Beaton (Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club). I really like how the emotions came out in that sequence, it just goes to show you can find emotional moments anywhere.

As we left we were treated to the sounds of The Magnolia Jazz band (composed of Robbie Schlosser (bass), Gary Milliken (clarinet) and Andy Norblin (guitar).

From the moment people stepped out of the elevators and into The Capital Club (San Jose, CA), they were transported into a different world. First there was the greeting by the Phantom of the Opera (played by Allan Richard who was representing Alfie Dreifuss Events, and also has his own company, Shows to You).  who sang to entrants and let them know now that they were finally here, the party could begin. I really enjoyed the different reactions people had to this greeting.

I was excited to see Jordan River, who was taking photos on behalf of the chapter at the event. It was ironically funny that the first NACE meeting I saw him at was at The Captital Club, as that is where I met him years ago at a wedding for which I was a second shooter and he was the DJ. Jordan has since expanded his company to include all sorts of entertainment and photography services.

The hours before dinner consisted of cocktail hours, and the chance to check out many booths of local businesses. Some of my favorite booths were those featuring appetizers. Here is some of the delicious and beautiful food offered at The Hotel Montgomery booth cooked by Patricia Ricci.

This juggling clown from Headliner Productions helped bring The Big Top/Circus theme to the evening. When I stopped at their booth, I was told they could provide virtually any character to parties or special events.

Cara Schwartz from The Spirit of Health gave wonderful relaxation chair massages to participants.

Amy Blach of AMB Designs enjoyed talking with various vendors about her gift baskets which could be customized to suit any need.

Tim Burman, of Doorstep Photos, provided onsite photos. I took the opportunity to have another taken of me with me Leica and will post it in another entry. Participants really enjoyed seeing their photos onscreen prior to receiving them in hard copy form in just a few minutes.

Shawn Parola, of All the Buzz, showed off many of her company’s promotional items, in what was one of the most colorful booths of the evening.

Coming tomorrow to this blog, “Over the Top” Part Two, where you’ll see photos of the exquisite decor for the grand dinner and some other great action photos from the rest of the evening.