I still say the party planner was part of a setup, because I know too much about that part of the business, especially in NYC. Here is one of the largest party rental suppliers that several of the top caterers in in NYC use to supply their parties:
partyrentalltd.com
If you look at the pictures of racks upon racks of equipment in these pictures alone and times it by 10,000, you'll get an estimate of the equipment ONE party supplier in the METRO NYC area has. The center picture of all the pink, is their racks upon racks of wine glasses lining and filling the walls. This isn't even their drapes or tablecloths. I've seen more variations of a single color of tablecloths than I care to in a lifetime.
That little logo in the upper left corner, of the pink hippo, is on their trucks and the T-shirts their men wear. Their trucks are parked in loading zones about every 5-10 blocks in Manhattan.
While Joan certainly doesn't know about the set up or catering side of these events, she's driven by enough of those trucks loading in & out and attended these soirees when they are all set up, to know when a
NYC party planner says he can't get different colored drapes and tablecloths at the last minute, or that he ONLY has TWO colors, that this guy is a donkey's behind in knowing what he's doing.
Even if he supplies his OWN drapes as someone said he was going to do for Annie, every NYC party planner has on speed dial, access to a
few of these party rental companies. And if you have an account with them, you do have after hours access to one of their sales reps.
This isn't Smallville, USA with one guy who only has a stack of equipment in his personal garage. A holiday weekend like Memorial Day, 4th of July or the Christmas party season, there are several
large parties going on at once. Some parties require 200-300 tablecloths EACH. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Ball was last week and that is a 300 table party, PLUS cocktail reception area, PLUS after-party. And it's ALL draped.
There have been many events I've worked where the wrong tablecloths were sent, or none packed at all, and LAST MINUTE, a Party Rental guy has to make an extra trip to drop them off. We can't even set
anything on a table until those tablecloths arrived. There are a hundred waiters being paid on the clock and they can't set up a table until the rental arrives. We've also ordered stuff at 8pm, because we need stuff for a 11pm afterparty and found out we are short stuff. Or a waiter drops a whole try of champagne glasses on a stack of tablecloths reserved for the afterparty
and we need more.
Plus, the rental guys have to hang around till
after the party's over to take back their stuff. That means they go back to the warehouse at 3am.
Joan was perfectly in her right as a client to ask what color red the curtains were. There is a very big difference in tomato red or shockingly bright, fire hydrant red hanging up, or a muted cranberry red. She had a
right to delegate to someone to go and oversee and help pick the final colors. If Clint was worth anything, she would have sent him. She
chose to send someone with real, professional color sense.
You think any
bride 
is going to be told she is getting "cream" tablecloths and not want to see swatches of what
shade of "cream" it is?
If the party planner got upset over that, that was
his unprofessionalism. The fact that he cancelled out on Joan over an "artistic dispute" is one thing. But to then
also cancel out on Annie was a second round of being unprofessionalism. He could have still chosen to do Annie's party and let Joan hang.
There might have been a lot editted out of Joan's phone call to him. But, we've also seen how she was able to get her grieving friend to laugh and go out of his way to help her find celebrity impersonators. This smells too much of "setup" to me.
BTW, where DID Joan end up getting the curtains and tablecloths in the end?!?
They must have finally come from some party rental place. They were in the RIGHT shade of Kodak red & yellow on the tables. While her charity put them down and set up, she had to have gotten them from somewhere.
LivingtheWDWdream, Welcome to the Community Board!
Don't go away until next season. We actually have many TV show threads. It's one of the fun things here at the CB. As you have read, these can get quite lively with all the
very different opinions we have about the shows. It's even more fun to talk about the shows
while watching them together.
She hadn't quit.
:
