Outrageous Parties

For one Naples bride who decided to stage an out-of-town wedding, McKee booked an extra hotel room, cranked the air conditioning thermostat down to 60 degrees and stored her flowers overnight. She has created heart-shaped clusters of candles on lawns to glow dreamily after dark and covered hotel bridal suites in handmade wreaths and rose petals, even fashioning the newlyweds' initials on their pillows in fresh blossoms.

And in extreme circumstances, when deliveries arrived but were sparse or spoiled, she has run through strangers' yards with scissors, snipping blooms here and there. "We call that pruning the neighborhood," she says with a giggle.

She's also created fresh floral collars for a bride's dogs to wear as they walked down the aisle in the wedding. "The dogs were these fluffy, fuzzy things, and I was struggling to get the flowers over their heads," she says. "I finally managed to get them dressed; but then they did not like the collars and they refused to budge."

Even when McKee tried to bribe them with treats, the dogs remained immobile; finally she ran to find the mother of the bride. "She talked to the dogs and reluctantly, they got up and slowly walked down the aisle," McKee says.

The sky can be the limit when it comes to Gulfshore party décor. Witness the two-story inflatable "sky dancers" that bend and twist in time to the music, which Kathy Wheeler used at a benefit for the Cancer Alliance of Naples. In another Wheeler-produced event, a luncheon benefit for Naples Botanical Gardens, guests, speaker and a visiting celebrity all played (however unwittingly) a role in the décor. After the luncheon was modeled after Hat Day in Central Park, Saks Fifth Avenue booked the world's foremost milliner, Philip Treacy, for a trunk show before the party.

"The invitees all ran to Saks for gorgeous Treacy hats to wear to the party," says Wheeler. "It was his most successful show ever." The parade of beautiful women adorned in beautiful hats became part of the party's look; in addition, famed designer Carleton Varney, the keynote speaker, designed the table linens and signature scarves for the event. "We even served lunch in beautifully decorated hat boxes," says Wheeler. "The visuals were amazing."

Anne Matthews also has experience decorating outdoor spaces. On one occasion, she removed every piece of furniture from a client's living room and then set it all up in an exact replication of that room on the front lawn. "She wanted an outside party on the lawn, so we moved it all outside," says Matthews, "including sofas, rugs, wing chairs, table lamps, piano, everything. The weather was perfect, and the party worked."

Beth Bell-Carr of She-She designed and decorated 70 bow-trimmed lampshades in a Chanel-inspired motif to use as centerpieces and later, auction items at a benefit luncheon for cancer patients. For another party, she created a martini "luge," which delivered drinks to guests approaching the limbo line at record speeds. And, for a party called Ice, Bell-Carr crafted frozen shot glasses made entirely of ice and filled them with Blue Curacao, vodka and a dusting of sugar. "Guests tipped their glasses and downed this icy blue concoction we called a Blue Whale and then threw their shot 'glasses' into the swimming pool and watched them melt," she says. "People really enjoyed it."

A fabulous theme can make for a party that goes down in history. The Last Dinner on the Titanic fund raiser for the Immokalee Foundation was the first gala Diane McGinty attended after she moved to Naples, and she says it made a dazzling impression. "Men were in tuxes and women in ball gowns, and the Marco Island Yacht Club was decorated like the ship's ballroom," remembers McGinty. "The gala committee had really done their homework. The menu was identical to what was served on the Titanic that night. We danced to an orchestra playing the same songs; and as the evening grew late, the commodore announced that we had hit an iceberg and would have to leave the ballroom. The orchestra played Amazing Grace and everyone had chills."

Naples photographer AP Alexander is on the scene with his camera for many charity bashes as well as private parties, and gets a bird's-eye view through the lens. He agrees that the theme keeps people talking. "At a great biker party at Port Royal, the guests all wore leather and arrived on Harleys. And then there was an Elvis party and this terrific party with a Survivor theme."

Stalking that elusive "wow" factor, hosts have gone wild and imported some real party animals. Panthers, lions and tigers in cages caused a sensation at a circus party planned by Matthews & Gardner. For another client's third annual Kentucky Derby party, the horse statuary and ice carvings seemed blah, so Matthews brought in a live thoroughbred, complete with jockey clad in racing silks and a gargantuan wreath of roses around the horse's neck. "Horse and rider were right in front of the party to greet guests, and everyone was thrilled," says Matthews.

Gulfshore parties have featured live butterflies in centerpieces, white doves at weddings, horse-drawn carriages, exotic snakes in glass terrariums and parading elephants tramping through a very surprised host's backyard. And then there is Karen Coplin's pug party, starring dozens of dogs in costume and a guest list that stretches all the way to Miami.

Coplin began her annual Pug O'Ween just for fun, inviting six or seven pug owners to her Old Naples home for drinks around Halloween. Everyone dressed their little dogs in garish garb and it was a good time. "I dragged a few chairs outside and ran back and forth to fetch beer," says Coplin. "Pugs are such silly, sociable creatures, and they loved getting together."

After the party, Coplin was besieged by pug owners who had heard about the bash. She staged a second Pug O'Ween; this time 47 dogs showed up with beaming owners in tow. Today Coplin's annual dog party is a howling success, with a full-fledged auction that benefits the Humane Society of Collier County. "It is a sight when all those pugs arrive," describes Coplin. "They come down the sidewalk in baby strollers, wearing dreadlocks, ballet tutus, tuxedoes, everything."

What else would you expect in Southwest Florida?