When a floral designer, décor genius and Cape Town entrepreneur asks you to create a custom-made murder mystery and dinner for her birthday party, you know it’s going to be a beautiful setting!
Heike Hayward, aka Fleur de Cordeur, chose a warm and inviting restaurant in Paarl called Noop, to be the venue for her private celebration. With table decor and gifting by Cadouri by Anne Mann Celebrates and Heike and her sister’s dresses by Kat van Duinen, the venue was resplendent. The wide variety of gregarious personalities in the mix made it an exciting task to create bespoke characters for each guest and then facilitate an hilarious evening this group of special friends will never forget.
We hosted the event in January on what was, unfortunately, the hottest day of the year (about 42 degrees Celsius). Luckily, we had air-conditioning inside the venue, but we were all glowing! (I will happily admit to popping into the walk-in wine fridge every twenty minutes to get a cool down.)
Let your guests guide the game
The inspiration for the secret society theme of this bespoke murder mystery dinner party was inspired by Heike’s special guests. On our call to discuss the event, I asked the hostess about her circle of friends and what they like to discuss when they get together for barbecues and braais or dinner parties. Conspiracy theories came up very strongly as an interest shared by each of the guests.
With such a fun theme to work with, it was not difficult to weave together a plot of intrigue for this eclectic group of friends. Take a look at the gorgeous photographs below for a taste of the evening together. Or watch the fun highlights reel on our Instagram page.
The advantage of a custom-made murder mystery dinner is that characters are written to perfectly suit each guest. No one is left feeling uncomfortable about the character they are playing for the night. If you have experienced murder mystery and dinner combos before, you may have experienced being given a character that you did not really connect with. While it is true that you can make virtually anything work, a murder mystery and dinner experience where you feel free to bring your A-game is the best type of murder mystery dinner party to go to.
“It was so much fun ‘capturing the wild’ of the night’s celebrations and all the different characters!”
Betty Roux, Photographer
Another advantage of a Murder Mystery Guide experience is that murder mystery and dinner games are 90% improvised – there are no scripts to be studied or followed, only prompts and basic guidelines. That leaves you and your guests free to squeeze all the life (excuse the pun!) out of the evening!
You won’t regret hiring a professional photographer for your murder mystery and dinner experience.
We always recommend hiring a professional photographer to capture your special evening on camera, as you will inevitable want to look back on the event and share your special memories with those who attended – and those who didn’t!
You can purchase this Print-and-Play game online! Head to our Shop, then tap or click on Print-and-Play, then use the dropdown menu to find the Secret Society / Anarchy Army murder mystery and dinner game with all the details. Or, if you’d like to order a custom-made murder mystery dinner, get in touch using the Contact page.
Want to see more Murder Mystery Guide content? Head to my Instagram profile to check out the Reel from the evening’s festivities!
Venue: Noop Restaurant in Paarl
Photographer: Betty Roux
