In April 2026, WIPA Colorado held its Q2 event, "Premiere of Love: Beyond Boulder," across two of Boulder's best-known venues: Limelight Hotel Boulder and St. Julien Hotel & Spa. The theme was built around the Sundance Film Festival's move to Boulder, and WIPA was looking specifically for Boulder vendors to design it. I'd met a board member at their Q1 event and said yes before I had a plan.
The plan came later. It always does.
I looked out the window
I've lived in Boulder for twenty years, so I didn't reach for a mood board. I looked out the window.
The prompt was greens and browns. The palette became sand, moss, almond, and sage, the colors of the foothills in early spring. The vessels were earthy and handmade-feeling. Selenite towers stood in for candles, because in this town you find it in every crystal shop on Pearl Street, on windowsills and nightstands and altars people don't call altars.
Then there were the tumbleweeds. I put a call out on a local Facebook group, and what came back wasn't the round, cinematic kind rolling across a desert highway. It was long, unruly grass, the kind that catches on fences and blows sideways in the wind. So I kept going: dried grasses from my own yard, my neighbor's, whatever I could forage. What started as improvising became the heart of the design. These materials came from the actual ground of Boulder County, and they belonged in these rooms because they literally did.
Limelight Hotel Boulder
The night opened at Limelight, in the Flatirons Ballroom - big, bright, and looking straight at the Flatirons. A room like that needs pieces that read from across the space.
Two installations flanked the bar, about six feet tall: dried tumbleweeds and prairie grasses rising up and out, green hydrangea massed at the base, copper and orange roses threading through, dried fan palms splaying wide, and selenite catching the early evening light.
On either side of the stage, statement vessels sat on acrylic risers with selenite gathered below. A tall, dark ribbed vase held burnt-amber cymbidium orchids, arching dried fan palms, and a cascade of white carnations and eucalyptus seed. A round woven vessel spilled over with peach garden roses. They looked placed casually. They hadn't been.
St. Julien Hotel & Spa
Dinner moved to St. Julien. The ballroom was draped floor to ceiling in deep ivory swags, with long tables running the length of the room. This was the part of the night meant to feel like sitting inside something.
The centerpieces were built on grapevine roots, gnarled and sculptural, running low across the tables like something pulled from the canyon floor. Live moss tucked them into the table. Coral and amber roses pushed up through the wood, pieris japonica fell in small white bells, and dark basil and purple foliage threaded through for depth. Green glass votives and sage ceramic plates sat alongside.
The head table ran long and was dressed the same way: grapevine roots end to end, selenite towers spaced between, and yellow pom-pom chrysanthemums and wild greenery loose enough to feel like the table had been set in a field.
At the ballroom entrance, a half-moon arrangement of antique green hydrangea, rust roses, dark foliage, and bold tropical leaves poured over the seating chart by Hazel Eye Designs.
My team set St. Julien while I finished Limelight. When I walked in later that night, I felt proud. Then my brain started listing everything I would have done differently. That part never turns off. But for a moment, it just was exactly what it was supposed to be.
Photography by Sean Lara Photography
The Full Vendor Team
Florals: Ash + Ether | ash-ether.com | @ashxether
Venues: Limelight Hotel Boulder | @limelighthotels + St. Julien Hotel & Spa | @stjulienhotel
Entertainment: Great Family Artists | @greatfamilyartists + Colorado Keys | @coloradokeys
Photo Booth + Activations: MiHi Entertainment | mihiphotobooth.com | @mihi_entertainmnet
Rentals: All Well Rents | @allwellrentsdenver
Linens: Nuage Designs | nuagedesigns.com | @nuagedesignsinc
Draping: Swag Event Decor | @swageventdecor
Stationery: Hazel Eye Designs | hazeleyedesigns.com | @hazeleyedesigns
Desserts: Sweet Sisters Bake Shop | sweetsistersboulder.com | @sweetsistersbakeshopllc
Transportation: Gold Rush Transportation | @grtlimo
Planning: Sugar Willow Events | @sugarwillowevents + Mrs. Planner | @mrsplanners
Photography: Sean Lara Photography | @seanlaraphotography
Video: ETC Photography | @e.t.c_photography
Content: Wild Heart Content | @wildheartcontent