News about the 2015
White House Correspondents' Association Dinner permeated the Washington zeitgeist over the weekend, with a flurry of events drawing VIPs from far and wide.
Thursday marked the unofficial kickoff for this year's festivities, with the
United Nations Foundation,
Devex, and
Foreign Affairs magazine hosting their signature 'Global Beat' party for the third year in a row [
PHOTO GALLERY].
And
Rock the Vote and
Twitter were quick to keep the party going, with their own late night celebration at Blind Whino's colorful event space in Southwest [
PHOTO GALLERY].
Friday evening saw a whirlwind of activity throughout the District, with over a dozen different events taking place, including an intimate welcome dinner hosted by Katherine and David Bradley [
PHOTO GALLERY], a discussion panel hosted by
POLITICO which featured a performance by
John Legend [
PHOTO GALLERY], and a star-studded affair at the Canadian Embassy organized by
The Hill and
EXTRA TV [
PHOTO GALLERY].
The place to be on Saturday morning was
Tammy Haddad's signature annual Garden Brunch [
PHOTO GALLERY] at historic Beall-Washington House, where hundreds of household names, including senior White House staffers, film and TV stars, and GRAMMY winners, sipped tall glasses of Veuve Clicquot while mingling in support of veteran nonprofits Dog Tag Bakery and Blue Star Families.
A quick wardrobe change into elegant black tie attire was then in order before guests descended upon the Washington Hilton in Dupont Circle for the main event. In advance of the actual White House Correspondents' Association
Dinner, however, everyone's attention was squarely focused on the receptions held inside the surrounding nooks and crannies of the hotel.
The Atlantic and
CBS joined forces for one such event, which drew various members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, and celebrities to the tented outdoor patio gathering [
PHOTO GALLERY].
Even the next day, when the barbs and bites from the dinner seemed like a distant memory (there were several after parties held after all), the festivities continued.
CNN took the comfortable road in hosting a very much welcomed casual Sunday brunch for the 'politically hungover' [
PHOTO GALLERY], while
Thomson-Reuters pursued a more formal approach with its traditional picturesque gathering on the rooftop of The Hay-Adams overlooking the White House [
PHOTO GALLERY].