Black Tie & Tales

+ A wedding to remember
Carol Brualdi’s second time around as chairwoman of the Sarasota Opera Gala was a smash hit that celebrated the winter season’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro” in every detail. There was a display of incredible wedding cakes by Alla Levin of The Cake Zone. Favors for the 270 guests were Jordan almonds, white of course, and in the odd number that is traditional at weddings to encourage fertility, according to the chairwoman. There was even a beautiful-if-not-exactly-bridal white dress on always stunning Elissa Soyka. Best of all, as Brualdi pointed out, there was “no bill for the bride’s father to pay.”

New faces were another theme of this long-established event. They included former Metropolitan Opera General Manager Joseph Volpe and his wife, Jean, who have recently moved to Sarasota. Dennis Thompson and his wife, Nancy, from Atlanta, are here as snowbirds this season, evaluating future residency. Mrs. Thompson volunteered that she had been a board member of the Atlanta Opera but it took some prodding to uncover that she was also a Fulton County commissioner for 26 years — the first African American and the first woman to hold that post. And she gets credit for observing that you can measure age by heel height, which varies inversely with age.

That comment was prompted by the shoes of the night on Dr. Olga Ulitsky. She struggled to recall the designer, but her husband, Dr. Justin Wasserman, knew instantly because the Sergio Rossi personal pedestals were a gift from him. Going to the Chicago Lyric Opera, as the dermatologist duo did in their previous town, she would have been wearing boots. There was more youthful style, exemplified by Tiffany Zampol and husband, Eric. And red raiment was simply marvelous on Ann Moe, Mary Mitchell, Stephanie Shaw, Amanda Pileggi, Annette Lloyd and Wendy Feinstein.

+ Tidbits
… Author, author … Snowbirds Kurt and Eleanor Luedtke parked behind the strip of stores on Osprey en route to Knick’s for lunch last week. Not realizing there was a walkway, they moseyed through the Bank of the Commonwealth, where they discovered on display a history of the bank that Eleanor had written a few years back. They let that be known, then Eleanor graciously responded to requests to autograph a few copies … Lunch for lunch’s sake … An old saying goes, “We celebrate on occasion and sometimes on no occasion at all.” Roddy Samuels did the latter Jan. 31; she simply decided she wanted to see “the girls” and treated more than two dozen to a buffet including baby lamb chops, shrimp, blintzes and more at Michael’s Wine Cellar. Among her lucky friends: Renee Sheade, Doris Kaplan, Evelyn Koshner, Betty Iserman, Jo Betty Weiner, Lillian Richman, Phyllis Steingard, Helen Sherman, Temi Saivetz and Claire Love … Congratulations are due … along with the new baby to come in August to Kameron Partridge Hodgens, executive director of the Glasser-Schoenbaum Human Services Center, and her husband, Bart, who were accepting congratulations at the Circus Arts Gala Jan. 30 … Caught napping … also at the Circus Gala, a tired teenager who pronounced “Old people have too much energy.” From her mouth to God’s ear … New on the calendar … Having transformed Cause 4 Fashion from an evening event into a successful luncheon, Neuro Challenge Foundation is launching Cause 4 Hope: Unmasking Parkinson’s Disease March 12, at Michael’s On East. Co-chairs Deb Knowles Kabinoff and Sharyn Weiner are promising a lively, fun evening with dancing throughout and without an auction. For more information, call Judith Bell at 926-6413 … Redesigning Designing Woman … Changes are in the works at nonprofit consignment boutique and estate liquidation service Designing Women Boutique. Executive Director Pamela Day, who was with the shop for nine years, has resigned. Karin Gustafson, formerly president of the YMCA Foundation, is there on a six-month consulting assignment, which includes strategy, operations and volunteer recruitment as well as heading the search for a new executive director. The shop has also contracted with Susan Jackewicz, formerly with the Institute for the Ages, for marketing. A new volunteer addition is Rebecca Goldthwaite, who joined the team as estate galleries manager … Local launch … a new company with Sarasota ties launched a line of junior golf apparel at the PGA show last week. Sarasota resident Christina Elias heads up product development along with Longboat Key residents Jerry Cable as vice president of sales and Judy Welch as director of marketing. Washington, D.C., area resident (and part-time Longboater) Kris Bartholomew, founder and CEO of the design company, created the idea because “most of the ladies' golf apparel in the market today is very mature for juniors, and who wants to wear clothes that look like an outfit for mom?” You can shop the line at turtlesandtees.com.

+ The calendar calls
BT is collecting events for the social calendar — if we don’t know about it, we can’t cover it! Email the following to [email protected]: name of event; group benefiting; time, date and place; ticket price; chairperson; contact name; phone number; website and event description.