Unforgettable Affairs: Top Tips for Private Dining

When you’re planning a dinner or event, gathering at a private dining Raleigh NC locale can help provide the unique ambiance that sets the stage for an unforgettable affair.

But orchestrating all the details can still be stressful. So how can you stay cool and calm while pulling off a private dining coup?

By following a few masters’ tips that are just as effective whether you’re planning for an intimate party of 12 or organizing a cocktail party for 275. Keep these in mind and you’ll be one of the fortunate few who score high marks for pulling off a fabulous function, and actually get to enjoy themselves, too!

Know what you want to accomplish. Get clear on your event’s purpose and goal:

• Are you celebrating an important event or date like an anniversary, bridal or baby shower? Marking a holiday or assembling your group, so they can network? That’s the purpose!
• What result would make your event a success? For the guest of honor to feel special, and everyone else close and connected? To reinforce to your group that they’re part of a strong, successful organization, well worthy of a night out for private dining Raleigh NC style? This is your goal.

Plan for how you want people to feel. Humans connect through emotions. Even people very dialed-into sight, sound and taste are primarily responding to the feelings those sensation-ticklers create. Anticipating how your choices will make people feel before, during and after the event will help make yours a standout.

• Do you want to make guests feel: like an insider, entertained, pampered, valued, like a VIP, transported from everyday life, like family… what touches will make them feel this way?

Know your limits—then add more. Budgets and themes are two helpful ways to use limits to support smart decision-making.

• Budget: Spending a bundle isn’t always what’s most important. From each of these main categories, ask yourself what’s most likely to create the desired emotion in your guests: food, drinks, gifts, entertainment, music, flowers, A/V, and decor.
• Theme: A theme engages the imagination, creates a sense of playfulness that releases people from the need to hold tightly to their role and have some fun. It can be as simple as a favorite color palette, or as robust as a movie scene. Just remember that your guests should still be the main attraction.

 Add suspense; create anticipation. You know how cliffhangers keep you watching shows or reading books all night? Incorporating a few surprises into your event works the same way, adding delight, preventing fidgety guests from fleeing, and keeping guests replaying party highlights for years.

• Get some ideas from some we’ve seen: schedule a surprise attendee; spotlight individual guests with a few words of praise or awards; plan for a featured dessert or surprise gift; drop a hint in the invitation or whisper one in your guests’ ear as they arrive; incorporate a game or puzzle to solve.

Taking a little time to brainstorm the answers to these questions will help make sure that your group outing for private dining Raleigh NC style is an unforgettable event, (and you’re the hero!).