From a College House to the Viking Hotel: Party Planning at Its Best

By: Rachael Chlebeck
Posted In: Entertainment

Whether it is a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, or a shower, spring is the perfect time for a party.

For a spring event, people often take it upon themselves to plan a party. Ideas fly around and nearly everyone has their own opinions.

It may seem like a breeze at first, yet once it comes down to only a few days before the celebration, it is chaos not calmness that permeates the air. Newport, R.I., is the place to host a party, and there are three experts who have made a living in doing just that.

Judy Carroll, the owner of Papers, a party boutique on Bellevue Ave., has been helping event planners for the past 5 years. Her supplies store carries items from birthday napkins to wedding gifts. Invitations are her specialty, and her most popular items.

“We sell invitations for everything. Weddings mostly, but also cocktail parties, Christmas, baby showers, birthdays, you name it,” says Carroll. These stylish and decorative invites range from the fill-ins, $7.50 for 10, to the engraved, $350.00 for 50.

Carroll gets most of her business from working with other event planning companies in the area, and through word of mouth. The busiest time of year for this small, classy shop is December, which seems surprising due to the lack of population in Newport during the winter months.

Papers also offers cards and other party paraphernalia in different languages. Various cards read, “Heureux Anniversaire” and “Buon Compleanno!”

Other gifts that lay neatly in the window of this boutique are baptism candles, poke-a-dotted birthday plates, and cocktail party favors.

Carroll’s shop offers every kind of celebration supplies one may need to host a party; and in every kind of price range.

While Carroll is selling her items and helping to calm the host of the party, three seniors at Salve Regina University are busy planning their own dinner party.

Christopher Cwikla, Andrew Shea, and Jason Marquart are relatively known for their phenomenal cooking and party hosting skills.

“My father taught me how to cook, and how to entertain guests. It’s become my hobby now,” says Cwikla. They all believe that there is more to a cocktail party than what is simply set on the table in front of people.

“You have to have the right music,” commented Marquart, “and the right kind of wine,” Shea added.

The students usually make some kind of meat-pasta and add vegetables as a side dish. Normally, one could find 10 to 12 people sitting around the neatly set kitchen table.

Although this college house may not have matching silver-ware, and there might be paper towels instead of cloth napkins; the wine is not boxed, and the guests never have to pay.

“We like hosting parties, at least dinner parties,” says Marquart.

It may seem that to have a successful party, one must have the right amount of money and the proper dress. These boys do not agree.

“It matters who is there and how they like your food, not how much you spend on it,” commented Cwikla.

The definition of success is measured in a different way if you are planning a party with Goretti Eonas, the catering sales manager at the Hotel Viking in Newport. Eonas handles most of the social events at the hotel, including the weddings, showers and anniversary parties.

Spring is a big season for the hotel, “Between March and June, we have approximately 30 – 40 events planned,” says Eonas.

The Viking Hotel caters all of the events that occur in the hotel, and they do not allow outside food sources to be brought in. They offer four different menus, ranging from $79.00 to $105.00 a plate.

The hotel’s seafood is their most popular and is offered on all four menus. Their long list of unique wines ($21.00-$175.00 per bottle); is one proof of their excellence in hosting any kind of celebration.

“We have both formal events as well as casual. There is not type of dress code. It is solely up to the person having the event,” commented Eonas, as some people might assume the Viking Hotel would have primarily a formal dress code.

No matter what type of party is in need of planning, Eonas is there to help with a 3 month plan to rid away any “day before” jitters. The initial meeting is set up to secure the date of the celebration and estimate the numbers of guests that will be in attendance.

Two months ahead, the host should be in contact with the hotel’s catering branch, and possibly narrow down the options. As the appointments continue, florists are called, number of guests at each table is finalized, and the party is finally set in motion.

“I think the biggest challenge when planning an event, is when the customer does not have a vision in mind of what they are really looking for,” says Eonas.

“If this does happen, we walk them through everything and assist them in planning a wonderful, successful event.” The Viking Hotel is well known for hosting parties, as many former brides have done interviews with “Newport Wedding Magazine” renouncing how the hotel was simply perfect.

Party planers have a kind of gift it seems, as if they can transform an idea into masterpiece. It does not matter if you are planning a poke-a-dotted birthday bash, a last minute taste of heaven in a college house, or an evening of elegance to be remembered forever; Newport is the place to find it.