Bookings by Occasion · Companionship for couples
An invitation from two: a companion for couples in Mayfair and along Piccadilly
Some of the Society's most enjoyable evenings are arranged for two hosts rather than one. The company is the same; the table is simply set for three, and the conversation has two people to delight instead of one.
The occasion rests on one condition, which Cressida checks before anything else: the invitation comes from both of you.
At 20:00
The occasion
Arranged around the evening you describe, never around a menu of extras.
Who suits Evenings for couples
4 companions Cressida would propose first for an evening like this. Everyone else on the roster may be asked as well.
Two signatures, not one
Cressida asks that each of you writes at least a line in the booking thread, even a single word, before a companion is proposed. It is a small formality and a firm one. An evening planned as a surprise for a partner is politely declined, however kindly it is meant, and so is one in which only one of you seems keen. Cressida will also ask, lightly, what each of you hopes the evening will be, since two hosts do not always want the same thing and the plan ought to please you both.
Once the evening begins, a word from either host is enough to close it, and no reason is ever needed. Your companion leaves as graciously as she arrived.
Where couples take her
Galleries, often, to begin. An opening on Cork Street, where Rosa will find the one piece worth discussing and be funny about the rest; a viewing at Phillips on Berkeley Square before an evening sale; the courtyard of the Royal Academy on a summer night. Then dinner somewhere nobody has to sit with their back to the room: Scott's, Bellamy's, or the dining room of your own hotel along Piccadilly.
Visitors often ask her to plan the whole evening. Give Cressida the hotel, the date and one thing the two of you enjoy, and your companion sends back a short plan with a reason for each stop. The After Dark Notes cover Mayfair members' clubs and their guest rules, and the game season menus that fill autumn tables across Mayfair.
Anniversaries, and dinner at home
Anniversaries are among the commonest reasons couples write. A companion adds something the two of you cannot give each other on the night: a fresh audience for the old stories, someone to insist on the champagne and to ask how you met. Dinner at Hélène Darroze, a turn round the square beneath the plane trees, and a last drink in the Fumoir at Claridge's, where the room holds only a handful of guests.
Couples who live in London sometimes ask for her at a dinner party of their own: a well-read extra guest at a table of eight, someone to balance the numbers and keep the far end talking. She arrives as your friend, is introduced by her first name, and leaves when the last guests do, or a little before.
A companion at ease with two
A couples evening asks for someone socially fluent, who can keep two conversations going without letting either lapse. Nancy is sunny, open and impossible to feel awkward beside. Rosa is so at ease herself that nobody at the table can stay formal for long. Patricia listens in a way that makes both hosts feel heard. Angelika will debate a new painting with either of you and concede the point when she should. Patricia is one of the auburn companions of the roster.
No companion is expected to take a couples evening. The four above have each said they like them.
Even-handed, always
She takes no sides, whether over the wine, the route home or an argument older than the evening. Her attention is divided evenly between you, and she never stays past the hour that both of you agreed.
How long, and what it costs
Two hours at £1,100 suit a drink and a single course, for couples who would like to meet her before planning anything longer. Three hours at £1,500 suit a gallery and a dinner; the four hour dinner at £1,800 suits a table booked for eight with a nightcap after. The tariff counts hours rather than guests, her travel costs nothing inside the first two zones, and the figures live on the rates page.
Evenings for couples, asked
No. A couples evening of three hours costs what any three hours cost, whoever is at the table.
Yes. A house or flat within Zones 1 and 2 costs nothing more than a hotel; the address is simply checked once in the thread.
Please do. Look through the roster together and send Cressida one name, or two or three in order of preference, and she replies with whoever is free.
Then Cressida waits for the other before proposing anyone. It is the one rule of this occasion that is never bent.
A duo is two companions for one guest, which is a different occasion. For two hosts, one companion is how the Society arranges it.
Notes for the occasion
- 5 min readBehind the unmarked doors: guests, limits and manners at Mayfair's members' clubsAnnabel's, Mark's, Harry's Bar, George, 5 Hertford Street, The Arts Club: how a guest is signed in, how many a member may bring, and the codes kept behind Mayfair's unmarked doors.
- 5 min readDining in Annabel's district: the tables within a short walk of number 46Berkeley Square pulls every W1 evening towards it. Where to eat within a few minutes of Annabel's, by direction and by mood, and how dinner here turns into the rest of the night.
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Evenings for couples, arranged
Tell Cressida what the occasion is, what to wear and when it begins. She proposes companions who suit it and settles the rest in one thread.