If last year’s AFF Prom theme was “Under the Sea” (or rather, under the torrential downpour), this year’s theme was certainly “Underneath the Stars”.

The gorgeous weather, a sort of karmic correction for last year’s monsoon, served the event well - the party stayed outside for the most part, creating an epic evening where the divide between libertarians and conservatives was left at the door in exchange for copious eating, drinking, and merriment. The Eighteenth Street Lounge DJs played to the patio, enhancing the party atmosphere, and the crowd this year was large, festive, and glamorous.

And Washington Planner was there to capture it all. Photos, gossip, and more after the jump.

Here, to introduce the photos, the obligatory “still-life” shot of a candle, like I have seen many a far superior party photographer do at many a party before. And look! And ashtray with no ashes! This was obviously taken early in the evening.

(Photo courtesy Chris Anderson)

Also, allow me the opportunity to introduce my co-photographer and partner in crime (and boyfriend), Chris Anderson. As I sat and fumbled around with my little PowerShot like “what is this ISO thing? wait, how do I make the flash turn off?”, he whipped out his camera and took a number of great shots. You’ll see his handiwork throughout this post.

My oh my, Chris! You are looking very “Zach Braff” this evening.

After a hearty serving of the world famous AFF Gala Chicken Satay, Chris and I made our way upstairs to catch some AFFers in their natural environment. Like the cameramen in the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth, we remained camouflaged and hidden, carefully awaiting the rare spotted snow leopard and/or people in cool attire.

Success! Ruth Smith of the Civitas Group pulled out all the stops. Also? She’s one hot momma….literally! While her one and a half year old could not join us for the fun, Ruth came with Joanna Robinson, and I’m sure the two had a fantastic evening.

My next discovery was Catherine Daniel and Samantha Sault of The Weekly Standard. If you can pull off yellow, it’s so hot right now. (Hannnsel….sorry, zoolander moment.) Samantha’s yellow Nicole Miller dress was a showstopper.

While upstairs, I discovered the following:

Look! It’s Jack Bristow! No really though, I didn’t look to see who the subject of the painting was, but I can only assume it is Victor Garber. Can’t you just hear him saying “I’m sorry I didn’t build you a stronger ship, young Rose.”?

Ben Wyche V channels Daniel Craig.

Before heading downstairs, I ran into AFF Technology Guru Emeritus Jerry Brito, along with Giuliani campaign veteran and current Freedom’s Watch Research Analyst Douglass Mayer and Mercatus’ Christopher Hixon.

(photo courtesy Chris Anderson)

We descended the stairs and found ourselves in the thick of the party, roaring strong at the early hour of 9:00. Here, Ray Lehmann gets caught in the “hipster-party-photo” glare.

Is that…an archway with plants growing up it? Aha! A perfect prom photo opportunity! Washington Planner’s very own Jonathan Strong and his lovely fiancée Anna Beth Hill play along. All we need is a corsage!

Matt Keller, Ellyn Fuller and Matthew Vadum, all looking dashing. Plus, Matt is the guardian of Masonic secrets or something like that - he’s like a Nicolas Cage movie personified!

Two of AFF’s ladies-about-town and fellow Junior League-rs, Anna Pope and Tina Cordova, grace the patio with elegance.

Two ladies take to the dance floor and proceed to own the patio. Kathleen O’Hearn proves that petite white girls truly can have smooth Latin dance moves!

Doublethink Online’s blogger in residence James Poulos embraces the white-after-Memorial-Day, along side Drew Perraut of Mercatus and Toby Quaranta of the Human Rights Campaign.

Cindy Cerquitella’s Twitter feed in the 24 hours leading up to the gala made me smile, as it was a constant reminder that Prom was rapidly approaching! Here is Cindy along side Angel Jaen, Trent Edwards and Andy Christianson.

Tegan Millspaw wears one of my favorite colors, and does it with style.

It wouldn’t be an AFF Gala without cigars. Jason Murphy of Heritage and James McNiece partake in the fun.

Kat Ruddy does the photographer thing with more grace and talent than I could ever hope to achieve.

SCANDAL! Is that…American Spectator’s JP Freire…with…a woman that is not his girlfriend? FANTASTIC! And so, Washington Planner’s destiny as AFF’s “Page Six” comes into being.

Jillian Bandes is obviously distraught at the news. Actually, she’s striking a dramatic pose - only appropriate, given the dramatic dress!

I kid, I kid. I declare JP and Jill the King and Queen of AFF Prom. Also, how did it come to pass that JP is the Tinsley Mortimer to my Patrick McMullen? Seriously, of the 75 pictures I took, he is in the highest number of them.

These two men are on the front line in the war against taxes: John Kartch and Patrick Gleason of Americans for Tax Reform.

David Barnes of Heritage and Tim Carney, author of The Big Ripoff, enjoying the space to the left of the bar where there was room to breathe. Two AFF staples, two excellent gentlemen.

Amanda Carpenter of Townhall and Allison Kasic of IWF, with Trey. Let me say for the record that Amanda and Allison have been known to throw some mean bocce showdowns in their time. And let’s not mess with Allison’s trivia skills. (Dave Weigel and Julian Sanchez, be warned…Allison and I are gunning for you this summer. Your days of Wonderland Ballroom Monday Night Trivia supremacy are numbered.

Free the Jefferson One! Libertarian icon and fabulous hostess Brooke Oberwetter goes casual.

Reason’s Dave Weigel is getting things done. (Congrats on the piece, by the way!)

Patrick Klinetobe of Human Events begins taking on his alternate persona, “Swole”. But if things outside on the patio are starting to get rowdy, what’s the inside like?

What? No wild dancing? No crazy shenanigans? Something here is not right. Chris and I decide that the empty dancefloor will pose a challenge for later in the evening, but clearly now is not the time.

AFF Executive Director David Kirby is the man of the hour, looking happy - as he should be! This year’s gala was a complete success. Here, smiling, with Megan McLaughlin of CEI.

Ilya Somin of George Mason’s law faculty! He was gracious even as I messed up which school he was a professor at.

John Vaught LaBeaume - coolest name ever. Also, we’d passed each other on Mass Ave in front of Brookings the day before and each had a “Wait, is that John/Kristen?” moment and kept on walking, puzzled. DC, such a tiny town.

Bettina Inclan, communications diva of Rep. Thad McCotter’s office! She is evidently responsible for the fact that Congressman McCotter is following my Twitter feed. Also, Bettina has been named one of the Hottest on the Hill - see, AFF events are so glamorous!

Yes this picture is sideways but that’s how it was taken, so I’m trying to stick with truth in photography. Chad Wilcox of IHS and Peter Suderman, editor of Doublethink Online, discovered at the bottom of the stairs as Chris and I went to explore the dance floor - just to see if it was up and going yet. Peter informed me that my writing for Washington Planner should cause me to channel “Julia Allison, but with a degree in econ.”

One last check of the dance floor..

.

Yeah, I guess not so much. After all, with the outside patio so perfect, why go inside? At this point it was close to midnight, the bar was closing up shop, and hence, time to go home.

Too tired to dance anyways, we headed out.

Congratulations, AFF, on an epic evening and a successful gala! It was well worth missing the finale of Lost. (Which, by the way, I have not yet watched, so don’t tell me anything.)

(Special thanks to the wonderful Lauren Winchester for assisting this with this post.)