A Launch Party to Remember: How to Entertain Polo Style
By Susan Victor Photos by Shelly Marshall Schmidt, Oh Schmidt Productions
In October of 2014, a launch party was held to celebrate the release of the second edition of New Bridge Polo & Country Club’s magazine. Highly regarded for its creativity and beauty, this magazine is unlike any other polo club publication. To mark the occasion, it seemed only fitting to host an event as spectacular as the magazine itself. Achieving such an ambitious goal needn’t be as intimidating as one might expect. All it takes is some conscientious planning - and a great team. The magazine launch party combined the considerable professional skills of Cote Design, The Willcox Hotel, Nandina Home & Design, Oh Schmidt Productions, and such talented individuals as Katie Roth, Katy Harnett of Morgan Stanley, and Deirdre Stoker Vaillancourt of Meybohm Realty. The results were outstanding. In preparation for the launch party, there were three key areas that were not left to chance.
The venue and staging.
As an interior designer, I am not an event planner, but I am often called on to stage spaces for large events. Staging is similar to space planning, which is an integral part of an interior designer’s job. But, unlike space planning, which has longterm implications on how a home or office may function, staging has a temporary purpose. In the initial walkthrough of a potential venue for an event, it must be decided how the party will flow through and best utilize the available space. The event planner or designer is typically tasked to then transform that space into the desired atmosphere and effectiveness – without altering or damaging surfaces, such as walls and floors – and often within a tight time framework for setup and takedown. In addition to determining how the venue itself might interface with the style of the party, the planner must also be able to make the biggest impact with the least amount of additional materials brought in.
Before
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