Francaise Dinner 2016

This is a long-overdue post!  On March 12, I attended the annual Francaise Dinner for the first time, and I am here to tell you it lives up to the hype!  I had an absolutely fabulous time, and I will definitely go again.

A quick - and rather blurry - photo as I arrived at Gadsby's Tavern

I met so many cool new people!  And everyone was dressed so spectacularly:

I think everyone was in awe of this fantastic ship headdress:

Careful of the door frame!

I loved the men's clocked stockings:

I wore my Striped Silk Gown, which I have blogged about previously, over my cotton shift, mock-stays, pocket hoops, and three underpetticoats.  I accessorized with my aquamarine collet necklace and matching earrings from Dames a la Mode.  I had to get a photo with my sonic screwdriver, of course:

Thanks Maggie for taking these photos for me!

The venue was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the company was stellar.  I learned about gummy bears in champagne, and shared a table with these lovely ladies:  Carolyn, Stephanie, Taylor, and Julie.

Photo by Maggie

This is probably one of the best shots of my hair - but everyone else in the photo outshines me quite a bit!  :p

Photo by Maggie

Here we attendees eagerly watch and listen while the dinner's fabulous organizers - Maggie, Stephanie, and Gloria - conduct the raffle:

Maggie's photo

There were so many awesome raffle items!  I won twice, which was the limit, and I had to hold myself back from buying lots and lots of pretty things from the various vendors who had brought their wares!

We also had a professional photographer taking photos before the dinner began, and she got some great shots of me:

Photo by Early Bird Photo - used with permission

Photo by Early Bird Photo - used with permission

Photo by Early Bird Photo - used with permission

Back at the hotel, I emptied my pocket hoops.  They held so much stuff!  Here is everything I brought with me, plus my leftover raffle tickets:

And here are the fun freebies we all got in our goody bags:

And finally, the earrings and the cameo I won in the raffle, and the gorgeous ribbon I bought from Bulldog & Baum:

It was kind of fun to step out of this pile of petticoats at the end of the night:

And shout-out to Alicia at LBCC, whose wonderful historical cosmetics helped me create my 18th Century look:

Plus powder from Colonial Williamsburg

Finally, the official group photo by Beth of BWPW Photography, now Early Bird Photo: