Pictures from Catering Events

The past couple of weekends I have had the chance to work at some pretty neat venues as part of a catering company. Each one has been completely different, but check out these pictures to get an idea of the scale.

In between Whitehall and the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace, is a large open gravel space called the Horse Guards Parade. Since the time of Henry VIII the large open field has been an events center of London, featuring jousting tournaments and national celebrations. It is also home to Her Majesty’s Household Cavalry.

The event I worked at was a charity event for a major urban development organization, and some of the big names of London were there. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, spoke, as well as other leaders of major companies. The money they threw around that night was staggering- raising well over £150,000. To give you any idea of the donations people made, two front row seats to a Wimbledon game (can’t remember if it was the finals or not) went for £25,000 (over US $40,000). For two spots on a day excursion riding a WWII era Spitfire fighter plane, each person paid over £20,000 (over US $32,000). They had trips to the Monaco Grand Prix, paid holidays in exotic locations, and more. Insane.

Here is what the event set up looked like:

The outside


The inside (over 80 tables decorated like this!)


The hanging arrangement of flowers in the background was about 3-4 meters in diameter, thats how large it was-


A few of the desserts ready to roll out:



This event was a Bat Mitzvah staged in a renovated 19th century church of all places (http://www.onemarylebone.com/). I was pretty impressed with what they were able to do with the place, but I had to stand for over an hour, motionless, holding a loaded drink tray. My arms were in pain for several days!




This next event was a fundraiser for a major Children’s Education foundation. It was staged in the old iconic Battersea power station. Located on the south side of the Thames, the power station has been derelict and completely gutted for years. The building is roofless, and the middle is a rusted construction site. So what do they do with it? Put a giant marquee in the middle of it, and rent out the space for events.

I was assigned to wait on the table of one of the CEO’s of the Royal Bank of Scotland and his family. Several of the staff said afterwards that Elizabeth Hurley was there, and I watched Elton John call via video to the event from LA encouraging people to donate. That was pretty cool to see.

Powerstation from the outside:

Marquee from the inside:




Anyways, I thought you all would enjoy seeing a snapshot of some of the high-end events that go on in London.