If you don't know about Sweetheat Miami - it is an urban offshoot of the Aqua Girl Weekend and for those of you on the West Coast who have never heard of AquaGirl, it's essentially Dinah Shore in Miami.
I didn't go to Sweetheat last year so my only knowledge of the weekend was the first year two years ago and I remember being impressed that a little known event in its first year had trumped other events with longer track records (namely SizzleHer) relative to Marketing. Sweetheat was the little weekend that could and seemingly overnight it went from Sweet What? to everyone checking for airline ticket prices. The first year was ambitious and a little sloppy but thankful for somewhere new to go and supportive of the weekend producer, DJ Dimples, I didn't meet anyone who said they wouldn't come back. Last year, I skipped SweetHeat but this year, the girls came out en masse and I'm proud to have been a small, partial sponsor of the weekend.
I don't typically do host hotels,I spent my weekend with these girls
in a townhouse off the 5400 block of Collins but from what I have heard the host hotel for Sweetheat, the Royal Palm, was not the best but I find that to be true of a great deal of hotels in Miami so it's hard to fault anyone on that.
The weekend consisted of day and nightime events from Thursday to Sunday.
I arrived Thursday morning because I wanted to see ever-y-thing and I arrived in the Ft. Lauderdale airport completely exhausted, cramped from sitting in a middle seat and disoriented from taking a Benedryl (I love to travel but I'm not in love with flying). I'll chalk my zombie-esque state to how it came to be that my laptop got stolen in the airport but needless to say it was not the best way to start the weekend.
ANYWAY!
Thursday night Sweetheat brought a hosted event with Trina and Love B.Scott
You'll have to use your imagination for the most part, I was standing directly behind them so I have 45,000 pictures of Trina from the back, lol.
The place was packed and I was able to find quite a few folks I know from every corner of the country -
I saw Ms. Carrie Kholi from Authentic Philly (above left), a pal from DC (below)
and LA was definitely in the house
as was the Yay area
Trina didn't perform but there was a medley of her music the remainder of the evening by a variety of female deejays, some better than others and the entire evening was hosted by Siya from Atlanta who some complained was on the mic too much but honestly I didn't notice. Me & Siya (below)
All in all it was a great night for me because I got to see so many people I knew but there were some complaints that it wasn't the friendliest crowd. I didn't have any issues and maybe it's a regional thing but outside of anyone trying to hook up I'd have to say most of the girls weren't really trying to speak. Thankfully, I had a slew of folks I could talk to so I can't say I minded much.
Here are a few more photos from Thursday night:
Sweet Heat parties end late and I think the Thursday night party might have ended the earliest but that's not saying much - it ended at 4AM and all the other events ended at 5. I spent Friday during the day on the beach, contemplating the meaning of life - the townhouses we rented had beach access so I was able to see the true blue Miami Beach. It's for this reason I don't have pictures of the Friday afternoon Sweetheat Pool Party.
When I finally got around to actually getting an outfit and some makeup on, I headed to Aqua Girl's Traffic Stop party but I didn't end up going in - long story, I thought my friend got my ticket so I showed up at the venue and tried to get in touch with her - turns out they wouldn't let her get my ticket because it was a wristband situation so I'm out in front trying to get a ticket that doesn't exist and she was inside with a dead cell battery. I don't do the whole standing out in front of the club thing so after 10 minutes,I headed to Sweetheat's event at The Living Room. I don't have pictures from that night because for some reason I didn't have my camera but what was advertised as a masquerade party was and wasn't. Hardly anyone had a mask on and I, for one, kept my mask in my purse.
It's hard to evaluate parties because different people look for different things. If you're the sort of person who gauges a "bomb" party by how many people are there then the party at the Living Room was the bomb - lots of women but the venue was too dark and you couldn't go outside so people who smoked were relegated to a smoking section - bleh and did I mention it was dark? I mean hella dark - like hella-ella-ella-ella aye aye dark. I saw some of my LA folks and we stuck around for a minute but the venue needs a smack on the wrist because there wasn't a single person going around cleaning up the place so there were cups, spilled drinks and tissue all over the place - not the business. Get it together Living Room. We ducked out of there and I took my LA folks to their first 5 Brothers burger experience before heading back "home".
Saturday I took a break from Sweetheat and checked out the Aqua Girl party which I initially had no intention whatsoever of doing - I like more multicultural experiences but I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by Aqua Girl's event. Set at an unassuming hotel, there were more women at the pool party than I even thought possible and the LA girls were there en masse as well. Vendors, sand, bathing suits, pool contests and deejays, the Aqua Girl Pool Party was the place to be and the place to be seen.
After the Aqua Girl pool party, we took to the beach, I took to the shops and then we headed to dinner (CJ's Crab Shack, heeeyyyy!). This is a mile a minute weekend so I had just enough time to dash back to the spot, shower, change and head to the White party and even then I still didn't get there until about 4AM (lol - anyone who knows me knows I wouldn't have gotten there before 4AM no matter what and no I'm not a slow dresser I just don't like being at clubs for hours and hours on end and when you get there late you get all the great parking spaces left by the people who came early and left early, lol).
The White Party was at Klutch and I have to admit to being genuinely impressed by the sheer multitude of women there - you'd need a panoramic camera to capture them all but all those chocolate women in white clothes in such a beautiful space - thumbs freaking up. My LA clan was outside so I literally only did a lap of the club, took some pictures and headed out:
At this point, Dimples had worn me out with the parties so I slept in Sunday until about 2PM but I was able to catch the tail end of the pool party at the Savoy - my LA girls were grumpy when I got there because they felt LA wasn't getting any love - no shoutouts or entry into the ball categories. When I'm able to fully upload everything from my camera, I'll upload the video of the ball, one of our LA girls got straight sing-songed off the floor with "Nanana Na, heyyy goodbye" (ouch!).
Sunday pool party:
All in all, I had a really wonderful time in Miami at both Sweetheat and Aqua Girl's events and I am full support of DJ Dimples and what I expect to be a continuously successful weekend of events in years to come. The feedback I've heard from other people are as follows (note I said OTHER PEOPLE, the following opinions are not my own unless otherwise stated:)
The Good: Lots of good looking / half dressed girls; packed events; decently priced events
The Bad: The music wasn't great at the white party in the bigger room; some of the behind the scenes execution of events was disorganized; the host hotel was a little raggedy. Also, some women have complained that there isn't anything other than parties (the poetry event was canceled) and there needs to be more for an older crowd.
The Ugly: Some people have referred to the crowd as "ghetto" - a description I find completely unwarranted (mostly because I don't know what ghetto means exactly) - I didn't see any fighting at all so I don't know why the crowd has been referred to as such unless "ghetto" refers to young. I didn't find that that the girls were particularly friendly but neither were they rude. What that means is unless you were someone a particular girl wanted to talk to there wasn't much conversation so at the very least the crowd can be referred to as clique-ish I guess so I say make sure you take your girls or be popular enough that you have a lot of folks to talk to.
Will I return to Sweetheat? Absolutely. Dimples clearly puts a lot into this weekend - 4 days and almost twice as many events - talent, deejays, models, venues - and all catering to a multicultural crowd. Any shortcomings will be ironed out over time but where else can you get so much and in such a beautiful city? Miami is like no where else in the country - it truly is the city that doesn't sleep - 4Am in Miami looks like 9PM - the weather is gorgeous and the beach is breath-taking. Collins Avenue, Washington Avenue, Wet Willie's and scooters - that's all you really need to be ready for this city so I say next year, get your beach body ready, pack a bag and support the newest weekend for women, Sweetheat Miami - www.sweetheatmiami.net
I appreciate this, first time going to these events and have been torn between sweetheat and aqua girl
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