MKE DeSIGNed & INspired at AFR Charlotte Networker!

On our journey to expansion, we have been eying the event industry boom that is about to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. With our already awesome existing relationship with AFR Event Furnishings, we decided to reach out to Carrie Sims, the Regional Account Executive for North & South Carolina, to discuss being a decor sponsor for their 2013 DeSIGN & INspire event! Carrie’s enthusiasm for us to join paired with the incredible attendance she promised made it an incredibly easy opportunity to say YES to…and she did not disappoint! On September 4, 2013 MKE debuted our unique decor items at the beyond-inspiring event held at the Foundation for the Carolinas building. Read below for the many opportunities we WOW’d Charlotte!

The Foundation for the Carolinas space is an incredibly unique venue for events, as it includes an art gallery space on the 1st floor, smaller 4th floor event spaces, and 2 rooftop terraces! The DeSIGN &INspire event utilized all of the spaces for different environments. The art gallery space served as primarily as display space for AFR’s new collections, but we were asked to provide our infamous “Sweet Street” food truck facade as a quirky popcorn station for guests to enjoy. The VERY careful maneuvering of loading in the food truck facade was a unique challenge the MKE team has never experienced before, and it was definitely an unexpected decor piece for the crowds to enjoy! Well worth the few load-in stresses!

Another unexpected perk to sponsoring this event, was the ability to provide our decor to the event professionals that were selected to be the featured designers to participate in the AFR Design Challenge. We were THRILLED when the over-the-top creative, fantastically inspiring April Ellerbe from New Century Planning wanted to collaborate closely with us to develop a concept for the challenge. Her vision of the space was to create “The Fashion Forward Lounge”, mixing florals with fashion and modern decor elements in a beautiful and seamless way. See below for April’s review of our collaboration:

“Our design concept was to create a fashion boutique using, food, flowers, and fine-art body-painting incorporating new national trends that would recognized as outside of the box trend setters. Caitlin offered a very detailed approach and consistently showed the drive to execute it in the most efficient way. With her support and products, we created a boutique setting that provided the perfect atmosphere. Rather than conventionally using the products, we decided to forgo this element and enhance this aspect of the design transforming the accented red panels into accent walls which added a strong statement to this provocative, yet posh design. Max King Events, complimented our efforts from the creation of this idea to the implementation of the concept. They demonstrated the utmost in professionalism in the execution of their duties and in doing so, went above and beyond any expectations that we may have had. Caitlin and her team worked tirelessly with me and my staff to help strengthen and expand my idea into a reality. The thoroughness and attention that Max Kings Events prides themselves on was top notch. Because of their considerable contributions, New Century Planning was named the winner of the 2013 AFR Event Furnishings National Design Challenge. I consider Caitlin and Max King Events a great asset. We look forward to a long and continued relationship working together with Max King Events to ensure the continued growth and success of New Century Planning. They are a pleasure to work with and someone you can count on to get the job done.”

A HUGE thanks to Carrie & the AFR team, April & the New Century Planning team, the staff at Foundation for the Carolinas, as well as the rest of the event sponsors. Our team was truly privileged to work alongside amazingly creative individuals, who welcomed a bunch of Floridians with open arms to the Charlotte event industry! We left North Carolina with incredible relationships and tons of inspiration. See you soon, Charlotte!

Photos courtesy of Crystal Stokes Photography

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