Venue: The Colonnade, Golden Valley
Attendees: 27 real estate brokers and their guests
Decor and rentals: Aarcee Party Rental
Transportation: Total Luxury Limousine
Caterer: Macy’s Design Cuisine
Florist: Minneapolis Floral
Photographer: Andy King
Entertainment: Ambassadors of Swing
Event planner: Jigsaw Unlimited


To show appreciation for real estate brokers who helped attract tenants to The Colonnade, a 360,000-square-foot office property in Golden Valley, Susan Diamond, owner of Minneapolis-based event company Jigsaw Unlimited, and her client, Kim Ihle of CB Richard Ellis in Minneapolis, which manages The Colonnade, took a chance.

Along with Brian Wasserman and Mike Marinovich, leasing agents at CB Richard Ellis, Ihle and Diamond discussed whether the brokers would be interested in attending a work-related event on a Friday night—they were worried it might be difficult. “I thought the dinner party was a good idea,” Diamond says. “We talked at length about if the spouse is going to be interested in coming. Our big challenge was kind of talking ourselves into doing it.”

They decided to go for it, and the responses to a pre-invitation notice were positive. Diamond set the mood with wedding-like printed invitations from Fleurish that showed the roofline of The Colonnade and the skyline in the background.

One challenge that Diamond hadn’t encountered before was mapping out a path for the limo drivers who were each shuttling groups of two or three couples from their homes to The Colonnade before and after dinner. It had to be coordinated so that everyone arrived as close to 6:30 p.m. as possible.

When the limos arrived, photographer Andy King snapped each couple’s picture on a red carpet that guided them into the lobby. They were greeted by white-gloved doormen and waiters with champagne on silver platters; they sipped to the sounds of Ambassadors of Swing, a jazz trio. The guests were “escorted to the 15th floor penthouse, which was transformed into an intimate bistro with live musicians and elegant decor,” Diamond recalls. The space was decked out with twinkle lights, candles, fabric draping on the ceiling and window frames, a dance floor, cocktail and dining tables, and spectacular views of downtown. The Ambassadors of Swing expanded to a seven-piece big band, and guests danced to swing and Latin-dance favorites.

The meal began with passed hors d’oeuvres, including Kobe beef tartare on plantain chips and baby artichoke tempura with tomato jam. When the guest were seated, they were presented with a first course of lobster rolls with wasabi sabayon and watercress salad served with bacon and rice croutons. Next came bleu cheese and panko-crusted beef tenderloin with a Shiraz reduction, ruby crescent red fingerling potato purée, roasted haricots verts (a flavorful green bean), and gold beets. A delicate pecorino fresco cheese—made from sheep’s milk in Italy—with Chianti jelly and peppered almonds made up the third course. And guests could choose orange tian, molten chocolate cake, and caramel pot á crème for dessert.

Each couple had their picture taken with the skyline in the background. The photographs were then printed and framed on site and secretly put into each couple’s gift bag along with two luxurious bathrobes, as a personalized memento of the evening—a surprise for which Ihle received many letters of gratitude.