MERRILL HERMANN’S DEBUTANTE PARTY Bobby, Signa, Bob and Merrill Hermann, Lacey and Charlie Petersen
BALL
By Lisa de los Reyes, Photos by Patti Gabriel Photography As the reigning Queen of Love and Beauty crowned at last December’s Veiled Prophet Ball, Merrill Hermann was fêted at a recent debutante party thrown at the family’s home. The event had a Buddha Ball theme, which came about organically, notes Merrill’s mother, Signa Hermann. “When Merrill was a little girl, she came home from the hospital with a tiny stuffed pink elephant, and this became her most cherished creature that she dragged around with her throughout childhood,” she says. “So somehow an elephant had to appear.” When Hermann saw an article on an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, the theme gradually began to take shape. One of the event’s signature decorations was a large-as-life elephant topiary created by Ken Miesner’s Flowers with help from a Tennessee-based manufacturer. “Ken was brilliant with his decorations,” Hermann recalls. “Now [the elephant] is planted in the garden and he’ll always be part of it.” Other showstoppers included whimsical umbrellas hanging from the tented ceiling. Dinner was prepared by Butler’s Pantry and announced by Chinese drummers, and guests enjoyed the musical stylings of Dave Dickey Big Band and Party on the Moon, an Atlanta-based dance band.
36 LadueNews.com | September 11, 2015