frankly speaking

I attended my February Catering Executives Club meeting last night. While I am not a caterer I was invited to join this prestigous group, and have really enjoyed being a member. Our meeting last night hosted by my friend and colleague Bill Ryan at the Signature Room at the 95th had a most interesting Asian influenced menu. We started with Seared Sea Scallop Carpaccio with Fennel Gelee and a Miso Infusion. The next course was a Curried Carrot soup and Petite Herb Salad with Crispy Wontons, but really present out of the box (You know that is something I am into) the salad was resting on top of the soup in the soup cup! How interesting!. The Entree was Grilled Beef Short Ribs with Mushroom Fried Rice with Shaved Brussel Sprouts (served out of Chinese take out carton) with a Balsamic Teriyaki Sauce. We ended with Chocolate Opera Cake and Intelligensia (Frank’s fav) coffee. Oh, each course was paired perfectly with Hartford, Four Hearts Vineyard Chardonnay (Sonoma County), Piper Heidsieck Brut, (Champagne, Reins) and Oliver LeFlaive, Burgogne Rouge (Burgandy France). Kudos to Bill, His chef and their team for putting on such a wonderful evening.

I am featured again for the third time in a the last few weeks on Lifetime’s Get Married.  My next segment will be shown on Feb 25th.  The show airs at 630am Chicago time, so set your DVR or pour yourself some coffee and watch.  for more info  www.getmarried.com

Judy Alden, our ABC Illinois State Coordinator asked me to plan a meeting. So, please join us for “Frank’s Favorite Things” (ala Oprah) showing vendors and products,  many old and many new.  I want to try to keep the highlights of the meeting underwraps!  For more information www.illinoisabc.com or contact our State Coordinator Judy at 847-289-1945 or
judyalden@aol.com  A link to her is on our ABC Illinois website referenced above. 

I teamed up with fellow Master Bridal Consultants Teddy Lenderman, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to a Perfect Wedding (and Director of Special Events at Indiana State University) , and Jane Skorosi, (also owner of The Bridal Mansion of Lisle, a salon I recommend all the time) at The Special Event 2009 in San Diego to teach “The Midwest Masters of Diaster: Big Time Wedding Emergencies Solved”.  We each gave all attendees a list of what is in each of our emergency kits, and each discussed a wedding diaster and and how we solved it.  Between the three of us, we have 54 years of combined experience.  From dancing and dress diasters, to family crisis and floral mishaps, we each covered 4 incidents.  Attendees enjoyed the session as we stayed for almost a half hour afterwards and visited with our colleagues who attended

I was honored to be asked by Robyn Pfeffer to attend a hard hat tour at the newly renovated Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia. WOW. It looked just wonderful, and they are still not done. Gone are all the earth tones and Italian Landscape murals. And now, a very simple clean palette of greys and diamond whites. The new look was designed Matt Lorenz, who was winner of Bravo’s Top Design Reality Show. Any color decor will pretty much work. I can’t wait to see the artwork, chairs and the finishing touches. This paired with Tony Montuano’s incredible food and perfect view of Lake Michigan, makes it such a great choice for an event. I have done a wedding for 150, in addition to numerous rehearsal dinners, birthday and anniversary celebrations as well as an intimate dinner for two where the groom proposed. For more information please visit www.spiaggiarestaurant.com

I recently learned that Macy’s will send you 11% discount coupons for your guests to use while they are in town. You can contact the special events department at Macy’s and they will be happy to supply you with what you need. What a great addition to your welcome bag. For more information please visit www.macys.com

Got back from The Special Event Show last week in San Diego.  As usual, I came back inspired.  I saw the latest in linen, floral, and all “things” wedding and event.  One of the most unique things was I met a guy named Christop.  He is the world’s fastest etcha sketch artist.  He drew my portrait in about 3 minutes on a mini etcha sketch.  I thought he would make for a different type of entertainment at wedding or corporate party. 

Frank will begin posting insightful, interesting blogs on this site.  Stay tuned!

For now, learn more about Frank Andonoplas at www.frankeventdesign.com.