This is our job? This is our JOB!! Sometimes we just have to pinch ourselves because life seems too good to be true. Last weekend, we were back for our THIRD installment of the Lady Project Summit After Party. Every year this event gets better and better, an entire day spent with your best lady pals networking, learning, and eating delicious food? Yes, please.

While we usually don’t get to escape set up to enjoy the day’s festivities, we have our own day jam-packed with creative fulfillment. The Lady Project Summit is one of the few times a year where we get to pull from our wish list of big ideas, try new things and work with other vendors that we’ve had on our call list for collaborations.

This year, in contrast to the bright neons of last year, we wanted to do something a little softer, a little more romantic. We have been dying to use deeper, more rich colors and tones in our designs; couple that with the opportunity to do macrame on a large scale and it was a no-brainer.

After a few in house creative meetings (read wine drinking, lots of hand gestures and furious sketching), we started our journey in the showroom at Rentals Unlimited. Their linen selections are just gorgeous, and they are always coming out with new ones - it’s like Christmas four times a year. While there, we selected a deep indigo blue linen and a silky, shiny copper satin for our hightops we then used these as the inspiration for the rest of the elements at the party.

This year it was important to us that we incorporated florals and greenery into the design, we really wanted to bring the After Party up a notch and there is no better way than having gorgeous arrangements to tie everything together. We brought on the insanely talented Leigh Anne Landman of Anchor & Grace for the floral design. We showed her our color swatches and a few sketches and she got it right away, took it and ran with it. She made our event look like a chic bohemian garden party, all the while laughing and keeping us entertained with her hilarious stories. This my friends, is why you hire the best vendors that you possibly can; you cannot put a value on someone that just “gets” your vision without you having to say more than a few words.

Likewise, we always enjoy working with our favorite Chef, Kait Roberts of Easy Entertaining who creates the most amazing small bites for the After Party. We have been dreaming of ‘Kaits Fried Chicken’ since we first had it at the Dinner by Dames 4 event in the Fall and nearly tackled Kait when she brought a plate out pre-party for us to nibble on.

The day would not be complete without two special shout outs: to Sierra Barter Co-Founder and Rock Star CEO of the Lady Project, we would not feel half as giddy about this event if it weren't for your enthusiasm and trust in us and our work. We absolutely adore working with you and look forward to our next project together. And to our incredibly talented photographer, Lauren (Halvorson) Nobis, you not only captured our design so beautifully, but checked in with us throughout the day on how we wanted our vision to look on camera and worked with (strong armed) the Vets lighting technician to make sure it worked for the story you were telling and for the look we were creating.

And lastly, lots of LOVE for our co-sponsors, Chloe Wine, HINT Water, Narragansett Beer, and RBC Wealth Management.

To find a Lady Project Chapter in your city, click here.

2016 LADY PROJECT SUMMIT