Sometimes you just want to be where the happy, pretty people are. Like at the annual Bastille Day Ball, held this year in an idyllic venue — Forbes College, a Princeton University residential college that looks out over the elegant, verdant greens of Springdale Golf Club.
The event, which benefits Trinity Counseling Service, was called “La Promenade de Longchamps: A Prance Through Paris” and adopted a clever horsey theme: the invitations mimicked the classic red, white, and blue Hermes logo; a horse and carriage greeted guests at the entrance, flanked by the painted wooden crossbars used to mark the jumps in competitions; and the tables, set under a crisp white tent hung with tiny white lights and chandeliers, had centerpieces made from silver trophy urns overflowing with blue hydrangeas and adorned with a blue ribbon award.
Dresses were picked carefully — more than one came from Jane, the consignment shop on Spring Street — with an eye toward a vintage look a la “Mad Men,” the popular series on AMC about an advertising agency in the 1960s. As guest Anna Roberts told me, “I’d love to go back to that Jackie O era. So what if more women work now — why can’t we still look pretty in a dress?”
This was definitely a dancing crowd. The band — Live Wire, out of New York —was fantastic, rocking out with tunes spanning from the 1940s right through Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind, & Fire, and Diana Ross to Lady Gaga. With more than 1,000 weddings under its belt since its founding in 1990, Live Wire really knows how to whip up a crowd. Guests filled the dance floor right up to the witching hour of midnight.
In the class act department: Event organizers brought out the entire Forbes College kitchen and wait staff for a standing ovation.
Funds raised at this annual event support Trinity Counseling Service (TCS), a private, not-for-profit community counseling service providing comprehensive and compassionate care to residents of the greater Princeton area. Founded in 1968, TCS offers child, family, and adult mental health services, programs, and projects to all in need, regardless of the client’s ability to pay. In the absence of insurance coverage, TCS uses a sliding fee scale. Unlike most other mental health agencies, there is no maximum allowable number of sessions or minimum fees.
For more information visit trinitycounseling.org.
