On Monday, November 6th, Boston’s top event tastemakers and professionals gathered to celebrate with PartySlate at premier venue SoWa Power Station for a “Work Hard, Party Hard”-themed soirée. The skilled planning team at AE Events produced the gathering with the visionaries at The Catered Affair.
Phoebe Allen, Creative Lead and Senior Event Manager of AE Events, shares, “We dove head first into the theme we were calling ‘Work Hard, Party Hard.’ As it is the end of the season, we wanted to give our industry folks something to look forward to. We know how hard everyone works, and letting loose is sometimes all you need! So ‘Work Hard, Party Hard’ it was!”
Kori Carter Gillespie, Director of Brand Marketing at The Catered Affair (TCA), the exclusive caterer for SoWa Power Station, sets out the scene for us: “The SoWa Power Station is located in the SoWa Boston Art + Design District in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a testament to architectural splendor. Its soaring ceilings, exposed brick walls, and industrial details serve as a blank canvas with endless possibilities for event customization.”
Allen adds of the setting, “The SoWa space is a raw industrial building that can fit over a thousand guests comfortably. Our task was to make sure this space felt intimate, but also grand, at the same time. We wanted it to feel modern, sleek and clean.” More than 300 members of the event community gathered in the space with PartySlate to network, dance, and toast to the coming season.
A Glimpse of the Evening to Come
Guests were invited to PartySlate’s celebration via a luxe digital invitation, custom-designed for the gathering by Serif and Sans. The invitation drew inspiration from the LED lighting and silvery details in the party’s palette.
Fresh Fare: Visually Fun & Engaging
Kori Carter Gillespie, Director of Brand Marketing for The Catered Affair, tells us, “Experiences are everything, and PartySlate’s immersive soirée at SoWa Power Station was, without exception – incredible! The collaboration with PartySlate was a natural fit between brands passionate about hospitality and innovating the event landscape.”
Amanda Gallagher, Brand Experience Manager, elaborates, “After learning that this event was inspired by clean black and white shapes and lines, we decided to lean into that when designing our food stations. Our Poke Station is built to show off the gorgeous rainbow of colors fresh seafood and vegetables offer. I immediately knew I wanted everything displayed on crisp white ceramic, with additional monochromatic textures mixed in for interest. I started off with an idea to display the raw tuna in a giant clam shell. I’ve seen iced champagne displayed in a similar way — and thought serving tuna out of something sea-worthy would be fun for guests. At the event, I saw these guests build their poke bowls starting off with a scoop of raw tuna from the giant clamshell and was thrilled. There are so many toppings to choose from when building our poke bowls, and I wanted these to be another focal point. I needed height so I used tiered stands to display the colorful veggies and garnish. We kept things modern with a custom-calligraphed station sign on white acrylic and bold black ink.
“The TCA Taco Roulette Station was the brain child of Erica D’Ambra. After scouring for weeks to find the perfect lazy Susan, she finally found the ideal clear glass spinner. We added some fun wood pieces, wrought iron risers, but still kept things modern with touches of black glass, slate, and acrylic. The final piece was a custom-calligraphed station sign explaining the rules and offerings, written on a black acrylic sign with white ink.”
Erica D’Ambra, Senior Event Producer, goes on to say, “From a culinary perspective, we wanted to tie in a menu that played into the ‘Party Hard’ theme and was visually fun, delicious, and engaging. When you think about some of the best parties you’ve been to, people always remember the elements that spark intrigue and conversation. Our Taco Roulette concept was just that — designed to be interactive. We encouraged guests to spin one of three wheels, and if they chose the unidentified ‘spicy taco,’ they had to take a shot!”
The catering team also wowed with creative passed bites that included cacio e pepe cheese puffs, broiled oysters, native lobster rolls, panisses, and crispy chicken parmesan bites.
D’Ambra adds, “This past year, we purchased a kitchen trailer for our events – which turned out to be such a highlight for this event! By doing upscale takes on food truck favorites, partygoers could enjoy delicious truffle mac ‘n cheese or our signature TCA slider with ‘special sauce,’ raclette, and grilled onions. To cap off the night, mini espresso martinis and boozy milkshakes circulated the floor to keep the dancing confidence going!” Planner Allen agrees, saying, “Bringing in The Catered Affair’s food truck and getting it custom wrapped by SHOUT! was a huge piece of the event. It drew all of our guests’ eyes to it!”
Design: Let There Be Light [But Make it Metallic]
AE Events wanted to shine a light on the hard work of this talented industry — and the result was literal illumination at every turn. “We knew we had to do something epic hanging from the grand 70-foot ceilings,” Allen shares. “Suzanne B. Lowell Lighting Design conceptualized a 200-piece LED hanging installation that was really the focal point. We built the stage around that. Having a center stage where the band would be in-the-round is not something we can do all the time, and we were excited to have the space to do so.”
Creative lighting from Suzanne’s team transformed the polished black flooring into a swirl of pearlescent vines and botanical patterns. Your Love In Lights brought an additional glow to the space with marquee lightings that spelled out “PartySlate.” An illuminated prism bar with LED strip lights by Kadeema, a premier rentals company, reimagined the traditional bar set up and reminded us why lighting should always top a party host’s to-do list.
Ikebana-Inspired Blooms
Ikebana-inspired blooms by Bloom 52 Floral Co were the perfect addition to the sleek setting. The team opted for a non-traditional color scheme for the minimalist floral arrangements. Painted anthurium, dyed tulips, ranunculus, hydrangeas, cosmos, and dark red roses stood on their own merit — without a hint of greenery to take away from their striking appearance.
Guests made sure to pose in front of the metallic-beaded photo backdrop, adorned with over 20 dyed phalaenopsis orchids and dreamy white palm leaves. A large floor mirror, framed by white florals, beautifully reflected the sleek furnishings and dazzling lighting installations.
Reflower Project was on hand to donate all of the floral décor after the event, delivering the repurposed blooms to community centers throughout Boston.
A Combination of Sleek Details
To create a sense of intimacy in the vast space, white acrylic serpentine tables from Dez Collective were utilized to segment the venue. Kadeema also provided sleek lounge vignette rentals made up of white flute coffee tables, boucle stature chairs, gold-drip accent tables, brass-birch table sets, and more modern seating arrangements.
AE Events further divided the space with four separate dance floors coming off each side of the stage by Tommy Wholesale, with black and white clings by Spinner Music Productions. The white acrylic stage by Dez Collective featured a polished runway for the unique entertainment acts. The result was a futuristic vibe that felt simultaneously cozy and limitless.
Entertainment: Interactive & Illuminated
The sleek cocktail party kept guests engaged all night with multiple forms of entertainment. Hot Mess Band drew all guests to the dance floors. The team tells us, “We absolutely LOVE to entertain, and we absolutely LOVE our clients. However, getting to perform for our family in the Events Industry, folks who work so tirelessly throughout the year to ensure that each and every client has the most memorable experience of their lives…well…there is just not a word to describe how awesome of a feeling that is.” They go on to say, “Our set list is comprised of ALL your favorite music from yesterday and today. Sprinkle the lighting, costumes, choreography and Jason’s unrivaled ability to hype up any audience — and you get a sophisticated and thrilling Live Music Experience!” We couldn’t agree more.
Gold Arrow was also on hand to wow with illuminated stilt walkers, dancers, and glow artists — adding even more creative lighting elements to the scene.
Other unique entertainment acts included a poetry activation booth by Ars Poetica and an interactive painting activity by Artists for Humanity Boston. Guests used paint markers to fill in an outline of the Boston landscape, with guidance from on-site teen artists.
Of course, sound and staging are essential elements for entertaining moments. Johnny Mags Productions provided audio while Charlestown AV and 4Wall saw to the production and everything audio/visual. Partygoers also enjoyed the photo booth and signage by Spinner Music Productions, which allowed guests to capture themselves and friends against a cascade of black and gold metallic balloons.
All of the Memories Made (& Captured)
It was definitely an evening worth remembering, and we are grateful that the photography team of Ricky Rodriguez Photography was on hand to beautifully capture the illuminated soirée. The team shot gorgeous candid pictures of guests having fun as well as photos of every sleek design detail and delectable dish.
Meanwhile, Shutter And Sound Films captured moving images that told the story of the celebration with an engaging video that takes us right back to the night. Both will remind the hundreds of guests of their good time (and will make those who weren’t there, wish they were).
And More Thanks
Producing a beautiful celebration — like PartySlate’s “Work Hard, Party Hard” celebration — requires a talented team of partners. As Allen says, “We are huge team players and work extremely collaboratively with our vendors. By no means is the event about AE, it is about everyone working hard to bring a collective vision to life. We think that mindset is so crucial to understanding the inner workings of AE. Having said that, we wanted to spotlight each vendor and really give them a chance to shine.”
In addition to the vendors listed above, we also want to thank For Your Party for the custom matchbook party favors and Lyndsay Simon Beauty for our party-ready hair and picture-perfect makeup. They made sure that our PartySlate team looked (and felt) our absolute best.
event planner & design: AE Events
venue space: SoWa Power Station
catering & beverage: The Catered Affair
entertainment: Hot Mess Band
florals & décor: Bloom52 Floral Co.
rentals + lounge: Dez Collective & Kadeema
photography: Ricky Rodriguez Photography
videography: Shutter And Sound Films
photobooth & Signage: Spinner Music Productions
dancefloor: Tommy Wholesale
lighting: Suzanne B. Lowell Lighting Design
audio: Johnny Mags Productions
a/v: Charlestown AV & 4Wall
invitation and graphic design: Serif and Sans
hair & makeup: Lyndsay Simon Beauty
painting: Artists For Humanity Epicenter
food truck wrap: Go To Shout
interactive entertainment: Gold Arrow
light up letters: Your Love in Lights
donated flowers: Reflower Project
custom matchbooks: For Your Party
custom poems: Ars Poetica