Party Pros

If Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway lived along the Gulfshore, she wouldn't dream of going out to get the flowers for her party herself. Gone are the days when hostesses could be expected to chart their own seating arrangements or dream up their menus-these days eager brides, society super-chairs and corporate event planners count on party professionals to help them throw the perfect soiree. Meet five whose names are at the top of Rolodexes all over the Gulfshore.

TASTEFULLY YOURS

Over his 26-year career, including eight years in naples, Jon Berry, owner of catering and event-planning company Celebrations Unlimited, has catered for as few as one and as many as 5,000. Working in New York, California and elsewhere during the off-season keeps him abreast of the latest trends, but he says there's no place like Naples, where quiet elegance trumps the state's other coast. "There's equal or even greater wealth here, but Midwesterners aren't into flaunting it," he observes.

Hottest trend: Demi-tastings, with six or seven small courses. Most stick to one cuisine, but don't be afraid to represent a range of international flavors.

How to freshen a theme: Put a spin on it. For a party in Atlanta, the Southern theme celebrated all places below the international Mason-Dixon line: southern Italy, the South of France and more. Dessert in the South Pole consisted of ice-blue martinis and a marshmallow-and-chocolate-encased ice cream dish.

Trend to try: Square tables for dinner, but only if you're sure everyone will show; otherwise, you'll leave someone conversationally isolated.

Trend to avoid: Body sushi-a raw bar atop a live model.

Hot ingredient: Ackee, a Jamaican fruit. Grilled with codfish as an appetizer, it makes a Caribbean-themed meal authentic.

Never-fail menu: Surf and turf. Berry puts a modern twist on the standby by serving unusual lobster species, or serving the duo as two separate courses, or opting for wine reductions with the fillet instead of a traditional béarnaise sauce.

Inspirations: Friend Wolfgang Puck and the late Julia Child.

Dessert dreams: "I love a moist cake, one you can almost wring." Bananas Foster is always a crowd-pleaser, updated with toasted coconut sprinkles or Caribbean liqueurs.

A garnish is not just a garnish: It should hint visually at the taste to come.

Tabloid tales: Before Berry staged a wedding at a beachfront Naples home, rumors swirled that Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were getting married there. Right up until the hometown couple said "I do," a Star reporter insisted Berry was misleading him with a fake guest list.

DESIGNATED DRIVER

Chances are those fresh-faced valets at the last party you attended work for Naples' Tony Marino, whose Marino Group can provide everything from valet services to a fleet of limos. A Brooklyn native, Marino also owns a valet service in Miami, where he's parked at parties for rappers and rockers as well as huge public happenings. He came to Naples five years ago to take life more slowly, but the Gulfshore's ever-growing social life has kept him-and his businesses-in the fast lane.

When to hire valet service: Even for dinners as small as a dozen people, valet services "can make or break the party." Otherwise, guests can suffer self-parking headaches, heels stuck in the lawn or rain-drenched ball gowns.

Don't leave home without: At least $3 for the valet. "People with a lot of money don't necessarily carry any money," is how Marino diplomatically puts it.

Famous passengers: He's driven both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Clinton was chattier.)

Check it out: Make sure the valet company you hire is well insured. It's one of Marino's biggest costs, and although his company has never had an accident, no one, least of all the host, wants to be liable for a $5,000 scratch on a car.

Hot rides: McLaren Mercedes, BMW 745, the Maybach.

If you're serving cocktails: Discreetly hire a private car to transport those who overindulge. Marino's crew will not give the keys to an inebriated guest.

Discretion is the better part of valet (or limo) service: His crew has seen everything-from limo love trysts to guns on the front seat-"but the company rule is 'what happens in the car stays in the car.'"

DREAM WEAVER

Clients confide their wildest dreams to warm and bubbly Sheryl Ferrie, and then she makes them come true. At her Destination Resources in Naples and Pink Tangerine at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Estero, Ferrie employs 12 women, who approach each corporate party, charity benefit or wedding with military precision, fortified by notebooks full of diagrams and synchronized timelines. But, Ferrie stresses, "It's never too late for someone to say, 'Ooh, I have a better idea.'"

Top tip: Trust your chef on what can be done. What's possible for 20 guests may not be for hundreds. "Have you ever seen a cheese tray after 1,500 people have been through it?"

Worst trend: "I'm not a fan of props." Instead, she creates a mood through tablescapes, lighting and entertainment.

Dream wedding: The union of an opera singer and her artist groom at the Phil, with dinner under the Naples Museum of Art's Chihuly sculpture. For dessert, guests sat in the Phil's black-box theater while the curtain came up on the newlyweds, then joined them onstage.

Best compliment: "I couldn't have done better myself," from a high-strung corporate-events planner after Ferrie transformed a hotel courtyard into an intimate conversation area for 300 for a chairman's meeting.

Just say no: "I'll tell a client, 'You just spent $300 on a centerpiece no one will notice. If you still want it, you can have it, but it's my job to tell you.'"

Details, details: She hides extension cords, fills sparse plants out with foliage and even measures between tables to make sure there's room for the bride's train to fan out. "It comes down to the seams on the tablecloth all facing the same way."

Darkest hour: Wading through muck at Naples' Sports Park with execs from a Fortune 500 company after their swamp buggy stalled while she was presenting a proposal for a 400-person event. (She got the job.)

HEARTS & FLOWERS

After 20 years as an event planner and floral designer in Washington, D.C. (he did flowers for all three of Madeleine Albright's daughters' weddings), Douglas Schwartz realized that his favorite vacation spot, Naples, had become the place for over-the-top celebrations. He saved the day last season at a Naples Winter Wine Festival vintner dinner, when a transformer blew and the electricity went out. Schwartz scoured the house to find enough candles, and the happy guests figured the ambient glow was deliberate. This year, he's bringing two generators, just in case. And although his two-year preparations for several bridal extravaganzas lasted longer than the marriages, he still loves weddings, "because for that one day, everyone is happy."

How dinner parties differ here: "People prefer to sit with their spouses-it isn't about being thrown into a new circle of people."

Biggest challenge: "It's hard to find venues outside of the major hotels along the Gulfshore. I'm always scouting sites," says Schwartz. He booked a spring wedding at the historic Heitman House in Fort Myers and has his eye on the safari-themed Ngala preserve in Naples and the Naples Botanical Gardens. He's also found private clubhouses that will rent

to nonmembers.

His inspiration: Comes from the site. "One visit gets the creative juices flowing." For a wedding on a 330-acre estate in Carmel, Calif., he figured out how to position the tents so guests would end the evening sheltered by the mountains and dancing under the stars.

Money matters: Even for well-heeled clients, "the sky is not the limit." But a budget forces you to think creatively about where to splurge: Find money for another violinist by tying sashes on chairs instead of covering them or by using uplighting in tents instead of installing 20,000 twinkle lights.

Trend he's over: Chocolate fountains-they're too messy. "I want my chocolate already on the strawberry."

What's new in tablescapes: Unusual containers, including iron candelabras as flower holders and glass spheres filled with lemons and limes.

Cocktail of the moment: Something fun and tropical. "People aren't afraid of putting umbrellas in their drinks again."

PETAL PUSHER

At fifty50, floral designer Matthew Huddleston and partner Gary Shanabarger help clients write their own fairy tales. Both men were working in visual merchandising in Manhattan when Shanabarger, a Naples native, convinced Huddleston the town was ready for their talents. Today their elite clientele relies on them for much more than flowers: "I never feel hemmed in by someone with a strict vision. Instead, we become their accomplices in crime."

Why you don't want flowers just like Mrs. X had: "It can't be the same. You can never be excited about it in the same way again. My job is to find out what touched you and build from there."

Try unusual flowers and color combinations: He's been exploring the many silvers that occur in nature and says grouping silver plants can look thrillingly "otherwordly." He'll also pair silvers with ice-pink roses for cool elegance or with red amaryllis for opulence.