Donae Cangelosi Charmosta, aka The Vintage Contessa and her hubby threw quite a fab 50th birthday party at River Oaks District, benefiting KNOWAutism.
FIFTYand FABULOUS! So happy, personally, to join over 200 of Houston’s finest as they arrived at River Oaks District to kick off Donae Cangelosi Chramosta’s, better known as The Vintage Contessa, birthday celebration beginning with a cocktail hour inside Dolce & Gabbana. Surrounded by colorful majolica patterns and D&G’s finest pieces, guests were dressed to impress in the requested dress code of the evening….black and gold attire keeping the “Sicilian Street Party” theme alive. As the festivities continued, guests made their way over to Toulouse Café and Bar where they danced the night away on the open patio and enjoyed an array of mouth-watering appetizers As the champagne flowed, Italian dancers performed in the courtyard, the DJ played classic Italian music to set the “Spicy Sicilian” theme, which as a Sicilian Italian myself, I know that the dancers that they had added such a fun, street charm to the party. Additionally, Hahn Tran, visible working on the patio of Toulouse, created art representative of The Vintage Contessa. An ornate cake(pictured below) and birthday toast and song led by Donae’s husband Rob, helped the crowd wish The Vintage Contessa happy 50th.
In lieu of gifts, guests were encouraged to donate to KNOWAutism. This very successful birthday celebration was able to boast a $23,000 addition to the Autism fund. It’s not too late to still donate in case you were dancing and partying just a little too much and missed your opportunity at the party. Event underwriters included Bentley Houston and Toulouse Café and Bar, both of which are also donating silent auction items to the upcoming KNOWAutism Gala in February 2018.
Leading the street party singing out side of Toulouse, in River Oaks District, of Happy Birthday to the Guest of Honor, was Donae’s hubby, Rob and their beautiful daughter Bella
Lavish birthday cake, provided by Donae’s bestie, Elizabeth Harvey Designs, very fitting for a Contessa
Karen Henry and Diane Kaplan
Lenny Matuszewski and Sheree Frede
Deborah Duncan, Donae Cangelosi Chramosta,
Roseanne Rogers and Erica Bagwell
Rudy and Debbie Festari
Shannon Hall , Bill Baldwin and Fady Armanious
Rachel Gower and Ursula Hamilton
Brittany Zucker, Paul-David Van Atta, Sherri Zucker, Greggory Harrison
Still dancing the night away at this midnight hour were Erica Bagwell and Tod Ramos
My hubby Alan and I added new meaning to the phrase ‘better late than never’ by making a very, very late appearance to this not to be missed fab soiré……..arriving very close to the midnight hour. (we had been in attendance at the beautiful Lia Vallone wedding previously, two spectacular celebrations that were very difficult to squeeze into one evening!)
All photos courtesy of Daniel Ortiz Photography