If you’ve never considered having a Texas-themed event (whether you are local to Texas or not) it might be time to host your first one! Our team loved sponsoring Visit Dallas’s happy hour last month at On The Levee. Because it was a sponsored event, we got to go all out with what we could dream up for this event’s design. Continue reading to learn the thought process we had when developing the design concept and how we executed it.

Event Concept & Design

Something our team loves about sponsoring events is we often get a greater say-so in what the final product looks like and what all it includes. Of course, we take the vision our client or partner gives us but from there, it’s whatever inventory we want to use and that our team can install. When we were asked to create a Texas-themed networking event, we already knew based on our inventory that there were a few different ways we could take the project design-wise.

Kathleen, Render’s Project Manager, created three different design decks (not sure what a design deck is or why it’s useful? Check out this episode on our podcast!) to present to our team. We met to discuss each team member’s thoughts on the designs and which would be the most fun and beneficial for showing what we could do.

The three different looks all fit the theme of “Texas” but each was a unique approach to styling. The first was a very appropriate corporate style set up with lots of greenery. Styled with our Ace Sofa and Leather Ring Chairs, guests would have experienced a very clean and natural approach to Texas. Y’all know when spring hits, there is green everywhere! East and Central Texas especially have rolling green hills and piney woods so we knew that was an option we could explore.

With the cowhide rug, copper tones in the chairs and pillows, and black metal tray side tables this design brought strong ranch vibes while still achieving high levels of professionalism, something we knew the attendees would appreciate.

So Kathleen shared some of her next designs, Wild Wildflowers of Texas.

This design felt like a better fit in comparison to the Greenery option from the start. Its approach was to focus on nature in a different way, through the wildflowers you see along every Texas highway in the spring season, which was the same time as the event being held in early April.

Here we paired our large floor pillows with various pillows whose shade would match the wildflower theme, with smaller leather poufs and large arrangements.

Additionally, our wildflowers and bluebonnets are a staple most people know about! This one was hard to decide not to choose but again, we knew we were capable of something that would provide even more of a wow factor for the event attendees so we looked together at the third and final design, Retro Texas.

Only several minutes into discussing this design deck’s vision and layout our team knew this was the best approach to the happy hour. It had each element of Texas we knew would stand out (skulls, cowhide, cowboy hats, etc.) combined with other design elements making it the most unique and fun design of the original three.

With the retro theme, we knew we could have a dried and western backdrop (pictured at the top) for event attendees to take photos, but also have several lounges and additional photo areas with spunky floral, poppy colors, and Texas-style props.

Now for the details…

The best part about finalizing a design style is getting to work on emphasizing the details. We add our color palette and floral inspiration to each design deck with the inventory selections and layout. Once the event design was chosen, we began sourcing our products, creating pull sheets, and discussing what other elements we could add to the casted vision.

We knew we would need several dried florals for the western wall displayed with our carved wood panel backdrop. Once we saw the skulls and dried pieces together, we wanted to add a little piece of the rest of the design of the venue to it so it blended better with the rest of the colors. Instead of adding another color itself, we added disco balls! These reflected the quirkiness of the overall design to a traditional Texas backdrop.

Showing off these details a little closer so you can see our team’s talent. Allie, our Lead Floral Designer who oversees the floral logistics at Render, had a team put together these installments and they turned out so good!

Disco balls ended up being a surprise decoration used throughout the event venue that wasn’t included in the original design deck. However, we don’t see that as a bad thing. Instead, we like to surprise our clients with ways to elevate their events that fit into the agreed-upon budget (reminder this was a sponsored event).

Introducing the colors

As previously stated, sourcing florals and pulling our inventory is a big next step. You’ve seen the western style wall but now we have to tell you all about our approach to the actual Retro Texas style for this event.

Aside from the western dried florals and browns, our color palette for this event consisted of bright orange, bold red, a strong blue, and fun iridescent. Those of you who work with florals know that there are either very specific flowers that naturally achieve those colors or that we were going to need to do some thinking.

After researching and talking with our go-to wholesalers (shout out to American Agro Products and Botanica Wholesale Florist) we decided on the following list:

• • Red, blue-dyed, and orange Roses
  • Red and orange Spray Roses
  • Purple Scabiosa
  • Blue Cornflower
  • Blue-dyed Carnations
  • Blue-dyed Baby’s Breath
  • Red Coxcomb
  • Anthuriums (various colors with glitter/iridescent spray paint)

These flowers were arranged around the event in several different ways. We styled flowers in front of the Ophelia bars paired with disco balls, arrangements on tables coming out of cowboy hats and bud vases, a couple of chair pieces that were too fabulous not to share as a part of the two lounges, and more sprouting up from the bottom of our retro photo backdrop.

Check out more of the design in these photos:

 

P.S. If you’ve never used a cowboy hat as a vase… this is your sign to try it for your next Texas-themed event. Notice we also added them to the bar display shelves for a more cohesive design.

Retro Texas Was really fun

Overall, we hope you can tell that we really enjoyed sponsoring this event. We were able to capture some great content for marketing but we also portrayed the Lone Star State in an exciting and innovative way. The design elements from this event showed attendees tangible examples of how everything is bigger and better in Texas. From the arrangements to the design, Render doesn’t disappoint!

If you’re looking to put a Texas-themed event together for your friends or clients, let us know! Clearly, we can bring several options to the table and move forward with your favorite.

 

Until next time friends! As always, we are here for you and eager to serve you in your event design needs.

Joyfully,

TJ White, Content Manager