Esther Shih of Far East Living is a nationally known fashion designer creating originals that have been worn to countless red-carpet events including the Grammy’s and MTV’s Video Music Awards.  Her clientele includes Michelle Pfeiffer, David E. Kelley and former Rolling Stone Magazine Senior Editor Ben Fong-Torres.  For the past three years, she’s been responsible for signature looks for KTVU FOX 2 primetime news anchor Julie Haener and news anchors Kristen Sze of KGO ABC 7 and Lisa Kim of KNTV NBC 11.

You can now be counted as one of her exclusive clientele.  Join her in a decadent day of glamour including a head-to-toe makeover by Esther and her talented team of beauty professionals.  Your red carpet day includes haircut, color or highlights by Michael Joseph Fitzpatrick, make-up by Taylor Pham of Thi Make-up Studio, photo shoot by acclaimed photographer Chris Sommers.  Finish Far East Living’s Ultimate Super-Model Experience with a jacket of your choice and a keepsake photobook by Jungle Digital Imaging.  Best of all, you are invited to strut the catwalk in an upcoming Far East Living Fashion show.  This opportunity of a lifetime experience is valued at $3,000.

Designer Esther Shih

Your Super Model Experience includes a Far East Living jacket of your choice.

La Honda Winery will be the site of a private dinner for ten coordinated flawlessly and custom tablescaped by Marlowe Berglund Events.  Hunt Littlefield of San Francisco will draw influences from nature and architecture to create an evocative centerpiece for the occasion.  Executive Chef Elliot Boggs from the Silver Creek Valley Country Club and Silver Creek Catering will cook a gourmet meal for ten using only organic, earth friendly ingredients.  “There’s nothing more rewarding then putting together a spectacular party with incredible food and immaculate service.”

Winemakers, Ken and Cynthia Wornick, will be your hosts at their old-world winery and serve a selection of their highly-rated, distinctive wines throughout the meal.  A-Abco Rents is taking care of all the rentals.

Take a peek at this team of professionals who have joined together to offer this grand affaire exclusively for Gentry:

You'll dine inside La Honda Winery with hosts Ken and Cynthia Wornick. Their award winning wines will be paired with Chef Boggs cuisine.

Your private affaire will be coordinated by Marlowe Berglund Events, a company founded on the principle that events should be fun, well-organized & run on time an on budget.

It's all about the details in a Marlowe Berglund event.

Another Marlowe Berglund extraordinary event.

HUNTLittlefield is designing a centerpiece for your private affaire. They create environmental masterpieces.

A close up view of a HUNTLittlefield arrangement.

Chef Elliot Boggs will bring experience and youthful exhuberance to your dining experience. He trained at Stars & Bijou in SF and is now the chef at Silver Creek Valley Country Club.

A-Abco Rents is donating the table rentals.

Find out why clients LOVE the professionals at SkinSpirit and you’ll be eager to bid on this special auction item.  It’s valued at $4,600.

Enjoy the refreshing ambiance at SkinSpirit.

Experience the finest skin care services.

Founded 125 years ago, Wente Vineyards is the country’s oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery.  Over five generations have fostered and protected the winery’s legacy.   The Wente Family Estates is known for their strong community support as well as their legendary estate wines.  They have offered an exclusive package for the Gentry Gala Auction.

Enjoy a fabulous one night stay for six guests at the Wente Family Estates Guest Cottage. This charming three bedroom, two bath home situated on the picturesque winery grounds is not open to the general public and it is solely used for special guests of the estate. Your VIP stay includes breakfast, golf for six at their Greg Norman designed course, lunch at The Grill, a private tour and wine tasting, and dinner at Wente’s award winning restaurant. There’s a signed 3L bottle of Wente Vineyards wine that will be presented to the winning bidder.

The Center was founded by B. Douglas Lewis, MD, a Board Certified Vascular and Interventional Radiologist. “We are excited to offer the community a private practice delivering highly individualized care for patients with vascular disorders and aesthetic concerns.”

Dr. Lewis and his staff are offering two very exciting packages for the Gentry Gala auction.  One is an Aesthetic Laser Treatment Package for anywhere on the body valued from $1000 to $5000 based upon the desired level of improvement and the other a Vascular Treatment Program a comprehensive, tailor-made vascular treatment program for removal of varicose veins and spider veins using the latest state-of-the-art laser technologies and other non-surgical techniques.  The value is between $2,000 and $8,000 based upon the level of treatment required.

This is a rare opportunity to receive treatments of this kind AND generate funds for arts organizations.  If you’ve always wanted to get rid of unsightly veins or rejuvenate your skin, take this opportunity to bid on the Peninsula Vascular Center.  For complete details about each donation, go to the on-line gentry gala auction – it’s live!

Scarlet Boutique has brought elegance and fashion to Los Altos and owner, designer and stylist Naomi Ciacchella is bringing her chic to the Gentry Gala.  She is gifting a $500 gift certificate along with a one hour personal wardrobe and styling consultation in-boutique.

But the fun doesn’t end there – Naomi will host an evening with the winning bidder and three of her friends for a private shopping experience with hors d’oeuvres and champagne.  The Scarlet Boutique carries such top designers at Dianne Von Furstenberg, Robert Rodriguez, Autumn Casmere, Alice + Olivia and more.  Everyone receives a 10% discount on all of the evening’s purchases.

The Scarlet Boutique red-letter shopping spree is worth $2,500.

With local connections to food, art, wine, make-up, spas and more, Scarlet Boutique aims to assist their clients with any style need – from arranging make-up application for a wedding day, to finding that perfect accessory to complete any outfit.  The boutique plays host to an exclusive series of in-boutique events, local author book signings, fashion and trunk shows, art exhibits and many other colorful and style-worthy events.

Scarlet Boutique
366 Main Street
Los Altos, CA 94022
650.559.8000

Tricia Young, Innkeeper at the Atherton Inn

Tricia Young, the Innkeeper  welcomes Gentry Gala guests to the Atherton Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast in a quiet residential neighborhood just off Woodside Road.  The five bedroom inn is reminiscent of a French Chateau off the Brittany Coast.  Tricia has graciously offered a weekend stay for the silent auction.

Get away without really having to get away.  You’ll receive VIP treatment and modern amenities of a five star hotel with all the warmth and hospitality one would expect from a turn of the century B&B.

The Atherton Inn

Special lighting by North American Theatre Technology for a Lea McIntosh event. (SooPhotography.com)

I interviewed Natti Pierce-Thomson of North American Theatre Technology about the importance of lighting for an event.  NATT is doing the lighting for this year’s Gentry Gala.  The group really know their stuff!  You provide lighting designs for theater, events and businesses – what do all three have in common when it comes to lighting solutions?

“I consider myself a designer, so I use my theatrical lighting experience to enhance, decorate, and theme with light.  Regardless of the application, the sole purpose of lighting is the selective illumination of an area.  There’s certainly a functional aspect to it, because people need to be able to see, but what they see and how they see it is what lighting design is all about.”

My sense is that lighting can make or break an event or wedding – is that true?

“Lighting can have an amazing impact on an event even in its simplest form.  A basic ballroom with overhead can lights may make a reception feel like a marketing conference instead of a celebration.  Event lighting has flexibility in regards to colors and intensity, and it can completely transform an event or location.  Sometimes I have clients that want to “hide” something in a venue.  They may think a wall is ugly, because it is plain stucco or stone, and they want to “cover it up” with drapery.  But with the right kind of up light or splash of texture, what was once an eyesore is now a focal point.  Lighting has the greatest impact on setting the mood and experience for any event.”

What are the mistakes people tend to make?

“Lighting is not a DIY industry.  It takes a professional to install lighting safely, and it takes a designer to install it with the greatest impact.  A party rental or DJ company may provide a few pink lights to go with another part of their package; however, what if the wedding colors are blue and silver?  What if the couple wants it to be dimmer later in the evening for dancing?  As a lighting design company, we creatively work within our client’s budgets to design with the biggest impact.  It’s important that the lighting selections achieve the desired effect, and stay on task and on budget.  All of our designs meet or exceed the recommendations for the National Electrical Code and Industry Standards. It’s seamless as far as our clients are concerned, to them it’s beautiful, and to us it’s safe AND beautiful.”

What are some of the most memorable lighting designs you’ve created?

“I love the challenge of creating something that is inspired by a theme.  I designed the lighting for a Paypal Holiday event with the movie ‘The Matrix’ as the theme. My client wanted as many elements from the movie to be used throughout the event, especially the digital rain. I designed custom patterns with columns of OCR font letters and lighting animation devices to project the digital rain throughout the event.  I was also able to re-create the distortion of the flying bullets with just lighting.  The guests arrived in slick black raincoats, received their sunglasses at the door, and were immediately emerged in the Matrix environment.

I had a couple approach me about projecting different images on the walls to represent different parts of their wedding ceremony.  I designed an atmospheric, fully color changing mural of an ocean scene with mountains as the background.  As the guests arrived, the mural was dark in rich midnight blue colors, and the lighting in the room and on the couple reflected the same hues. As the ceremony started the sun slowly began to rise, and the mural changed from a soft lavender, to a rich magenta, then warm ambers, and finally after ten different color changes representing the sunrise the final look of the mural for the announcement of man and wife had a beautiful blue sky above the mountains, puffy white clouds floating by and the ocean’s surface was shimmering.  It was truly one of my favorite designs, and was featured on an episode of  A Wedding Story.”

How do clients respond when you flip the switch?

“I love exceeding my client’s expectations.  Clients get a sneak peek of their designs when we do their demo in my Design Center in San Jose. We go through shapes and colors, but until they see the entire room of their venue lit up and transformed they don’t really know what to expect.  I’ve seen brides get teary eyed, or have a huge grin and run up and hug me, but my favorite response was a bride, who happened to be a comedienne, walked into the ballroom for a peek before the guests entered, and shouted using profanity as adjectives as to just how amazing it was.  Over and over, this beautiful bride in a stunning gown was cursing in glee at the top of her lungs.”

We’re so excited that you are going to be doing the lighting for this year’s Gentry Gala – can you give us a sneak peek at some of your ideas?

“LEDs will be used to enhance the architecture in some of the rooms.  An arch may seem common place in a hotel, but our lighting will have a stunning impact as we highlight the features of this beautiful venue throughout the event.  Our company is looking forward to lighting the Gentry Gala.”

Natti Pierce-Thomson,
Senior Lighting Designer, ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician
North American Theatre Technology Incorporated
408.799.4347

Lighting of the Lea McIntosh's Rose Canopy. (SooPhotography.com)

Bloomingdale's Stanford Beauty Bash

Indulge in a private party for six gal pals and discover your inner diva. Bloomingdale’s Stanford steps it up with a Ladies Night Out for the Gala Auction.  It begins with a luxurious hand massage, a professional makeup consultation and makeover by their Beauty Experts, and a chic and trendy new hairstyle by Hair International.  After your ‘transformation’, they’ll snap a photo of you to take home along with a gift bag filled with goodies.  Then you’ll head over to the award winning P.F. Chang’s and toast each other with a round of ultra cool cocktails and scrumptious appetizers.  Cheers!