One event that I've been looking forward to all summer is AFR Furniture Rental's annual decor showcase. AFR hosts a networking event for the event industry every year to show off their latest beautiful furniture. Years ago, they actually held the event at our museum, and last year they themed it apocalyptic and chaotic.
This year AFR held their event at the Church Street Exchange building in downtown Orlando which has gorgeous architecture inside and out. The building is three floors of awesome, with brass embellishes throughout. All of the touches built in must have inspired the theme for this year which was slightly steampunk and old-timey.
At the front stairs, a woman dressed as a lamp greeted you with impact. It seemed at every corner of the building there was a food station set up including Puff N Stuff, John Michael Catering, and Millenia Catering. Not only was the food to theme with mini burgers, tiny beers, chicken and waffle cones, but the presentation was themed as well. Wizard Connection had a conveyor belt of trays with Puff N Stuffs little burger platters on them. At the top of the conveyor belt was gears which paired perfectly with the rest of the decor and added an unexpected touch.
In one of the rooms there were games like an old time arcade. There was also a room of four different decor set ups of different themes. The first one was by Showworks and was rustic and luscious. I adored the farm table and metal chair combo with exposed lightbulb chandelier above. The second decor set up was by Greenery Productions and was so colorful and exotic, looking straight of out Morocco. The other was by Kirby rental and was a safari scene, and the last was by Exhilarate Events and was an outdoor lounge scene. Attendees got to vote for their favorite and the winner was the Showworks decor, which was my favorite as well.
A pretty cool thing that happened is that I won the Instagram contest from AFR! I'm not sure yet what I won, but I am super excited to have had the shout out on their Facebook page. I can honestly say that their event is always easy to photograph because it is designed and styled so well. Feel free to search other photos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the hashtag #AFRtour.
AFRs furniture displayed throughout the space made for a wonderful evening of mingling and eating. Nearly our entire events department attended together, including my boss, my coworkers, and our interns. We made a night of it by grabbing a drink together downtown before the event. It was the perfect opportunity to do some socializing and team building with our new interns. If only every semester could start with an event like this to attend together! Be sure to keep an eye out for our office event blog with a post of our favorite part of the evening from each of us!
Oh my goodness, that is freaking amazing!
ReplyDeleteit's one of my favorite things to look forward to each year in the event industry!
DeleteThis looks AMAZING!
ReplyDeletethe decor is always gorgeous and the food gets better every year!
DeleteOh this sounds like such a fun event. Is that a teeny tiny beer? I use to work at the Seattle Design Center when I lived in Seattle and sometimes they had events like this.
ReplyDeleteAli of Dressing Ken
yes! it was a tiny little beer! perfectly paired with a mini burger.
Deletethat looks really fun. and look how pretty everything is?! that lady in the lamp, amazing. those table settings, gorgeous. that food and tiny beer, adorable. i want to go to something like this! xoxo
ReplyDeleteoooh and congrats on your win! i can't wait to find out what you won.
Deletei ended up winning a gift card to a restaurant! the event planner said i should take my husband out but i was thinking of taking the girls in the office out instead! always a good reason to take a nice lunch during the week :)
DeleteThat whole space is dreamy and delicious. Those metal chairs? To die for, and I love them paired with that wood table. So much to see and investigate and drool over (and I haven't even gotten to the food!). Your job seems like it's so much fun. xo
ReplyDeleteit really is so dreamy! i too am in love with the metal chairs - i would love that wooden table and metal chairs for my own dining room some day!
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