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Ken’s 50th Birthday — The Hayfields Country Club

I recently had the pleasure of photographing an utterly fabulous birthday bash for Ken & Kaye. Organized by Kaye for her honey’s big 5-0, this soiree at the beautiful Hayfields Country Club had it all: a steel drum band for cocktail hour, a candy bar, take-home pecan pies in darling little boxes, an ice-cream sundae stand from Coldstone Creamery, a stunning cake from Baltimore’s famous Charm City Cakes, a fabulous band for dinner and dancing, and some of the most sophisticated floral arrangements I’ve seen. Oh, and a real-live photo booth. So fun!

When I asked Kaye who served as her event coordinator, helping her to pull together such a wonderful evening, she arched an eyebrow and said, “That would be me.” She did a magnificent job. I’d recommend that you never turn down a party invite from this woman. I know it would be a joy for me to photograph any event she ever throws!

Let’s start outside, where a punchy color scheme of pink and orange greeted guests for cocktails.

The man of the hour greets his littlest guests…

Kaye briefly takes over for the musicians in the Trinidad North Steel Drums band…

And then a little limbo…

How sweet are these two together?

Moving inside for dinner and dancing, the decor shifted to blues and browns. Victoria Clausen, of Romance of Flowers, carried out Kaye’s desired ocean theme to stunning effect with waves of alternately low and tall centerpieces of hydrangea, monkey tails and a wonderful mix of bluey-purple blooms, candles and sea shells. Just lovely.

Charm City Cakes — of the Food Network’s famed ‘Ace of Cakes’ show — continued the color scheme on a four-tier cake draped in chocolate. Stylish. And yum!

The girls check out the candy bar. And a tower of boxes filled with miniature pecan pies await guests on their departure…

And now to the photo booth. Kaye hired Five Star Amusements to bring in a full-size photo booth — the kind you find in arcades and on the Boardwalk of Ocean City. I couldn’t get enough of the guests playing with the goofy glasses and hats and feather boas. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too! More on that later…

Let the dancing begin…

And now back to that photo booth…

Ken Moss, of Five Star Amusements, was so nice and fun to work with. Every time I wanted to shoot a little of the guests hamming it up for their photos, he would pull back the curtain a tiny bit for me to slip just the end of my lens into the booth. It made for some super fun pictures.

Happy birthday, Ken! I hope your 51st year is the best yet.