Au Courant Events

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus was no doubt speaking of event design when he said nothing endures but change. The wow tactics of recent years have lost nearly all of their pizzazz, and staying on the cutting edge requires asking not just what’s new, but what’s next. To throw a truly impressive soiree, planners must chart, meet and anticipate trends in everything from fashionable meats to invitation design. For the latest ways to impress, M&C interviewed some of the industry’s premier players about what’s hot and what’s not. Their responses reveal a growing awareness of attendees’ improving and expanding tastes, a timeless regard for classic elegance and a rejuvenated enthusiasm for the future.

The Invite
Paper is for notebooks. “Plain paper isn’t enough anymore,” claims the eponymous founder of Hollywood, Calif.-based Kira Evans Designs. Evans advises mounting paper invites on more substantial materials or exploring more fashionable printing media, like plastics, acrylic and metal. One caveat from alternative media champion Gregory Homs, founder of New York City-based design firm Wink: Metallic mail can be dangerous. Make sure there are no sharp edges.

Put away the vellum. It might still be called for in specific circumstances, but designers insist vellum for vellum’s sake is passé. Similarly dated: organza invites and waxy opaque paper.

When to fold ’em. Invitations are opening and closing at unique points. Better to forgo any opening action, however, than to send one whose four corners fold inward and meet at the middle.

The e-vite has arrived. Electronic invitations are no longer just for friends; they can be as formal and/or splashy as the client desires. Rely on the e-vite only as a supplementary message, however, to be sent a few days prior to the event.

Keep them waiting. Much to the chagrin of invitation designers everywhere, planners are sending attendees official invites with specific details as late as two weeks before the event. Such tardiness is compensated for, however, with a more punctual (and now popular) save-the-date.

Make a splash, not a mess. Stuffing multicolored confetti into an envelope leaves recipients feeling furious, not festive.

What’s black, white, red and over? Kira Evans happily notes a newly courageous commitment to color. An invite might pop with a shock of bright yellow or seduce with a darker look, but the former safety zone of black, white and red officially has been roped off.

Sink in: Comfy chairs at
Rumi, a hot Miami nightspot

The Venue
Go for the lounge. Packed rooms at new venues like Miami’s ultra-hip Rumi demonstrate a new popularity for lounges. Look for sleek, swanky spaces designed to be as comfortable as they are cool. (They’re sprouting up regularly in the fertile soil of New York City and Los Angeles.)

Bank on it. There’s been an influx of banks-gone-glam, including such fun and funky spaces as San Francisco’s Old Federal Reserve Banking Hall and New Orleans’ Latrobe’s on Royal.

Room to room to room. A good dinner space will provide more than a ballroom and egress. Look to hot, labyrinthine venues like New York City’s cathedral-come-nightclub Avalon for proof. Its numerous and consistently surprising array of rooms keeps revelers fascinated and, more importantly, present. Nothing reminds overly fleet attendees that the night is young like a new space to explore.

Be there first. While it certainly has its risks, booking a hot new venue just as the paint dries does buy some caché.  Condé Nast Traveler taught a valuable lesson in impatience by holding its Hot List party in New York City’s Maritime Hotel before construction was completed. Expect more shotgun bookings soon.

Blue in the space: New York City's
Eyebeam was doused in the color
of the moment for pear-flavored
Wet Gin's launch party.

The Decor
Get cozy. In keeping with the new lounge chic, designers in the know are stuffing rooms with easy chairs and other furnishings as soft on the seat as they are on the feet.

Small, meet tall. Also on the front lines of furniture: high cocktail tables sharing the floor with low benches and chairs. A variety of sizes and textures are key in the current event
aesthetic.

Pretty in plastic. Transparent, acrylic chairs have been making cameo appearances on the event circuit, to rave reviews. New York City-based Taylor Creative Props recently set out a supply of see-through seats at “Summer Lights,” a space showcase for Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion. Bobby Taylor, the prop company’s principal, notes the function “They don’t get ruined in an evening like a sofa” and fashion advantages of plastic seating. “You walk into the room,” he enthuses, “and everything just glows differently.”

Feeling blue. The color of the moment is officially blue “a dark, purplish, blueberry blue,” specifies Brian Comes, CMP, director of catering and convention services at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. Other fashionable replacements for last year’s brief stint with lime: dark orange, sienna and heavy dollops of chocolate brown.

Let the cocoa flow. Chocolate fountains, which premiered a few years ago, have lost not a hint of caché.

Scrim can scram. While it might have captured hearts years ago, the design elite claim the sun is closing in on scrim, the spandex swaths decorators tie from one end of a room to another for a quick and cost-effective color wash. In the delicate words of Gregory Homs, “It is something that should never happen again.”

On screen. Designers can choose from an array of fancy projection models, including the funky inflatable screen. Yet, the sleekest, sexiest option is to air presentations on a flat-screen TV.

Semiprivacy, please. Glass-walled or only partially separated VIP rooms are in vogue. The rank and file get a rare glimpse beyond the curtain, and VIPs enjoy the peek-a-boo factor, says Will Candis, principal of New York City-based Candis Communications.

Smoking cars. True, stretch SUVs are no longer new. But how about parking one outside a venue as a makeshift smoking shelter? “This has been happening at nightclubs for a while,” notes Richard Aaron, president of BiZBash, a New York City event-watching journal, “and special events will be borrowing it soon.”

The nose knows. Aaron also points to the scent machine as a trend approaching boiling point. “You can waft a hint of chocolate through the space, and people love it,” he says. Too Willy Wonka? Explore alternatives, like fresh garden scents.

The Table
Hip to be square. “The round table is dead,” pronounces Carl Hedin, general manager of New York City-based catering specialists Abigail Kirsch. The table of the moment is long, rectangular and conversation-friendly. Or, go for a mix, suggests Jo Dermid, national director of sales for Skokie, Ill.-based BBJ Linen. “Setting out a selection of tables some square, some rectangular and some round gives the space a more sophisticated, clubby feel,” she says.

Keep it in the family. More groups are going for narrow tables and family-style service. “This is a great opportunity for networking,” observes Robin Uler, senior vice president, lodging food and beverage and retail services, for Marriott International.

Take a spin. A smart twist on family-style dining is found at Uncasville, Conn.’s Mohegan Sun casino resort, where a selection of salad fixings is set atop a lazy Susan for diners to spin and select.

Nix the white tablecloths. Linens are leaning to more colorful, dramatic treatments. Jo Dermid reports an exciting surge in linen fashions, with bright pinks and paisleys sashaying their way onto corporate tables. Organza, too, has leapt off the invite and onto the table, in shimmery coppers and other metallics.

Steel yourself. The persistent trend toward elegant simplicity has found some designers forgoing linens altogether, with tables likely to be dressed in bare metal sheet.

Plates: the clear winner. Increasingly reported on both coasts is the new penchant for clear plates. How long this will last is up for debate.

Move those napkins. For a casual element of surprise, Brian Comes says caterers are setting napkins at odd spots, such as draped over the table’s edge. 

Napkins two ways. “Paper napkins really are back,” Aaron enthuses, “and they’re  an inexpensive way to saturate a space with a color or even get a printed message across.” For formal events, paper napkins should be treated as supplements, not substitutes, to their linen counterparts.

Vases take center stage. Flowers are cleaner, simpler and fewer. The true star of the current centerpiece is the vase, with increasingly elaborate vessels housing humble but elegant contents a rare orchid, perhaps

The Food
Quality over quantity. “People are a lot smarter about food now,” Carl Hedin notes, “and leaving the party stuffed isn’t nearly as important as it once was. People would rather leave feeling a bit more educated. Rather than something lavish and big, people are looking for a genuinely new taste sensation.”

Tasters’ choice. Tapas has exploded onto the scene. Attendees are hungry for variety yet mindful of calories. Serving food tapas-style allows them to enjoy a range of tastes without feeling compelled to overeat.

Better buffets. “They might have seemed a bit low-end a few years ago,” admits Mark Musters, celebrity event planner and president of New York City-based Musters & Co., “but buffets are coming back. It all depends on the approach; a buffet can be really upscale.”

Mini mania. Whether butlered on trays or served plated, miniatures are a still-novel way to delight diners. “Serving things small re-energizes a dish,” says Restaurant Associates’ Bill Unterstein, executive chef for the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn. “It reminds people that what they’re eating is an event.” Some of Unterstein’s favorite miniature fare includes tiny hamburgers and bites of prepared fish.

Lose the crackers. The carb-counting boom has left chefs scrambling for new ways to serve hors d’oeuvres that for years have sat on crackers, breads and other recently vilified platforms. Mary DeVizia, director of catering for Mohegan Sun, treats the carb-conscious to lettuce-wrapped chicken sandwiches. At Abigail Kirsch-catered events, a tuna medallion that once topped a cracker might be wrapped in nori or rolled in diced herbs.

Keep the bread. Although many attendees will pass the basket without reaching in, just as many will feel deprived without this old standby, warns Musters.

You say potato. While spud stations were hot in recent years, the Atkins craze has put the kibosh on these, too. The mashed potato’s low-carb cousin: Pureed cauliflower. “It has a similar texture and taste, and it’s interesting, too,” says Hedin.

Fish tales. Most F&B sources claim the cow can’t hold a candle to the ever more popular fish dish. An explosion of halibut is one example of an increasingly sea-leaning preference. Unterstein notes fish is especially common at lunch. “Even the most avid carb-cutter might wait until dinner for steak,” he says.
 
Asian fusion: still in. According to Aaron and countless colleagues, the culinary trend that began years ago hasn’t peaked, although it’s been modified. “Asian fusion is expanding and looking for more flavors and more exotic additions to keep it fresh and exciting,” Aaron says.

Bad fusion: still embarrassing. “That ’90s period where you could get a bit more esoteric with fusion is over,” says Hedin. “People want to see some sophisticated play, but they do want to feel that their food makes some sense.” Too often, adds Bill Unterstein, attempts at fusion result in “a dish gone wrong.”

What, no cake? In an effort to bring new tastes to the table, caterers are largely getting rid of cakes, pies and other dessert standbys. “We’re seeing a lot of green tea-infused flavors now,” says Aaron, “a lot of pumpkin, and a lot of Southeast Asia-inspired crème brûlées and sorbets.”

Fun fruits. New to the dessert table: exotic fruits served naked and alone. Calamansi, jackfruit and others are likely to show up wearing nothing but a balsamic drizzle.

Shared dessert trays. Also big on the scene are smaller-size desserts arrayed on sample platters for the entire table, sparing diners the agony of decision.

Sushi bars. While certainly not new, the allure of sushi has not faded one bit. “Sushi is a social food,” says Robin Uler. “People need to do something or talk to someone while they’re eating it.” Like minis, sushi encourages discussion.

Interactive is in. Since the advent of the Food Net-work, attendees appreciate a glimpse into their meal’s preparation, along with some say as to the ingredients. Still popular are food stations that find diners directing omelettes or stir-fry dishes.

Now they’re cooking. Well beyond the food station, venues like Walt Disney World in Orlando will set up entire kitchens in banquet halls for participatory food play. Expect even more experiments with the food-factory aesthetic.

The Drinks
Novelty martinis are still a novelty. The martini, spiked with everything from chocolate to starfruit, remains as strong as ever. 

Pomegranate is red hot. Planners looking for a trendy cocktail ingredient can find it in what Hedin calls “the new cranberry.” Try variations like pomegranate orange for added vavoom.

Flavored vodkas. Whether at its own dedicated bar or in fun-size bottles at the door, vodka is still hot, and more varied than ever. Try the ever-widening range of flavors, from raspberry- and peach-infused to the unexpected apple pie. 

The wine list. Red is finally winning out in the long battle with white, says Uler, and bars are stocking their cellars accordingly. Also, there’s a new enthusiasm for Chilean and Spanish offerings. “A few years ago there was a question as to whether you could even put these wines on a menu,” recalls Hedin, “but there’s recently been a really broad-scope acceptance of them.”

Off and rumming. Rum tastings are a hot new group activity. In fact, caterers speculate, the rum-based mojito might be what lies beyond the martini glut.
 
The Entertainment
Hey, Mr. Deejay. While planners might have moved from bands to disc jockeys when budgets got slimmer, a rebounding economy doesn’t necessarily call for a reversal of the trend. “Deejays give you the opportunity to change the musical tone, if you have to, and really go with the flow of the crowd,” notes Musters. Moreover, in recent years, deejays have gained their own celebrity. Booking a Mark Johnson or a Junior Vasquez will lend any event a dose of glamour that’s hard to match.

Invisible deejay booths. While there’s no shame in using a professional spinner, event designers are hiding their hired talent. “It gives the whole event an air of mystery that people like,” says New York City-based independent planner Bari Pollack of BPS Solutions, “and it also leaves the deejay unharrassed by attendees with requests.”

Younger, newer and louder bands. For those who want to shake up the evening’s entertainment with a real live musical performance, take heed: “The trend is really toward younger, less conservative bands,” says Chip Quigley, president of New York City-based Kingdom Entertainment. And he means it: Blisteringly loud rock darlings like the Killers, Jet and the Strokes are making unprecedentedly frequent appearances on special event stages, even for audiences whose age demographic averages in the late 30s. “Attendees want to see the hot new act, just to know they’ve seen it,” says Quigley, “even if they’ll never listen to the group’s music again.”

BAM! Hire a celebrity chef. The cooking craze has made showcased food preparation just as entertaining as any rock-god concert. Many famous chefs will have a prefab show they’re willing to take on the road. Pollack recommends thumbing through convention schedules in culinary magazines like Gourmet or Food & Wine to see which chefs will travel.

Cheesy choices. Think twice about celebrity impersonators, live models and trapeze artists. While these usual suspects still can serve as sideline entertainment on occasion, they generally make poor choices for center-stage cool. A recent Louis Vuitton launch party employed the trapeze successfully, but for safety’s sake physical and otherwise it is best to stay grounded.

The Giveaways
No goody bag required. After all the press on celebrity events where every guest walked off with a parting bag valued at $25 million, attendees are less likely to be excited over the traditional baseball hat and CD. Some planners are simply dropping the giveaway bag in favor of more decadent desserts or more elaborate decor. “Unless you’ve got something really amazing in the goody bag,” says Musters, “just do away with it.”

Give gift certificates. If a goody bag is necessary, Homs says certificates and coupons not only are trendier than visors, but significantly smarter. A voucher for a free spa visit or a discount certificate for use with a corporate sponsor lets attendees know precisely how much value they’re toting home. Moreover, sponsors stand to gain far more clientele from such gifts than they do from donating products.