Rubies, Diamonds and a Champagne Girl Mark This Intimate 40th Anniversary: A Second Generation Jewelry King Remembers How It All Started

What: IW Marks Jewelers Ruby Celebration, marking 40 years in business

Where: The IW Marks newly-remodeled locale on Bellaire Boulevard

PC Moment: Brad Marks and his wife, Joanna, welcomed more than 100 friends and family to the celebration that was both joyous and poignant as Marks remembered both his late father, the store’s namesake, and his mother, Diane Marks. The couple opened the doors of the salon in 1978.

Brad Marks related that his father took a risk doing television ads with Houston wrestling legend Paul Boesch. But after the first ad aired, a woman went to the store and purchased a pair of $1,700 earrings (no small price in the previous century).

“After the customer left, my parents went in the back and jumped up and down in excitement. And the rest is history,” Marks says.

Rubies were the appropriate theme for the special anniversary, the mood set by the champagne girl, dressed all in red including her feather headdress, who welcomed guests as they arrived.

Adding to the evening were Page Parkes models wearing gowns, many of them red, from Tootsies and modeling Suzanne Kalan jewelry pieces which were flown in specially for the evening.

Donna Vallone was on hand to insure that all went well with Tony’s catering which provided mouth-watering bites including tuna tartare in savory cones, chianti-braised short rib tortellini, pansoti, asparagus and parmesan quiche and chicken fried steak bites.

Seeing ruby red: Hannah and Cal McNair, Gwen and John McCauley, Lynsey and Chad Hedrick, Abby Venegas, Jules Sorensen, Amanda Worthy Weeks, Rebekah Thelander, Deborah and Claude Winn, Charles Lawrence, Bria Wall, Jayne and Carlos Rivera, Lynne and Joe Hudson, Rosiland and Weldon Meeks, Scott Thelander, Amber Hartland, Maston Allen, Fady Armanious, Sergio Morales and Vivian Wise.