A record-setting year by all accounts, 2022 brought both great challenges and triumphs to our local, family-owned business. Residual pandemic-induced complications and on-going labor shortages coincided with some of our busiest weeks in company history. We are so grateful to our #OneBrilliantTeam for persevering and turning lemons into lemonade (our signature Rosemary Lemonade, of course!)
In addition to a growing list of successful events this year, we are extremely proud to have earned nominations for five local and national industry awards – even taking home three wins: Best Catering, Best Urban Venue, and Best Team Effort!
Best Team Effort – Emerald City Applause Awards
We started the year as a finalist for the Best Team Effort award, from the Seattle Chapter of ILEA (International Live Events Association), for our production of the 2021 Seattle Symphony Gala with vendor partners: the Seattle Symphony, Tolo Events, That Brown Girl Cooks!, CORT Party Rentals, and Bahtoh. Despite our category holding the most nominations of any category that night, we took home the prize for our combined effort in planning the 2021 event - an outdoor, covid-conscious, high-end gala in which we experienced a venue change two weeks before the gala as well as a torrential storm pummeling our teams during both the set up and clean up on the day of the event. Earning the ECAA award that March night made it all worth it in the end!
Best Off-Premise Catering – ACE Awards
We were also thrilled to earn our first nomination in the ACE (Achievement in Catering Excellence) Awards, presented annually by Catersource magazine, for our work in planning the 2021 Seattle Symphony Gala. Matt Haggerty and I attended the awards ceremony along with catering peers from across the country during the 2022 Catersource conference in Anaheim, CA. We had the joy of cheering on our friends at 24 Carrots Catering when they took home the prize that night.
Best Caterer & Best Urban Venue – Seattle Bride's Best of 2022
In June, our Sales Team enjoyed the return of Seattle Bride Magazine's Best of Bride Awards where we had the honor of being nominated for three awards – Best Caterer (Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes), Best Historic Venue (The Hall at Fauntleroy), and Best Urban Venue (Melrose Market Studios). Reuniting with so many of our wedding industry peers and taking home not one, but two of the Best of Bride awards was a true joy and honor.
We are so grateful to our wonderful clients, our industry partners whose support and teamwork made so much possible in the past two years, and to our One Brilliant Team who continue to lift us to new heights year after year!
Photography credits: Mike Nakamura (ECAA), Ash Boucher of Epoch Design Co. (ACE Awards), Sound Originals (Best of Bride)
Written October 2022
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