We recently held a surprise 50th Birthday for one of our long-time members of the club. We had a chat to the organiser, Jacqueline (the wife) to find out about her experience on the night. See what she had to say below.
What made you choose the Fraternity Club for your celebration?
We have had a long family association with the Fraternity Club and we love the food so that was a no brainer but what helped form the whole concept was the room layout and design. We were able to have dedicated sections in the raised area for food and bar, separate to seating, separate to the gaming area, separate to the cake set up and then the stage for the DJ. The layout of the room was perfect and provided us with the space to make sure we could do everything we wanted! I then had the absolute pleasure of working with Lisa, the function manager on organise the event and I can say that she was amazing to deal with and opened the communication to the chefs who are the unsung heroes for the delicious spread they prepared.
How difficult was it keeping the surprise from your husband? Did you have any ‘close calls’ with him finding out?
It was very difficult to keep the surprise! We had hundreds of close calls due to phone calls about the event, emails and guests slipping that they were excited… for him to turn 50 (instead of saying the party). I’m an accountant so I was lucky enough to pretend I had new clients that demanded a lot of attention and face to face appointments so I could make it work! He knew something was happening that night cause all the family was over our place, dressed up and trying to decide how to trick him into getting to the event, so my aunty and uncle drove him to the Fraternity blindfolded! We were also lucky enough to be aloud to walk him through the club blindfolded till we got to the door – so that helped a lot!
What made you chose the ‘Vegas’ theme?
My husband had always said he wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday and due to COVID I couldn’t make it happen, so I organised the next best thing!
We were lucky to have found Vegas Night Production for all the casino games, dealers, backdrops, props and red carpet and they were beyond fantastic. That coupled with the amazing grazing table cooked and presented by the Fraternity Club staff and the easy of the bar and their great servers made it more perfect than going to Vegas itself!
What was your favourite part of the night celebration and the venue?
My personal favourite part of the celebration was opening the doors to the room and having all the guests yell “surprise”! The look on my husband, Risden’s face will be sketched into my mind forever!
Risden has said he can’t pin point one part of the night as the whole thing was an overwhelming surprise and he was so happy to have all our family and friends in the one place to get amazing food, drink and play casino games!
I think you can see by the photos that everyone in attendance has a fantastic time and I’ve been asked multiple times if we can make this an annual event! My response to that has been it may turn into an event scheduled for every 10 years!
If you're interested in booking your next special occasion at the Fraternity Club, contact Lisa (Functions Manager) at functions@fraternityclub.com.au