Well, though Isaac keeps saying it ... Val was not the host. She usually is the hostess of this party ... but was not this year. She took a well-deserved break.
That said ... the party is at her parent's house ... and she has certain say-so about things. Most years that's "no outside people." This year we persuaded her the party had to be bigger and got her ok to invite a few non-regulars.
Then she left the country
- - and we did LOTS of things that would
not have been ok with her, but were totally cool with her parents.
Still - - though Autumn and I were completely in charge of this year's party, we made a conscious decision to not have more than a hundred people. I hope that's ok with everyone. And so the guest list was limited.
I just don't want to foist that decision on Val and deflect from me when it's not true.
(
And there's nothing better that spotty cell service when you're working desperately around the clock to put together an event of this scale. No interruptions or flash pictures, pleease.)