This review might hurt!

Yes, you heard us. This review might not be suitable for all ages (literal and not so literal) and for people with various proportions of inflated egos. We say this because, this review, is about a party that (in one way or the other) will set the trend for a lot many up and coming event managers and commercial hosts out there who might think they have it but they have no idea what it really means!

Imtisal Zafar of Verve with Sabina Pasha at Secret Garden

Before you get us wrong (which many will irregardless), we are not going to be praising Verve’s party: The Secret Garden at lengths. You’ve got ample people and mediums (online and print) out there who would love to floss any event managers teeth with candy strings. It’s quite easy to do that! We’re here to set the record straight by telling the new kids in town just how to lay it down with a near-perfect example! So you can either think of this review as a dent in your ego or you can man up and learn a thing or two about how entertainment is suppose to be. Your choice! We just do the talking!

Verve Events’ latest offering, The Secret Garden was held on October 03, 2009 at an expansive and luxurious farmhouse just short of Bahria Town (Lahore). Now if you live in say, DHA or anywhere close to that, the mere thought of driving to literally the other end of the city sounds dreadful to begin with. We’ve attended quite a few parties (or stag-fests that strive to be called club-nites) and (if summed up) our experience has been pretty dismal to say the least. Pulling a commercial party at a farm house or an out-door location for that matter is not as simple as doing one some-where central. While we did drive to the Secret Garden that night with these thoughts, having experienced the qualitative offerings from Verve in the past, we were pretty hopeful that they would have these pot-holes well covered.

A while back, we had asked Imtisal Zafar of Verve as to why they chose to name the party as The Secret Garden. Two reasons were given: a) the exact location of the party was kept completely confidential to give the air of intrigue and mystery to anyone who was interested and b) the venue and the décor was suppose to speak for itself as it aimed to give that ‘wow effect’ to the people who would enter the venue that night. Verve had been hoping to play on the senses with luxuriously choreographed and designed interiors and settings for the place where it was all suppose to happen.

Sounds fair enough especially because their strategy worked!

From the outside as we made our way through the main gates of the farm house, there was nothing spectacular or amazing to witness except for the metal detector door that we passed through. The driveway leading up to the main entrance of the venue seemed pretty normal. No mysteries there either. As we made our way on the slightly curving path down towards the lawns and past the designated press corner, active ushers and hostesses of the night greeted us with warm smiles as they marked/stamped our wrists for identification purposes. Theirs and that of the Style 360 host that night, Sarah Shareef’s, makeup was done by Sundas and Ubab of Sunuba and dresses were the creation of the Sarah Bhatti label. Fresh talents indeed that were exquisitely displayed and it was heartening to see these creations.

It was time to enter the venue itself.

The first thing we noticed upon entering was how the place literally ’opened up’ in front of us. It was as if a pack of cards had been spread out on the table with the mastery of a skilled card player. The second thing that caught our attention was the abundance of the color pink! Need we mention that Hot Pink was in fact the theme of the night? While it was followed more closely by the ladies (for obvious reasons), the sheer pinkiness in the ambiance in the right proportions contributed immensely to the whole feel of the place.

The place was decorated beautifully with pink lightning dancing all around as it encircled the pool in the middle. 5-6 of the designated 10 lounges were designated around the pool while the remaining ones were in a semi circle around the dance floor. The main bar was up a flight of stairs with an L-shaped access that could accommodate a sizable crowd easily and we didn’t have a problem at all getting our drinks that night. The bar staff was well trained and knew how to handle the bar. Something that we noticed on a very positive note was that while the bar kept flowing till the end of the party, towards the end, the bar tenders were sane enough to minimize serving drinks to people who were drunk enough. It’s always lousy to see people losing their mind and causing an unpleasant stir on a good night and we applaud theVerve management for giving this authority to their bar-tenders who did exactly what was expected of them.

By 12:30 am the place was quite filled up – not to the brim but still in healthy proportions. Upon entering the venue, the guests were being served with a yummylicious drink they called Pink Margaritas. The base flavor of the drink was pomegranates and it was indeed very refreshing. Despite our efforts to know more, the precise recipe of the drink remained a secret at the Secret Garden that night!

The dance floor was exquisitely built in gradual steps of three with a gleaming disco ball hanging on top encircled on one side by the lounges and one the other end by the DJ booth. By 12:45 pm, the dance floor started filling up. The play list that night was good enough to keep the floor flooded all night long till the very end. The list included the likes of David Guetta, Cindy Lauper, Lady Gaga, Guru Josh, Madonna, Pitbull, David Tavare with an assorted variety commercial house tracks. Sexy Bitch happened to be the song of the night and saw the dance floor getting swamped every time it came on!

It takes a keen observation to realize how well the landscape was utilized to give the wholesome effect to the party. The dance floor was approachable from all sides and could easily be viewed from virtually every angle, no matter where you stood. The main bar being on an elevation did wonders itself too because it gave a near-panoramic view of the entire party to you. This was indeed a well thought out and planned event that utilized the resources to their full potential.

A prominent feature of every Verve party (and virtually every social event to speak of these days) is the presence of Red Bull energy drinks on the bar. This offering went a lot further this time around with mini storage boxes filled with Red Bulls that were provided to every lounge itself. Very useful indeed and the fact that towards the end, almost all these cans were consumed will tell you it was a wise move.

THE LAST WORD

The party went on till a little over 3:30 am and was a larger than life affair. It provided a much needed qualitative entertainment avenue and for a change, people didn’t have to worry about gate-crashers, the drunk and the disorderly, the bar running dry, or the DJ not playing to the tune of the night. All the proceedings came together in perfect harmony to entertain people to the fullest and that is something you don’t see very often with the young  and the enterprising in the field. Granted that there are those who have been in this business for quite some time and there is no substitute for experience but we are not comparing Verve with them – not for now at least. The thing that makes Verve stand out is their ability to turn visions in to realities. It’s something they have been able to do virtually every time and the way they are going, it won’t be long before they will take their place as the most sought after event managers in town! Good luck to them!

WHAT’S NEXT FROM VERVE

Watch out for them bringing the sumptuous new fast food outlet HARDEES to Lahore very soon! To read more about it, click HERE.

CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH THE SECRET GARDEN IMAGE GALLERY