PARTY page 041

,

200°° Off

Candid Photographic
Packages

(Wedding, Bar/Bat Mitzvah,
Anniversary, etc.)
With purchase of both
photographs and video.
(New purchase only)

31543 W. 13 Mile Rd.
Farmington Hills
(810) 553-4a67

Setting the mood... sophisticated,
vibrant. The party's waiting at Somerset Inn
...Elegant banquet facilities, adding a "touch of
class" to wedding days, rehearsal dinners,
showers, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, and more.
Our friendly Somerset staff can provide
professional assistance from photography and
music to decorations and flowers. Plus much
more.
For intimate yet distinctive gatherings,
Somerset suggests The West End ... available for
private luncheons with a special menu
created for special times.
Come entertain...Somerset style.

Please call our sales and catering
office at (810) 643-2286.
Monday-Friday 8 AM - 5 PM

Somerset
Inn

041

Somerset Inn
2601 W. Big Beaver Rd.
(just east of Coolidge)
Troy, Michigan

for private parties. The popularity
of the current show, Shear Mad-
ness, has forced Ms. McAllister
to put all requests for the building
on hold for the next few months.
The building's capacity is any-
where between 140 for sit-down
dining to 220 for food stations.
The cost of simply getting in the
door starts at $1,500 — no bar,
flowers, food or decorations.
The Gem hosts weddings, usu-
ally a couple of thespians who ex-
change vows on stage, while Mrs.
Sternberg used the theater setting
to present her husband with a
"This Is Your Life" tribute. She
sheltered the theater patio with a
temperature-controlled tent and
even went so far as to repaint the
Gem's washrooms and lay down
her own rugs.
Across the street, the State The-
atre can accommodate up to
2,000 people with a food-station
setup, a la the annual Fash Bash.
West Bloomfield party planner
Dee Dee Hoffman coordinated an
elaborate bat mitzvah there last
year, in which she turned the en-
tire grand lobby into an Arabian
tent. (The theme was Walt Dis-
ney's Aladdin, and even the
bouncers were required to dress
like genies.)
The ceremony was conducted
on the dance floor and the par-
ty made use of the theater's
huge video wall. Those lucky
enough to book an open date at
the State can plan on spending
$3,000 as a bare minimum for
rental costs.
House parties fall at the oppo-
site end of the scale to State The-
atre galas. Again, not everyone has
the luxury, i.e. square footage, of
using their residence for a party.
But there are ways to finagle a
beautiful affair at home.
"There are a lot of minuses, but
truthfully it's a wonderful expe-
rience" to throw a party at home,
says Ms. Hoffman. "You can bring

in whatever you want, and you
have the freedom you don't have
at a hotel."
The first rule of thumb is ac-
cepting that, contrary to popular
belief, giving a house party will
likely cost as much or more than
renting space. "When you do it in
a house, there's much more in-
volved," says Ms. Cherkasky. "You
have to hire a caterer, there's valet
parking, everything down to the
details of forks and knives" be-
comes the host's concern.
Nevertheless, "it doesn't have
to be a frightening experience,"
adds Ms. Gorelick, "as long as you
have adequate help." Gorelick's
Classic Cuisine will visit the house,
draw up a floor plan "to create the
(traffic) flow" and then decide be-
tween host and planner who's re-
sponsible for what.
And another thing: "Your house
is bigger than it seems," says
Annabel Cohen, former owner of
Annabel's and Co. catering. This
is especially true for casual hosts
who don't mind guests wander-
ing through rooms and sitting on
the edge of tables and beds. If not,
a back-yard party in the summer-
time can make up for lack of space
inside the house.
Detroit might not have the
beautiful downtown hotels or his-
toric buildings available for rental
that Chicago or New York do. But
there's still a decent selection of
venues for those who are willing
to be creative. Ms. Cohen threw
her 6-year-old a birthday party last
summer in a public park. She
rented a company that drove up
in a covered wagon and whipped
up a simple pancake meal right
before the guests' eyes. It cost her
$2 a person to feed 125 people.
"I couldn't have done it cheaper
myself," she says.
Places such as Greenfield Vil-
lage, Pine Knob Manor, the Cas-
tle (a 1898 mansion on Detroit's

PARTY page C44