Boston-based Rafanelli Events exercised restraint when it came to the decor at a Thursday night celebratory dinner, hosted by secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room at the U.S. State Department. Standing in the center of the heavily detailed and richly draped Franklin, the building’s largest of 42 Diplomatic Reception Rooms, Bryan Rafanelli gazed from side to side at the venue’s series of massive Corinthian columns and gilded decorative plasterwork. “The room is so extraordinary, so you don’t want to compete with it,” said Rafanelli, who also planned Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in July 2010.
