Warm amber lighting casted tropical leaf patterns within the office and created an enchanting night for Olson Communications. Each year, the event reflects travels and worldly inspiration curated by the owner. The guests entered into a world of Turkish delights. They were greeted with visual flavors of sky blues, glistening gold and warm ambers. Flowing fabrics created a Cabana type structure accented with water wave reflections – enhancing the theme of “Feztival of Turkish Delights”.

An existing conference table became a stunning Grand Bazaar of a Turkish foods by Entertaining Company. A sign reading “Festival of Turkish Delights” hung over the table, which was surrounded by an array of Moroccan lanterns and richly colored glass, setting the ambiance for the night.

// VENDORS //
// Venue: Olson Communications // Event Design: Art of Imagination //

// Caterer: Entertaining Company //

The contemporary setting of this space with the minimal yet stunning architectural design was the perfect match for this collaboration. The theme was creating a modern enchanted winter atmosphere with a touch of sparkle and fun.

By combining wood elements in the design with the tables and chairs this offered an organic nature feel. The farm tables made the perfect setting for the gold and white chinaware with the linen napkins tied with fresh seasonal foliage which offered a slight fragrance reminisce of the holidays. Table decor doesn’t have to be about flowers as the focal so we incorporated greens, berries, white painted branches with a collection of clean and gold votives for a warm glow.

For a playful use of the taller ceiling we hung white tree branches with floating gold and platinum glass ornament balls over the tables and larger white round balloons at different heights.  Lighting is always an important element as it helps set the mood. White glowing circles were projected onto the balloons and surroundings to help add that perfect touch.

Creating the right signature bar at every party is always a challenge. To keep with the same theme, two wooden farm highboy tables were placed together for a champagne station that displayed a triple cream goat brie with rosemary bread from a local bakery, petite grapes and of course delicious bottles of Champagne. A Holiday greeting was displayed on a blackboard easel surrounded with gold glitter painted leaves. Behind the bar, tiers of white vertical thin branches twinkled from white LED lights woven throughout to add that magical sparkle next to Chez‘s beautiful glass staircase.

Planning Corporate Holiday parties can be fun keeping to a simple yet creative theme, knowing your budget and selecting that perfect venue. Chez offers such a clean and modern palette that you can let your imagination be adventurous.

Vendors:  Venue: Chez // Design + Decor – Art of Imagination // Photographer- Amanda Hein // Rentals – Tablescape Chicago Party Rentals // Balloons – Balloons by Tommy

Fleurotica is an annual event at Garfield Park Conservatory benefitting the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance  to provide nature education programs, school group visits, arts, culture and early childhood programming for their visitors and groups.  Each year they ask designers and artists to participate in the fashion show to create fashionable outfit made entirely of natural products, such as flowers, plants, leaves, and natural fibers.

Deborah’s inspiration was taken from current trends in fashion with an emphases on movement. We selected our model, Jocelyn and created the dress on how it would flow and move down the runway.  The bodice was made of natural bark to create the elongated waistline, with the top portion in moss and hand-glued floral buttons, creating a polka dot effect. We also brought the same pattern down to the shoes! The skirt bounced with each step the model took; peek-a-boo white flowers were layered at the bottom for a soft lacy look.

For brides, the back of the dress is equally as important as the front. Deborah designed the low-cut back with a peacock tail, creating a train, accenting the model’s natural beauty and body type. These features accentuated her elegance with each step.

Deborah also created a blusher hat with fully-open garden roses and bear grass that tilted on the side of Jocelyn’s head, expressing her confidence.

IndieWed 2014 was beautiful. The annual bridal event took place in the vintage Ravenswood Art Center earlier this year. Partnering with Naturally Yours Events and other fabulous Chicago talents, we transformed the 3rd floor space into a vaudeville-inspired carnival with a lounge area.

The theatrical lounge area, appropriately entitled Cirque de L’Amour, wasn’t complete with a sweeping red curtain and performance area. As a creative touch, our designers incorporated floating parasols from Bella Umbrella of different patterns in front of the floor to ceiling industrial windows.

See more great photos from this lounge at Naturally Yours Events blog!

It was such a thrill and an honor to film some special segments yesterday at Loft on Lake with Andrea Metcalf. Creativity was surely in the air as we discussed party trends and tips for this winter’s major events: the Super Bowl (February 2nd), Sochi Olympics (Opening Ceremony on February 6th) and, of course, Award Season including the Oscars (March 2nd)!

From table top decor to photo opp fun, we talked about it all. We even had a special appearance by personal chef, Markus Ford, who showed us how to liven up the typical party fare to sophisticated and creative new dishes that will have all your guests begging for more!

Stay tuned to WomensForum.com for these segments with Andrea and Deborah Weisenhaus, our lead designer at Art of Imagination in the next few weeks. We’ll be sure to post lots of photos from these segments as well. Here’s just a glimpse of the behind-the scenes fun we had!

Holiday parties are a festive way to celebrate your employees and all of their hard work throughout the year. To complete your celebration, it’s always fun to incorporate your branding into the design and decor of the event. For this particular event at Chicago’s House of Blues, we added the company’s logo within the dramatic lighting with the use of gobo lights. For an added touch, we lit up the bar and added their logo to the front.

Guests walked through the venue’s multiple rooms, each distinct yet cohesive with the coloring and table decor. To celebrate the winter season, we added snowflake light patterns throughout the dining area where guests enjoyed special musical guest, John Mayer. It was a magical night for all!

With the holiday season here, we can’t wait to setup our annual corporate decor. Whether it’s a local restaurant, a corporate office building or the streets of Michigan Avenue, each set up has it’s own holiday color palette that goes beyond the typical red and green. Our designers have created winter wonderlands using metallics, shades of blue, pink, emerald and gold. We hope these color palettes inspire you to put your own twist on holiday decor in your home.

Be sure to share your holiday setups with #ArtOfTheHolidays so we can keep the inspirations going! We’ll be sure to pin them to our Pinboard for all to see. 🙂

These color palettes were made with the help of ChipIt! by Sherwin Williams.

Loft on Lake hosts all kinds of events other than weddings. It’s played host to car launches, fashion shows, trade events and corporate meetings. It recently hosted a book launch by a renowned New Age author who chose the space to kick off a tour for his latest  book. The chose Loft on Lake for it’s flexibility and adaptability and wanted to have an event where the decor matched the look of the book cover.

We took that idea and ran with it, using blue and orange throughout the space. Our blue uplighting in the skylight and around the perimeter played off the orange brick and linen. For the entry we created a stunning display of blue satin, with orange sheer swags and even paper cranes hand-folded by our team that played off of the birds found on the cover of the book.

This was more than just a book signing, but a full-fledged multi-media event that included live music, a movie premiere, live art-making and food and drinks for the 200+ guests.

Scroll through for the images by Lofty Weddings.

 Inquire with Loft on Lake about their availability today.

Last holiday season, Guggenheim Partners contracted our team to design and produce a holiday party at the Trump Tower Chicago, in the Grand Ballroom. The event had to be stunning and dramatic without becoming over-the-top. We were definitely up for the challenge and worked hand-in-hand with the planners on the client side in realizing this event.

Our part included a dramatic fabric entry for guests to pass through as they exited the elevators. Once inside, we created a display of tree branches with hanging crystals to frame the best view in the city and use it as a photo-op. Once inside, light blue perimeter lighting around the entire space and around the support column set the mood. We also brought in special lights to project falling snowflakes onto the dance floor and additional overall lighting washed the massive space in a matching blue color. To complete the look in the space, we brought in six glow bars with vinyl decals of snowflakes.

After months and months of meticulous planning, the event came to be and went off without a hitch. Nearly 400 guests sipped and mingled for several hours, enjoying our ambiance and decor.

This was our first event at the Trump Tower Chicago, but not the last – stay tuned for more of our work in this landmark venue.

This Harold Washington Center Wedding was a romantic and elegant affair – for this ceremony, we created a soft and simple wall of fabric in crepe-back satin, with matching overhead swags. For an extra layer of sparkle, we hung over a dozen chandelier crystals that sparkled in the amber uplighting.

For the reception we created a head-table display in a matching fabric. It was such a beautiful evening.

Photos courtesy of Juliet Tan.

This was a recent corporate holiday party we designed and produced at Room 1520. We loved working on this event enough that we also created this video slideshow for you to enjoy – take a look and share your thoughts in the comments.

You can see the photos used in the slideshow in this blog post. Photos by Vitaliy Vladimirov.

The Stan Mansion is one of Chicago’s many weddding and event venues, where we are the exclusive vendor for all event production, decor and design. While we most often work with couples in producing their weddings and receptions,  for this NYE event decor, we kept in line with the Parisian elegance of the event.

The sold-out party was one of the most exclusive parties in the city. With delicious Hors D ‘Oeuvres and dinner served by D’Absolute Catering, the party featured multiple live performances and a premium top shelf open bar. Running late into the morning, the black tie affair drew hundreds of stylish attendees who filled the historic venue, taking in our NYE Event Decor and stunning feather centerpieces by Cattleya Bridal.

Part of the NYE event decor included upgraded, custom 20-foot panels of luxurious crepe-back satin fabric that formed the VIP settings to both sides of the main room. To add more flair to the look, we projected soft swirls over the fabric.

The place settings were elaborate and crystal-laden – going with the elaborate, Parisian-flair of the overall event.

Be sure to visit venue’s website & book your event there today. Photos courtesy of D’Absolute Catering.

In the winter months, our team of Event Production Experts are often called upon to be a part of corporate holiday party decor and we love the challenge. These events are always a fun challenge and this was no exception.

SAVO group brought us on board for their Winter-themed holiday party in the cool & minimal West Loop event venue, Room 1520. We played up the venue’s white walls with bringing in panels of semi-sheer imported fabrics and hundreds of cut hanging crystals. The crystals sparkled in the icy-blue up-lighting and washes that transformed the venue into a true winter wonderland.

We projected leafless winter branches over the bar by the entrance to set the mood. The rest of this corporate holiday party decor included ghost bar stools and sparkling crystal centerpieces with candles and winter greens. Crisp white lounge settings with glass tables and leather benches all throughout the venue completed the look.

Deborah worked hand-in-hand with the client in realizing the vision for their event. Be sure to explore the rest of our corporate events and see our full range of event production and event design.

Venue: Room 1520. Photos by Vitaliy Vladimirov.

We recently were brought on by Guggenheim Partners to produce their annual holiday party at the Trump International Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. This was the company’s first time at the Trump International Hotel and the client was nervous about the change of venue. Impressed by Deborah’s event production and event design experience, they asked Deborah to personally oversee every element of the production of their event. Because of another event in the same space, the Art of Imagination team had only a three hour window to transform the space into a chilly winter-scape – which included five glow bars, GOBOS and dozens of LED lights throughout the ballroom and a second area which played host to the silent auction during the event.



Juliet Tan, of Cattleya Bridal, was responsible for the centerpieces – using crystals, mirrors and winter greens to continue the event’s theme. Photos by Vitaliy Vladimirov.

This was a corporate theme party to remember. Leo Burnett opted for a fun and unusual election-themed Halloween party at their office for all their creative designers. Playing off of the upcoming elections, the party was all about the dangerous, dark side of politics. We created “voting booths” where guests could vote by “bribing officials” – with proceeds supporting a local charity. There were cobwebs, rats and red tape everywhere. Even an animatronic Jason made an appearance, vying for votes!

Photos by Vitaliy Vladimirov.