a berry-hued valentine's shoot

Though spring has not yet bloomed, Long Ago Love Events was lucky enough to heat things up with some truly fabulous Colorado wedding vendors for a Valentine's Day inspired styled shoot at Denver's new Carmen W. Gallery. In a fun twist, we had the chance to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes!

Claire of Claire Gordon Events executed a vision that perfectly blended the contemporary gallery space with romantic, feminine elements--a fresh take on traditional Valentine's! The day was brimming with gorgeous berry-hued florals and lovely vintage details provided by Gretchen of Yonder House Floral + Decor. Her creativity and eye for design is so inspiring! Every detail and magical moment was beautifully captured by Ali of Ali & Garrett Wedding Photography (her soft, romantic images will make you swoon!).

Delightful finishing touches rounded out the shoot- beautiful cakes and sweets were provided by The Makery Cake Co., elegant paper goods were crafted by Lana's Shop, and unique vintage jewelry pieces (including a six-carat canary diamond ring!) were lent by Victoriana Antique Jewelry and Susie Bernardi, a Diamond & Fine Jewelry Broker.

The opportunity to play dress up in the gorgeous gowns from Emma & Grace Bridal Studio was truly the fairy tale experience every girl dreams of for her wedding--luscious layers of tulle and lovely bead-work abound!  KimJ Beauty created the incredibly romantic side-chignon updo and tied the makeup in with the berry-hued color palate.

This collaboration was a wonder to behold--these sweet and talented ladies made it all such a fantastic experience!  If you are looking for wedding professionals that might be a good fit for your special day, I highly recommend checking out these fantastic vendors!

Need help piecing it all together?  Long Ago Love Events would love to assist you in crafting your perfect day--contact us today!

Enjoy all the berry-hued gorgeousness below!

sweet valentine

Well friends, here we are.  It's cold. And wet.

As I sit here in this snowstorm, trying to fight off the grey and dreary, I'm struggling to think up some redeeming qualities for February.

I can only think of one at the moment.  I think I'm experiencing brain freeze.

Whether you have a sweetheart, besties you want to celebrate, or family you appreciate--thank goodness for Valentine's Day for infusing a little extra love and color into our lives. Right?!

How do you plan to share the love? A romantic night out is always a winner of course, and I'm loving all the possibilities to celebrate in a nontraditional way too!  

Been awhile since you've seen the girls?  How about a sweet and pretty Valentine's brunch to bring everyone together?

Feeling a throwback?  Host a "Little Love" party that captures your elementary school Valentine's days, complete with materials for your guests to make Valentine collection boxes (remember using a shoe box?) and all the cheesy rhyming cards with candy that you could ever want.  Extra points to those who bring back some fifth grade fashion (who doesn't love scrunchies and overalls?).

A little anti-Cupid this year? Have a slasher film party with your pals and have a popcorn bar to mix it up!

You've still got some time, so give it a little thought!  I'd love to hear your ideas and plans (my sis-in-law, Jess, is hosting a Sparkle Party for the ladies--how fun is that?).  Need a little help getting it all together?  Let me know!  Long Ago Love can provide an assist for everything from party decor to planning a proposal. 

Think of all the possibilities!

xo

Jordan

Images via: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Pinterest refresh!

Our Pinterest has been given a lovely refresh for the new year--everything is sorted and organized to make it the very essence of simplicity (hooray!).

If you are looking for inspiration--for an event, for your home, even for dinner--stop by, check out our boards, and follow Long Ago Love to see our most recent pins.  We're all about food, fashion, and fun fetes!

Some Pinterest thoughts, while I'm at it:

The great thing about Pinterest is that it allows you to collect your favorite ideas, recipes, and the things that inspire you! However, these elements that make Pinterest so great can also become a HUGE challenge--eventually, you have so many fabulous ideas that they start to get buried.  It can be frustrating when you can't find that amazing roast recipe you pinned a while back, or when you've pinned so many cute wedding DIY ideas that when you scroll through them all, you just feel overwhelmed.

The good news?  Pinterest recently made it SO easy to do your own new year's refresh (I'd say "spring cleaning," but I guess we're not there yet....). Instead of deleting or moving pins one-by-one, you can now select whole groups of pins to purge or relocate. This is a big deal, people!


Get everything organized + decluttered + easy to find by breaking down your board categories. Have a million decor ideas for your home? Create separate boards for the different parts of your house--that way you don't have to sift through all of your kitchen inspiration pictures when you're just trying to find that paint color for your bathroom renovation.  Is your food board out of control?  Organize by meal, food type, main dishes vs. side dishes, etc.  Whatever works best for you--the sky is limit!

Organizing your pins is also a great way remind yourself of all the great ideas and inspiration that you have pinned in the past--too often we pinned things only to forget about them.  You can always be on the hunt for new material, but you may find that your favorite pins and/or the projects you really want to take on are already somewhere on your own boards. Give them a chance!

Going through old pins is also a perfect opportunity to clear out pins that maybe you don't feel as strongly about. Over time, tastes change and trends shift.  If you delete the "meh..." material, you'll make it easy to find the good stuff!

If you are collecting ideas for a big project (or event!), it can help to make a "catch-all" board while you are in search mode.  Once you have a strong collection of ideas, sit with them a bit. This “sitting with” time is such a valuable part of the process!

You can ditch a few possibilities that don't feel quite right, you can refine your vision a bit. That’s okay. It will get you closer to the options you love most.  Its's funny, but process of simplifying actually isn't so simple. It takes a bit of work + lots of thought + some foresight.

“Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end.” -Steve Jobs

What are your Pinterest thoughts? Do you follow through on pinned ideas often? Have you ever given your Pinterest a refresh or organizational overhaul?

Let me know and have a beautiful Thursday!

xo

Jordan

sweet + sunny baby shower

Hello all! Did you have a good holiday weekend? I was lucky enough to be a part of the sweetest little baby shower--a ray of sunshine in the middle of winter.  The celebration was a team effort hosted by the Momma-to-be's little sister, who wanted to make sure Momma and Baby felt the love!

To keep all guest tummies happy, there was a beautiful mini-sized brunch spread that included baby quiches, parfaits, and strawberry and donut-hole kabobs.  The centerpiece was a clever and beautifully made diaper cake tat will surely have these new parents off to a good start with one of the most important baby supplies they will need!

The party was complete with mimosa bar, photo booth, and plenty of interactive ways for friends and family to share their support, advice, memories, and love.  Guests could write funny notes on diapers to make changing time more fun, take a guess about which family baby picture was who (going all the way back to grandparents!), and advice was collected to help Momma through the challenging moments. As gifts were opened, everyone was eager to to share their guess on whether Baby will be a boy or a girl.

Take a moment and enjoy all the fun below!

Do you have any special celebrations coming up?  Let us know--Long Ago Love would love to help!

xo

Jordan

 

Long Ago Love New Website Launch!

Welcome! I’m so glad you're here so I can finally share what I've been working on behind the scenes for a while now:

I am so excited to announce the official launch of Long Ago Love's new website! Longagolove.com is live and ready to be explored.

Our goal is for this to be a space where you can easily access our social media (the blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram), learn about the services we offer, check out our ever-growing rental decor inventory, and connect with us!

I want it to be tool for us to share all the exciting developments going on at Long Ago Love and for you to share back!  I can't wait to share with you as we roll out new blog content, fun vintage finds, and plenty of the events we are so excited to be a part of.

I’m so happy to be here--it's such a fun space, and that the focus is simplicity and ease of use.  My goal  is to make it easier for you to find things--as always, I welcome any feedback you might have to make it even better!

This marks a big day for Long Ago Love--thank you so much to everyone who has supported this venture with encouragement, referrals, and feedback.  It is amazing, and humbling, and inspiring. Every comment, share, like, and referral is helping Long Ago Love grow and reach more people. Thank you!

So take a moment to check it all out and come back often, because 2015 is going to be filled with adventure here at Long Ago Love--stay tuned!

xo

Jordan

let's do this 2015 (plus a freebie for you!)

Hello all!  Do you feel recovered from the holidays yet?  Are you glad to be back to normal or sad the season's over?  I feel a little bit of both.  Though you may feel like the fun is over and there is nothing but dreary winter ahead, at Long Ago Love, we say be excited--because the clean slate of January is a beautiful thing!  

Have goal or a dream you've been mulling over?  This time of year is a great time to reflect and where you want to go from here--to de-clutter, organize, start a new routine, live healthier, or reconnect with people and priorities that matter to you. It’s all about saying no to the non-essentials in life/work so we can say yes to the things that are truly essential. It’s super challenging + refreshing + motivating + totally appropriate for New Year's.

Our mantra for 2015 is "let's do this!" because why wait? I came across this Amy Poehler quote: "I am a firm believer that every few years one needs to shake one's life through a sieve, like a miner in the Yukon. The gold nuggets remain. The rest falls through like the soft earth it is." Isn't that lovely?So if you have something you want to accomplish, go for it! I'm so excited for you! 

Need some tips to get started? Writing down your goal and telling someone about it is a great way to make it real and have some accountability so you stick with it.  Does your dream seem a little overwhelming?  Break it down into steps or a to-do list, so you can tackle it one piece at a time (doesn't it feel good to check each step off the list?).  Keep reminders about your goal where you can see them because that will keep you inspired and on track.

Long Ago Love wants to support you in whatever goals, dreams, or resolutions you might be focused on, so for a fun reminder for your computer desktop, click below to download the "let's do this!" wallpaper (pictured above).  I hope it keeps you inspired!

Download "let's do this!" wallpaper: {small} {large}

As for us?  You may remember that Long Ago Love's goal to kickstart the new year was to launch our new website, which will showcase our portfolio, provide information on our services, and include pictures, details, and rates for our event rental items.  I am so excited to announce that we will be officially launching the website next week, so keep an eye out!

I'm so thankful to everyone who has supported this dream--every like, share, comment, and referral is helping us to grow and reach more people. Our next milestone will be hosting a Long Ago Love booth at the Rocky Mountain Bridal Show on April 12, 2015.  We'd love to see you or anyone you know needing event planning services there!

Now you know our goals for the next few months--I'd love to hear yours! Let me know in the comments section!

xo

Jordan

a glam New Year's fête

 Happy 2015 everyone! Long Ago Love rang in the New Year in grand style using a black and gold palate for a glam masquerade.  The party was complete with photo booth, giant jenga, fabulous guests. Check out all the fun below!

    Hope you had a New Year's to remember!

                xo,

       Jordan