Dwayne Wade

By:  Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

To ease the pain of entering a new decade, Dwyane Wade’s family and friends (and by “friends” we mean sponsors such as Hublot and The Collection) celebrated the basketball star’s birthday with a weekend filled with festivities, beginning with a surprise brunch hosted at the W Hotel by his mother Jolinda and sister Tragil. The intimate gathering included Wade’s girlfriend, Gabrielle Union and featured a performance by Grammy Award-winning singer Yolanda Adams.

On Sunday night a slew of celebrities including the usual suspects, teammates Lebron James, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem as well as Pat Riley, DJ Irie and Usher feted Wade at the Setai’s courtyard with free-flowing Hennessy and Belvedere and special surprise performances from Kelly Rowland, T.I., Common and Rick Ross.

The evening began with a special “30 for 30” dinner at the Setai hosted by Dom Perignon, Belevedere and Hennessy, during which the vintage champagne producer presented Wade with a bottle of 1982 Dom Perignon, in honor of his birth year. After dinner, the party moved to the courtyard where Wade was greeted by over 300 friends and VIP guests. One of the biggest surprises was the all-new 2012 McLaren MP4-12C supercar, customized just for Wade, which was perched on a platform on the pool awaiting Wade’s arrival. Ken Gorin, president and CEO of The Collection had the car airlifted onto the hotel pool earlier in the day. Read the rest of this entry »