--- title: Governors' Dinner: Donald and Melania Trump to Host Dinner description: Donald and Melania Trump's White House is hosting a lavish black-tie Governors' Dinner on Sunday night canonical: https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/ author: Madeline Farber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-26T19:36:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:31:39.496Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald and Melania Trump Will Host the Lavish Governors' Dinner og:description: First Lady Melania Trump has helped lead the gala's planning og:url: https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt558771c9d6220c62/6988bbf6a988ca107e6bb258/governors-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2559 og:image:height: 1439 og:image:alt: Michelle Obama Governor's Dinner Preview In Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald and Melania Trump Will Host the Lavish Governors' Dinner twitter:description: First Lady Melania Trump has helped lead the gala's planning twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt558771c9d6220c62/6988bbf6a988ca107e6bb258/governors-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald and Melania Trump Will Host the Lavish Governors' Dinner > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Feb 26, 2017 7:36 PM UTC  An empty plate sits next to a menu during the Governors' dinner preview in the White House kitchen on Feb. 22, 2009. An empty plate sits next to a menu during the Governors' dinner preview in the White House kitchen on Feb. 22, 2009. Kevin Dietsch—Pool/Getty Images by [Madeline Farber](https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Feb 26, 2017 7:36 PM UTC As the world watches the Oscars Sunday evening, the White House will be hosting its annual Governors’ Dinner. The black-tie event marks the first major social gathering of the Donald Trump administration, [CNN reports](http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/politics/trump-governors-dinner/). The National Governors Association’s annual meeting and dinner in Washington, which honors the governors of the 50 states, is considered one of the year’s “major events,” Jeremy Bernard, President Barack Obama’s former social secretary, told the network. Earlier this week, Press Secretary [Sean Spicer](http://time.com/4669781/saturday-night-live-sean-spicer-melissa-mccarthy-supercut/) told reporters that First Lady [Melania Trump](http://motto.time.com/4674703/melania-trump-womens-issues-donald-trump/) has helped to lead the gala’s planning. However, her longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff — who is acting as senior adviser to the First Lady — has been planning the event as well, among others. Wolkoff previously worked as Vogue magazine’s event direct and organized events like the Met Gala, reports CNN. “Mrs. Trump looks forward to putting on a phenomenal event, and the First Lady has put a lot of time into this event that’s going to occur in welcoming our nation’s governors to the Capitol,” Spicer told reporters. Planning for the event has been in the works since President Trump’s [inauguration](http://time.com/4651494/donald-trump-inauguration-2017-national-park-service/) if not before, CNN reports. “The Governors’ Dinner is an opportunity for the new first lady to usher in a new era of elegant White House entertaining,” Laura Dowling, who served as chief White House floral designer under Obama for six years, told CNN. “I think it’s an exciting time.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/"},"headline":"Donald and Melania Trump Will Host the Lavish Governors' Dinner","datePublished":"2017-02-26T19:36:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:31:39.496Z","description":"First Lady Melania Trump has helped lead the gala's planning","url":"https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt558771c9d6220c62/6988bbf6a988ca107e6bb258/governors-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeline Farber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt558771c9d6220c62/6988bbf6a988ca107e6bb258/governors-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama Governor's Dinner Preview In Washington","caption":"Michelle Obama Governor's Dinner Preview In Washington","creditText":"Kevin Dietsch—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4683108/white-house-governors-dinner-donald-melania-trump/","name":"Donald and Melania Trump Will Host the Lavish Governors' Dinner"}}]}] ```