Dinner en Blanc 2024
I was recently invited by my friend and peer, Jayme Dunn Photo, to come out with her to Dinner en Blanc Vancouver. I had always heard of this event but never really read into it or took interest as I don’t own very many white clothing.
As I scoured the website for the rules and guidelines, I questioned just why anyone would want to pay a bunch of money only to have to bring literally everything for dinner: tables, chairs, cutlery, plates, cups, food, drinks, dessert, all white apparel and clothing.
I rummaged through my closet to search for any clothing that I could possibly wear that was all white. For one event, I wasn’t going to purchase a new outfit that I’d never wear again. I already did that with my wedding. The guidelines stated: no off white . Luckily, I had been on the fence about one very new and very white shirt dress that sat at the very bottom of my laundry hamper just waiting to be purged - or worn to Dinner en Blanc I suppose! White shoes though? Nope. I wore brown shoes that blended in with my skin tone anyway and wore my illegal tan sun hat out to the meeting spot.
As I made my way downtown, feeling mildIy self conscious about my illegal not all white hat, I started to notice people that looked like they were headed to the same party. I got to the meeting point a little early and in a matter of minutes, people started arriving. Everyone a bit shy and standing in different corners outside of Burrard Skytrain.
A lady in a big white hat approached me and introduced herself. We got to talking and curious passersby kept stopping to ask me what was going on. My new friend introduced me to her party and we started connecting.
Once Jayme arrived, with all the gear on a cart (I had wondered how she was going to transport an entire set up) we checked in and our table head lead the way to the -secret location- which involved us all dragging our stuff a station over to Stadium-Chinatown, across the street, down a long flight of stairs and across to the backside of BC Place Stadium where went through security check ins and into the stadium.
Ok so by this point, my perspective had shifted from skeptical to intrigue. People went all out. Dressed to the nines. Props and decor at hand. People took this very seriously.
Once we were inside, the organized chaos of getting our tables set up began but within minutes, each of us had our little place in a row: White table cloths, white plates, white chairs. I started to assemble our little “girl dinner” as Jayme calls it which consisted of sliced cucumbers, baguette, truffle hummus, apple slices, watermelon and a little sweet treat for each of us for dessert.
I watched in awe as the rest of the stadium set their tables up. People had flowers, lights, table ornaments, amazing trays of food.
The night went on with a DJ, saxophone musician, a VSO performance, dancers, photobooths which eventually ended with a dance party near the centre stage.
It was the first personal event I’d documented in a long time and so fun to shoot.