PartySlate’s Beach-Chic Miami Launch Party Attracts 300 Influencers & Top Event Professionals
by Pamela Rothbard, Editor
PartySlate’s packed Miami launch celebration on March 5 at 1 Hotel South Beach drew 300 influencers, tastemakers, and event professionals from South Florida, as well as from Chicago, New York, and beyond.
Invitees were encouraged to wear white for the Chris Weinberg Events-planned luxe beach party, complete with “305” theming in a nod to the town’s revered area code, as well as the date of the party. The event celebrated PartySlate’s continued rise, becoming the go-to resource for event inspiration, beautiful venues, and top local event professionals. For hosts planning weddings, corporate events, birthday parties, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, fundraisers, and more, the website offers curated lists of top event professionals, venues, and trends to make planning easy. The platform has quickly amassed more than 400,000 photos from over 6,000 event professionals and venues.
Party-goers entering the 1 Hotel South Beach for the event were ushered to the elevators while enjoying an overview of the hotel’s sustainability story. The hotel’s eco-conscious initiatives include utilizing energy-efficient elevators and renewable energy and water, eschewing plastic bottles in favor of in-room water filtration, and a food rescue collaboration that ensures leftover meals get donated to local shelters. The 1 Hotel South Beach’s ultimate goal is to educate guests. “1 is more than a hotel — it’s a philosophy and a platform for change,” says Barry Sternlicht, CEO & Chairman of 1 Hotels.
As guests entered the PartySlate bash, they walked past a towering sculpture of a whale, named Delia, made entirely of trash collected from the beach. While they checked in on the Ocean Terrace overlooking the beach, party-goers were greeted with curated welcome cocktails — the mezcal-based Ginza Strut or the Champagne-infused Oaxacan Prince — and had the opportunity to play a ring toss game for prizes, like Swell bottles and even a PartySlate membership. The branded game was sustainably created with reclaimed wood rings featuring calligraphed tags from Palms & Paper with clever sayings like, “put a ring on it,” which guests attempted to toss onto wine bottles upcycled from the hotel’s restaurants.
Guests descended the stairs to the decked-out beach area and were offered the opportunity to “flip flop ‘till you drop” and “heels off, flip flops on” by swapping their shoes for gold flip flops — a reminder of the relaxed, yet elegant, vibe of the city. Rock With U Entertainment’s authentic Cuban Trio, “Casa Ritmo” (which means “house of rhythm”) performed live to set the tropical mood and evoke the international flavor of South Beach.
Chris Weinberg Events partnered with the design team at Gilded Group Décor to create an elevated twist on the typical, trendy Miami beach party. “Miami Beach is a destination for a lot of events and weddings so, as planners, we always get asked to create a ‘Miami look’ with white furniture and curtains. For PartySlate, keeping in mind that the hotel has a green philosophy, we decided that we’d make the décor edgy and sophisticated with an eco-conscious focus,” said Chris Weinberg, founder and Chief Experience Officer at Chris Weinberg Events.
Gilded Group Décor curated posh seating areas, cocktail tables, a stage, and two bars, all supported by a foundation of raw wood. Cocktail tables and bars were topped with recycled plastic bottle sheets printed with messages like, “Once you need less, you will have more.” Lounge seats and other décor elements featured a chic graphic black-and-white palm print with PartySlate branding. The PartySlate logo, as well as the iconic “305,” and contributing event partner names were displayed on an artistic installation of wood boards and beams rising behind the stage, which created a stylish focal point from reused materials.
For the beautiful wood dining tables, the team created a luxe look with original centerpieces. “We drilled holes in sturdy teak pieces for organic vases to hold palm leaves, and constructed centerpieces from discarded wood painted white and assembled into interesting, eye-catching angles,” says Johanna Dilone, creative director at Gilded Group Décor. Modern white metal stools and chairs from Event Effects completed the aesthetic. Lighting from PSAV illuminated the affair with white uplighting and two large, floating inflatable balloon lights hovering like twin moons over the beach.
Guests enjoyed an incredible full menu, prepared beachside, via three active stations from the hotel’s culinary team. Fernando Cruz, executive chef for 1 Hotel South Beach, says, “The menu was inspired by the melting pot of the kitchen staff and the culture of 1 Hotels. We partner with local farmers to source the best, freshest ingredients, then prepare them simply, in a way that showcases their natural flavors. The less manipulation we can do, the better.”
At the market seafood ceviche bar, guests nibbled on Spanish octopus, local snapper, tiger shrimp, hamachi, and poached lobster. The tartine station — an “open-faced toast,” according to Cruz — offered house-rolled porchetta with heirloom egg, wild arugula, and mustard yuzu on a locally-made bread, as well as a vegetable-based tartine and flame-seared scallops. The last station offered fresh tamales and tacos la brasa, featuring charro-roasted rajas, bone-in short rib, and lamb barbacoa — the latter two prepared on a custom-made roaster cooking the meat slowly on-site, imparting rich, smoky flavor. The station’s corn tortillas were handmade in front of guests.
For dessert, guests enjoyed the spectacle and delight of anti-griddle lollipops — fresh fruit-flavored yogurt foam flash frozen then dipped in toppings, like mango Crispi’s and dehydrated strawberries — and liquid nitrogen macaroon ice cream sandwiches. All the while, DJ Slim from Rock With U kept the party rocking with a mix of tropical and popular tunes. Flanking the stage, mirror-costumed performers from Galaxy Productions danced on model pods while another entertainer donned in black and outlined in lights roamed and interacted with guests.
The launch event offered several fun experiences for attendees. Weinberg says, “All guests are not the same, so I always want to have a few things for everyone. Not everyone dances, drinks, eats, snaps pics — so we wanted to thoughtfully create and stimulate conversation while keeping in line with the PartySlate brand.” To that end, the planner arranged for two photo ops — the first, a custom portrait studio against a chic branded backdrop from Gilded Group Décor, where Photographer Manolo Doreste captured beautifully-composed images of guests. The second was an innovative and lively 360-degree photo booth from The South Beach Photo Booth Co, where a camera circled around party-goers to fully capture them in slow motion.
Other activations included beachy hair wraps and metallic wearable art from Lovely Locks by Michelle and live, onsite custom embroidery onto black caps while guests looked on, from Miami Mixed Media. Guests also interacted with The Biscayne Poet, sharing three words about themselves which he then turned into poetic verse on his vintage typewriter — an inclusion that Weinberg says she added as a nod to PartySlate’s “19 Party Trends for 2019” article which listed typewriters as a trend.
Photographer and videographer Suzanne Delawar from Suzanne Delawar Studios captured party-goers toasting, laughing, and engaging with all of the event’s elements. Neighborhood noise ordinances prevented the music from getting dance-level loud, but Weinberg says that the restriction allowed for more guest interaction and predicts that it will become “a new trend in networking events.”
As guests left the launch of PartySlate Miami, they were gifted with silver-glitter goody bags that included metal straws to evoke the eco-friendly theme, black-and-white boxed water (again, eschewing plastic) in keeping with the event palette, a candle from 1 Hotel South Beach, rose gold pens, charging cubes, and a complete event sponsor list from Heyday Printing Co. The final sweet note was adorable boxed mini pies from Pink Pie with Oreo-Nutella flavor and, in a final nod to South Florida, a key lime pie flavor.
PartySlate continues its rapid growth, with city launches in Washington D.C., Houston, Charleston, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Boston in 2019.
Event Planner: Chris Weinberg Events
Venue: 1 Hotel South Beach
Décor: Gilded Group Décor
Music: Rock With U
Lighting: PSAV
Photography & Videography: Suzanne Delawar Studios
Portrait Photographer: Manolo Doreste Photographer
Photo Booth: The South Beach Photo Booth Co.
Entertainers: Galaxy Productions
Greeter Staffing: Epic Staffing
White Barstool Furniture: Event Effects
Live Embroidery Station: Miami Mixed Media
Hair Wrap Station: Lovely Locks by Michelle
Typewriter Poet: The Biscayne Poet
Pies: Pink Pie
Ring Toss Tags: Palms & Paper
Printing: Heyday Printing Co.
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