GUEST BLOG by Nick Gentile

Ready for a monster mash!

Orchestrating A Gory Halloween

By Nick Gentile

Halloween is not usually a big holiday for event planners but there are certainly those rare individuals for whom it is an important personal expression. The hostess behind this long-running Halloween event is one of those people. Founded in Las Vegas, a town that has blurred the line between the real and imaginary so well that it's hard to tell the difference, Gory Girl had made an art form of ghoulish productions. Yet, this past year, when the founder moved to Los Angeles, yet another city made famous by fantasy, the stakes became higher.

Because the new location held many unknowns -- permits, noise ordinances, neighbors -- planning began a year out. AOO Events was called in only a short time before the event thanks to some of those unforseen circumstances. But we quickly got up to speed.

Logistics were the biggest part of the event which was being held in the residence of six people who would be living there during the four-day set up and two-day strike. We found ways to work around this as we cleared out everything on the first floor as well as the entire pool area and created faux walls that would create more environments. We also immediately began a master timeline for the caterer and entertainers.

The Event

Guests entered through a graveyard.

The entire house was transformed into a haunted mansion. Guests entered through a graveyard into a main area for cocktails. Here, a mad organist and a plethora of his frightening friends welcomed them. Gory Girl had built up a huge prop collection from which to design. Guests encountered animatronic vampires, giant spiders who had caught a body in their giant web, crazed killers, coffins, caskets, and murder victim all made their appearances and this was before the first cocktail!

COCKTAILS

The cocktails were a story unto themselves. One of the event's sponsors was Lucid Absinthe that wickedly delightful green potion that had been banned in the U.S. for almost 100 years. The other was Red Bull. Needless to say, a "killer" combination! And to serve drinks such as the Scary Berry Martini and Liquefied Ghost were models airbrushed head to toe as Absinthe Fairies. Just perfect for this racy event.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder!
Event producer Nick Gentile with the "Painted Lucid Absinthe Nymphs"

The Lucid Absinthe bar

To keep the event on track with the timing of the entertainment, the cocktail hour really was an hour. Once the bars closed in the living room, guests made their way to the backyard where the pool had been covered and dry ice created an eerie environment. Here, a custom ice bar was set with the Gory Girl logo. Lounge settings created by AOO Events were created throughout the party and Images By Lighting went all out to create a beyond-the-grave ambiance. As the fog dispersed custom gobos of spider webs and other ghostly patterns could be seen as well as a central stage built by Town and Country Event Rentals.

Outside, an ice bar by Carving Ice. The Gory Girl logo was in the center.

The stage was set for a performance by Los Angeles' Cirque Berzerk, what can only be called an adult, after-hours take on the circus. The hour-long custom show enthralled guests with acrobats, fire-eaters, aerialists, trapeze artists, and creatures of the night.

Performers from Cirque Berzerk

DINNER

The devil made me eat it! One of the sinfully good buffets

Guests had certainly built up an un-humanly hunger and the caterer was ready to oblige their most sinister cravings from fresh meat to luscious desserts.

We knew the event was a success when the police showed up, with a helicopter no less! Now, certainly at AOO we try NOT to have the police show up (we work with the fire marshals, and pay attention to crowd control). But in this case, it was certainly the stamp of approval our client was looking for from the event's new home base!

With only limited planning time, what started out looking like an event that didn't have a ghost of a chance, ended up being one of the most talked-about of all Gory Girl's parties, and given this event's history, that's saying a lot.


Nick Gentile
Nick Gentile has 10 years of experience as a top producer in the events industry. At AOO Events he specialized in producing social events such as exquisite weddings, charity fetes and frighteningly fun parties like this Halloween production.