By Sara Perez Webber
Nominated for a NACE One Award, this holiday party wowed guests with its magical décor and sumptuous menu
CATERER & VENUE: Truluck’s Ocean’s Finest Seafood & Crab, The Woodlands, Texas • trulucks.com
PHOTOGRAPHER: JDHallett Photography
EVENT DETAILS: Known for its sustainable seafood and Southern hospitality, Truluck’s in The Woodlands, Texas, transformed into a Winter Wonderland for this 75-guest holiday party on Dec. 6, 2019. The event is one of five nominees for Catered Event of the Year in the 2020 NACE One Awards (in the on-premise, budget $50,000-$100,000 category).
MENU HIGHLIGHTS: Cocktail hour included a passed hors d’oeuvre of pan-seared Japanese Hokkaido scallop served with miso-blueberry compote over a dollop of butternut squash purée, and an Iced Seafood Station overflowing with fresh Alaskan king crab legs; shrimp cocktail; cold water oysters topped with crème fraîche, dill and royal Ossetia caviar; and fresh jumbo Florida stone crab claws from Truluck’s own fisheries outside of Naples, Fla.
For the main course, guests dined on Japanese A5 Wagyu beef with shaved winter truffle, Australian spanner crab, miso-glazed South Georgia Island Chilean sea bass, and twin South African lobster tails. In addition to a dessert bar featuring mini white-chocolate bags, peppermint cheesecake bites and carrot cake truffles, a Nitropop Dessert Station by The Freezing Point served up macarons dipped in nitrogen for a “smoking” treat.
DÉCOR HIGHLIGHTS: Guests entered the Winter Wonderland through a lit archway with white velour draping that carried through the space. The cocktail area featured festively decorated Blox shelves next to champagne buckets and silver planters filled with white poinsettias. Dark blue crushed satin linen and white polar bear faux fur overlays draped the cocktail tables, which held silver julep cups with arrangements of white florals and holiday greens. A light-blue and white snowflake vinyl covered the U-shape bar, masking its amber glow, while white carpeting led to the Magic Mirror Photo Booth, adjacent to an eight-foot lit and flocked Christmas tree.
An eight-foot Christmas tree also anchored the dining room, which featured round, square and rectangular tables in three designs that continued the white and blue color scheme. Table décor included “ice” hurricanes with LED pillar candles; matte gray votives; white florals with fir and pine accents; acrylic Infinity chairs; and acrylic Chiavari chairs topped with polar bear faux fur caps or white satin sashes. Silver beaded glass chargers with white snowflake menus topped silver snowflake placemats, next to white napkins folded in a Christmas tree shape. The Truluck’s team hid the restaurant’s crimson booth seats with faux snow blankets, and draped the room’s black-and-white chandeliers with white and silver metallic fringe.
Snowflake gobo lights, accented with blue spotlights and uplighting, lit the dining area as well as the after-dinner lounge, where guests could relax on white loveseats and blue Regale sofas from AFR Event Furnishings. Chandeliers covered in pearl-white balloons, glass icicles and other accents hung above the dance floor, in front of a white LED bar. Trees twinkling with lights lined the attached terrace, featuring a firepit and cocktail tables covered in polar fur.
Have a good candidate for Event Spotlight?Send details to Catering’s editor, Sara Webber (sara@cateringmagazine.com).
