This summer, Fresh Events worked with Arrowhead Golf Club to create an open house to show off their gorgeous venue to Colorado event professionals. We were thrilled when they asked us to incorporate our products in the tablescapes at the event. Even better, top event photographer and friend, Joe Keum of Studio JK, captured wonderful images of the designs.

During the evening, ominous clouds rolled in and a huge thunderstorm took hold. The event was split between their two reception locations: the clubhouse and the permanent tent they use for events. In the words of Suzanne Barlow, owner of Masterful Musicians, “Splendor to rescue… AGAIN..Thank you for supplying the means by which to travel with style at Arrowhead Golf Club…you saved us all from looking like drenched kittens!” We were so glad we could help.

Thanks again to Studio JK for these fantastic images!

Do you love browsing photos of vintage-themed weddings? Dreaming of having one, but don’t want to invest time and money in browsing thrift stores and estate sales? Don’t have space to store cool antique furniture you’d like to have at your wedding reception?

Lucky for you, there’s A Vintage Affair – vintage event rentals! I recently met Jessica Strong, the owner, who is truly passionate about her business. Splendor is smitten with A Vintage Affair Rentals! Perfect for weddings, showers, birthday parties, and even photo shoots, A Vintage Affair has the unique pieces you’ve been seeking. Check out our interview with Jessica about her company.

How did you come up with the idea of A Vintage Affair?

When planning my own wedding, I became dismayed at the lack of vintage resources available for brides that wanted to add a vintage feeling to a portion or all of their wedding. I thought the traditional cycle of buy and attempt to resell was burdensome for brides and made the entire process more difficult. As a result, I started A Vintage Affair with an eye towards providing brides with the option to rent vintage items and add that special, timeless touch to their weddings.

Courtesy Laura Murray Photography

Why the vintage theme?

Because like true love, certain things are timeless. Also, because they remind of us the past, when love was simpler. How will future brides save money with your site? Every wedding should have those little touches that take it from ordinary to extraordinary. The problem is that those little touches often carry a big price tag. I want to provide those little touches to brides at a reduced cost. There’s no reason that chic vintage style and cost effectiveness can’t coexist.

Courtesy Laura Murray Photography

What is your goal with starting up the company?

My goal is to be resource for brides while do something that I have a passion for.

Courtesy Laura Murray Photography

When did you begin planning for the site’s launch, and how have you prepared?

I began planning for the sites launch in February 2011, but have been collecting for months at estate sales, flea markets, and online. I have also prepared by researching current trends in the wedding world, going to classes (cakes classes, stamping classes, sewing classes, photography classes) which I think will help me with the business.

Courtesy Laura Murray Photography

Give us a sneek peek of what we can find on your site!

On my site you can find posts about fun ways to integrate vintage items into your own wedding, current wedding trends, posts about my own experience in the wedding planning process, and of course my current inventory.

Jessica Strong, Owner of A Vintage Affair

All images courtesy of Laura Murray Photography.

We were thrilled to participate in this amazing photo shoot. Thanks to many talented people, we were able to create a modern look at weddings. Most of the vendors who participated in this shoot are Studio Wed vendors, a boutique Denver wedding planning studio.
We hope these photos inspire you to create something unique and memorable with your wedding.

It wouldn’t have been possible without these great vendors:
Wedding Planner: Julie Gambrell, Classic Creations
Wedding Florist: Alicia Schwede, Bella Fiori
Wedding Stylist: Tina Gill, Worthwhile Style
Wedding Hair and Makeup: Kori Schell
Wedding Cake: Slice
Bridal and Bridesmaid Dresses: Bella Bridesmaid
Wedding Invitations: JS Design
Location: Palazzo Verdi
Rentals: Event Rents
Linens: Chair Covers and Linens
Rigging: T’da Designs
Umbrellas & Shawls: Splendor

I recently participated in the Wedding Preview Event, a wedding showcase put on by My Big Day Planner in Denver. In addition to visiting vendor tables and chatting, the brides and grooms were able to witness actual wedding ceremonies, gorgeous gowns, and beautiful reception table designs.

I was honored to be asked to help with the reception table decor and jumped on the chance right away. We used the shawls to adorn the chairs, adding color and texture to the design. We heard some great comments about the luxurious touch. One person even said, “that’s so wonderful, every wedding should include shawls for the guests!”.

Here are some photos from the day (a huge thanks to Keri Doolittle Photography)!

What do jelly beans, cupcakes, and doughnuts have in common? They’re all fun, yummy sweets to offer guests at dessert tables. Jaclyn Webb knows this as she’s the owner of Lemon Sprinkle Events, a company completely focused on designing and creating gorgeous dessert tables. Each table is thoughtfully pieced together to best reflect the honored person or couple. Some tables include traditional sweets from childhood while others are simply inspired by favorite flavors. It was so much fun hearing Jaclyn’s excitement and passion for her work. She’s a self-proclaimed “candy aficionado”, especially regarding the 1980s era. We laughed as we remembered enjoying Pop Rocks and Rock Candy as kids.

Photo courtesy of Laura Murray
Dessert tables are a memorable, unique way to treat your guests to the sweetness in life. They offer another way to showcase your colors and theme with the fine details. Jaclyn has such creativity with desserts. Check out the funky white chocolate mustaches! Not only does she work with brides and grooms, but also loves wedding and baby showers, bachelorette parties, and birthdays. I wish I’d known about her for my daughter’s birthday – what a great way to honor someone while offering something yummy to the guests. For more dessert table inspiration, check out Jaclyn’s blog and website. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Photos courtesy of Jaclyn Webb

Today, we are featured on CoutureColorado.com! We participated in an incredible photo shoot with one of our favorite people, Lola of Mansurovs Photography and Denver’s best event professionals. Lola had a vision to create the feel of opulence and elegance and achieved it perfectly. The rich, red colors paired with golds and ivories really make a statement. Need some inspiration? See the post.

The flowers, created by Julia of Mulberries Flowers, incorporated a variety of textures, from smooth berries to velvety roses. The stationery products pulled the colors and feel of the design together, thanks to the talents of Julie Sandusky, JS Design. The stationery designs played off the beautiful damask-design of the cake, which was created by Rachel of Intricate Icings (a Food Network Challenge contestant!). Classic Chiavari chairs from All Well Rents were adorned with two shawls from Splendor. The first, an ivory classic shawl, was placed as a backdrop in order to highlight our specialty red silk Leyla shawl. The red silk shawl, with its circle design, pops against the ivory background and adds another detail for the guests to enjoy, besides helping them stay warm. To designate the ladies’ chairs, ivory beads were strung across the shawl. A touch that adds to the opulent feel. See more details…

Venue: DoubleTree Denver Tech Center
Dress: Anna Be Bridal Boutique
Shawls and Parasol: Splendor for your Guests
Chairs and Chargers: All Well Rents
Place cards: Julie Sandusky  of JS Design
Floral: Julia Kaaren -Mulberries
Cake: Intricate Icings
Photographer: Mansurovs Photography

Two weeks ago, Julia Kaaren, owner of Mulberries Flowers, was dreaming up a table design that would knock the socks off the Colorado event world at the annual Denver ISES Wedding Showcase. She wanted to include some unique touches and thought of Splendor. It was wonderful working with Julia and when I saw the final result, I was in awe. Deep, rich, royal colors were brought to life with crystals, sequins, and sexy accents. She selected our raspberry classic shawls to adorn the chairs (read on for more details).

The design centered around a gorgeous crystal candelabra – of sorts – glistening with light from spotlights on the table. Special touches like etched wine bottles, votive holders with gorgeous flowers, crystals, and three layers of luscious linens (from Chair Covers & Linens), really created a one-of-a-kind design.

Julia and I decided the best way to incorporate shawls in her design was to drape them over the backs of the deep mahogany Chiavari chairs from All Well Rents. She finished the look with fun pin-tucked chair ties, also from All Well Rents, and a gorgeous stem of orchids tucked into the tie.

Julia’s design won the award for “Best Use of Theme” by ISES members that day. I’m so happy her work was recognized for being stellar.

I’d like to say a special “thank you” to a very talented photographer, Lola Mansurov of Mansurovs Photography, for her vivid images of this work. Lola, I appreciate you, as a photographer and as a friend.

Florals and overall design: Mulberries Flowers

Linens: Chair Covers & Linens

Rentals: All Well Rents

Shawls: Splendor

Photographs: Mansurovs Photography

Venue: Brown Palace Hotel

Last week, my good friend, Michelle Gillette of Dramatic Events, asked me to partner with her on a table design for the wedding showcase at Denver Botanic Gardens. She wanted to create a romantic, yet unique table setting that was a perfect complement for these beautiful gardens. Here’s the final design. Read on for the story behind it!

Pink Romance Design

At the beginning of our design meeting, we decided to use a parasol as our focal point and signature piece. Our plan came together so quickly that we were ready to gather the elements after a brief conversation.

Michelle ordered the gorgeous linens, china, crystal, silver, table, and chairs from Event Rents. I was so excited when she forwarded me photos of the linens and place settings. I knew they would really add a soft romance to our table.

Next, we selected flowers from the fresh floral market. Gorgeous stems of orchids were our main choice. We also chose various other flowers in our color scheme. I’m no florist so I have no idea what they were, but I can ask my amazing florist friends if you would like to know.

The day of the event, we arrived to find our table in the shade (thank goodness). It was a very hot day, which is compounded when the sun is a mile closer (such as in the Mile High City). We started setting up and all was going smoothly, until… we realized that our centerpiece wasn’t coming together as expected. We’d planned to use floral foam to anchor the parasol’s handle in the base of the vase. Unfortunately, the foam we had was for dry arrangements, and was floating in the water instead of soaking it up and forming an anchor. Next, the foam started breaking apart and sticking to the inside of the vase. At this point, I started giggling and saying how I felt we were on a reality TV show. My solution was to use paper towels to stuff around the foam and hopefully keep it in place. That seemed to work. At the end of it all, Michelle created a gorgeous centerpiece and now we know how to recreate it for the first bride who wants to do a parasol flower arrangement (we’re taking requests!).

We also incorporated our raspberry pink shawls as the chair decor. Michelle created the custom-designed jewelry to adorn the shawls.

Jewelry adornments for shawl chair decor

The look came together and got some great comments. We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed creating this look.

It was a sunny and hot beginning to Labor Day weekend. A beautiful city garden at Washington Park was being prepared for a ceremony that would change the lives of two people. The colors of the flowers were vibrant, the scent of the grass was deep. The guests began to arrive, ooh-ing and ah-hing at their surroundings.

I quickly realized what a well-dressed group we had. I was excited to see their reactions to the raspberry umbrellas and raspberry and chocolate shawls the bride had selected to protect them from possible cold and rain. As the guests approached, I overheard one woman exclaim, “Look at the umbrellas! I can’t wait to use one!”. Anyone else might have thought it was a funny thing to say on a sunny, no-cloud day. However, as we watched, one guest after another helped themselves to personal shade. They popped open the raspberry umbrellas and kept the sun at bay.

The raspberry and chocolate shawls were wrapped with white ribbon and displayed in a trunk at the reception. Although most of Denver was experiencing a chilly night, the boathouse at Washington Park was warmed with dancing and enjoyment. Not many shawls were needed, but they had them, just in case.  The bride knew that if her guests were comfortable, they would enjoy the wedding and stay to celebrate with them through the night. Cheers to our latest Splendor couple. We wish them the best!

Debbie Orwat from Save the Date Events in Denver was recently asked for hot tips by The Knot Magazine. She mentioned keeping guests cozy as one of her tips. Debbie’s consideration for her brides and her brides’ guests makes her one of the most popular planners in Denver.

*Note that the article mentions our former website, “Adornyourguests.com”. We are now “Splendor”.