Ideas to share from a party I hosted for the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, channeling vacation #TravelBrilliantly

all images in this 

post courtesy Jeff Wolk 

My invitation to explore 

innovative entertaining ideas 

with Marriott Hotels’ 

Travel Brilliantly program

The idea of travel brings excitement to many of our lives, and I look forward to sunny vacations or overseas trips.  It's the idea of escape and new adventures, trying new foods, meeting new people and new experiences that I find so alluring about travel.  Meetings Imagined is one of the newest initiatives that speaks to the future of meetings. In fact, Marriott Hotels has been leading the way by re-imagining the future of travel and inviting consumers to submit their ideas to TravelBrilliantly.com.

On MeetingsImagined.com, a Pinterest-like website, one can glean tips and tricks from experts on hosting fun parties through the various pretty images of events the hotels have hosted.  You can customize your next event with Marriott utilizing this website as a guide to inspire you by the almost-endless possibilities.  Everyone loves a great photo to inspire, which explains the success of Instagram, Pinterest and blogs, so this is a genius idea by Marriott Hotels!

 


Take a look at a party I was invited to co-host for over 100 people this past week at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.  Together with three other bloggers (Justin Livingston of Scout Sixteen, Jaclyn Johnson of Some Notes on Napkins, and Courtney Dolloff Eliseo of Design Work Life), and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis team, we collaborated to create an Outdoor Garden Party, brought indoors offering delicious, garden-fresh and innovative food and some creative ice-breaker ideas for guests of local entrepreneur Yolanda Williams, following an educational seminar Yolanda gave about her new crowd funding platform, Kenectit.  

 Once in Atlanta we worked side by side to help make the evening a great success.  Read about the planning for our Al Fresco outdoor-themed party, which was hosted in the Atlanta Marriott's atrium, was beautifully realized with a fun photo travel booth, creative food, name tags that offered glimpses of our personality through our interests, and the opportunity for guests to make their own personalized cocktail.  For food we came up with delicious items, including a liquid nitrogen tank to make homemade bacon ice cream and freeze-dried caramel popcorn on a stick (these got people laughing and talking immediately), a farm inspired salad bar complete with a real “bed” of lettuce and items offered in terra cotta pots, and a beautifully displayed bread, cheese and fresh charcuterie presented on slate and wood boards with lots of playful bark and garden accessories included for decoration.  The herb and fresh fruit juice muddling bar was one of the most popular sections and a real crowd pleaser.  We smartly helped set up various stations for guests to stop and try food and chat, then meet one another. We thought long and hard about the seating and room layout, and set up different seating options, from farmhouse tables to smaller, more intimate wine barrels to give the large space a free flowing ease and a rustic, yet sophisticated charm.    

 Additionally, the Marriott team could not have been more gracious while offering us glimpses of the southern charm of people in this city.  A special thank you to the convivial, gracious group at Marriott Hotels for giving a warm welcome. You can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #TravelBrilliantly to keep current on their musings.  And, please stop back soon for my recap of the food and culture in Atlanta for your next trip to this great city. 

Happy Nesting XO Tamara

we strategized...

we stylized...

we came up with innovative entertaining ideas...

we made a fresh fruit and herb 
muddled lemonade stand

 we created an outdoor Al Fresco party brought indoors

 we even brought in a fun, travel photo booth

For a little stronger spirits:  

I created Tamara's Mandarain Mojito Imagined:

Check out my mojito recipe!

 Marriott also made the planning 
for the event fun & exciting!

 
Thank You Marriott!