Regency Ballgowns for Beethoven

I've always wanted to have a costume event at Bass Hall. The hall itself is so gorgeous, and when I saw that the Fort Worth Symphony was planning a performance of Beethoven's 5th, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. And then I saw that Gallery Boxes were only $32! It was fate.

The concert was set to begin at 7:30, so we met up a half-hour before to mingle and make sure everyone had their tickets.A couple of our group ended up running behind, but they made it to us before the intermission, so we all managed to find each other!

We were certainly the talk of the Hall, too. People were very curious as to what we were all about, they asked us all sorts of questions, took lots of pictures of and with us, and everyone seemed very enthusiastic about our group.

The first half of the concert was Strauss and Prokofiev, and after the intermission they played the entirety of Beethoven's 5th. It's always magical to hear Beethoven's music performed live, and it felt like the entire symphony went by in a flash. It was over way too soon!

The concert wrapped up around 9:30, and the hall emptied quickly, which means we had the space to take some costume shots and admire each others outfits. Quite a few of us had made new gowns for the occasion, and we had a "4AM sewing club" again, several of us pulling all-nighters to finish outfits for ourselves or our sweethearts. We all took turns against various backdrops, and we snapped a lovely group photo in front of a beautiful painted ceiling.

By the time the concert had ended and our picture sessions were finished, we were all famished, so we headed across the street to Bird Cafe, where we had our dinner reservation. They have what they call "sharing plates" at dinnertime, which is basically tapas-style servings, but the food is not Spanish. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it exactly, as they offered everything from deviled eggs to sesame duck wings, but everything was delicious! To top it off, they had absolutely spectacular desserts, from a coffee-chocolate cake to a triple berry cobbler. Yum!

In all, I think it was a very successful event. I'm looking forward to putting together more events at Bass Hall, and other performance halls in the area, especially if we can get such great seats again! Beethoven's Eroica is playing in January. What a fun excuse for some Regency outerwear!