The Atrium

We were so lucky to have our newest venue, the Atrium, photographed by the talented Kyle Bergner. We first fell in love with Kyle's work when she photographed our space at a gorgeous wedding hosted here last fall. It was then we realized she was able to perfectly capture the essence of our boutique style hotel.

The space is perfect for intimate 

receptions or larger ceremonies.

See the original post here.

Check out more of her work here!

Oscars 2013

"The Oscars are just something you have on in the background. Plus it helps me figure out which movies I want to go and see."

Not all of us at the Colonnade watched the Oscars start to finish, but we all saw bits and pieces of the most important movie awards show this past Sunday evening.








From the red carpet interviews to Seth McFarlane's jokes and the many awards that were given out to the stars, there was something enjoyable for everyone. I personally loved anything with Jennifer Lawrence. I loved her in The Hunger Games and even more in Silver Linings Playbook. Then I saw her Red Carpet appearance and now she is one of my favorite actresses of all time. She seems super cool and totally real...which for a celebrity, is pretty great.

11 Reasons Why Jennifer Lawrence Is Your BFF in Your Head

Check out this article ^ about my new favorite star and you'll want to be her best friend too.

Ravens Super Bowl Parade

It's a great time to be from Baltimore! 

Sunday night's game was extremely stressful as the 4th quarter played out...I was nervous for the Ravens. Even as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I was hoping the Ravens would win. (When my friends and coworkers are happy, I'm happy)

It's great to be from Baltimore right now, the city is on cloud 9.

Check out these pix from my friends who are Ravens fans.

Visit Baltimore has some great pictures from the game and the parade on their Facebook page (see below)

More pictures from Visit Baltimore

Monday Motivation

"You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself."

Seth Godin

When I opened my email this morning, I saw an article from one of the magazines I subscribe to called Inc. The article included 12 motivational quotes to get you through the year, my favorite out of all of them is above. It was great for a Monday morning and definitely the right way to start the week!

I wanted to share these with everyone to spread the inspiration.

12 Quotes to get you through 2013

What quotes help get you through the day?

Cooking with the Chef

Last night we had our very first cooking class, taught by our Executive Chef, Jermaine Brookshire.

For the first class, he taught everyone how to make traditional MD crab cakes and sea diver scallops. 

Fun Fact: The reason these scallops have this name is because divers actually go into the sea to retrieve them. 

Neither dish requires a lot of ingredients, and also do not have a lot of steps involved but seafood, in my opinion, is always if-fy when you aren't 100% positive how to make it. Glad I learned from the expert the best way to make these delicious entrees! Chef gave quick tutorials, invited us up to his table, and walked around the class to make sure we understood not only how to prepare the dishes but also the entire process that went into the dish. He made it look so simple; I sure hope my at-home experience is that easy!

We didn't just learn how to prepare seafood meals last night. The Food & Beverage Director, Ricardo Espinosa, gave a short lesson about which wine would go best with the seafood! It was a great night overall; everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the Chef.

"We really had a great time! That was a wonderful event!!! Chef Jermaine did EXCELLENT. Looking forward to the next one." - Dianne Fowlkes, an attendee from Baltimore, MD

I can't wait for the next Cooking Class in April (April 18th). I've heard it will be about preparing exciting and nutritious salads, one of my favorite go-to lunches!

Read more to learn more about Chef Jermaine.

Favorite Fridays

There are so many local gems that can be found around the Colonnade. One of my personal favorites is Chocolatea (personally, it is a great pick me up on a long Thursday or Friday afternoon when I can't quite make it to Starbucks).

Chocolatea is a simple restaurant that uses fresh ingredients but still keeps it modern and to to date. We go there at least once a month for lunch, if not once a week for the delicious cocoa lattes they are known for. Since it is one of our favorite places I decided to snag a few for some members in the office today :)





I like to think it was the main reason they didn't have to nap this afternoon like usual ;)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Chandelier

As promised, here are pictures of our COMPLETED chandelier. It really makes the room so much more special.

See more pictures of our

Atrium Ballroom, a set on Flickr.

Come by and see it in person, the pictures do it no justice.

Takes my breath away.

Annual Masquerade Ball

Big Mask Party

New Years Eve 2012

It's the second annual Big Mask Party at the Colonnade. We are all extremely excited and have been working hard to make sure it is a night to remember! There will be a decadent plated dinner, 5 hour open bar, entertainment by The Great Expectations band, a late night comfort buffet, a balloon drop, and of course a champagne toast at midnight to celebrate! 

Enjoy the great video made my our friends at Wedding411.

Everyone is invited to the party! You can find more information and buy your tickets here.

The Newest Addition

The week we have all been waiting for at the Colonnade is finally here!

This week our engineers, mechanics, managers, EVERYONE, have been working hard on the light fixture installation for our newest venue, the Atrium Ballroom. Now this isn't just any light fixture. This is the light fixture that makes the ballroom. It took a lot of input from our team members and even more time spent online window shopping to find this gorgeous structure.

Finding the one we wanted and all agreed on was actually the easy part of the project. But, finding the  time to install the piece and actually putting everything together is the hard part. When you are a hotel, it is actually quite difficult to find any kind of time to install something. We have to check the schedules a few days prior to the big day, look a week or two out to give us time to test it out, and most important, make sure we won't be disturbing our guests or neighbors. The chandelier itself is a task to put together. (It may be hard to tell from the picture, but each strand of crystals is individually attached to each tier, that man has some serious patience)

The chandelier makes the room. It is absolutely stunning. LED lighting and tiers of crystals, this structure is going to bring many “ooh’s” and “aah’s”. It hangs from the center of the dome so our neighbors can see it too!

It is a work in progress right now but once the project is complete, there will be even more pictures to see!

What do you think so far?

Greetings

Hi there!

Welcome to the blog for the Inn at the Colonnade, written by yours truly, Sara Inglis.

Here I’ll be taking you to neat places in Baltimore, showing you some of my favorite spots around the hotel, and exploring the local culture! I want to keep you updated with our community and hotel so feel free to look around; I’m glad you stopped by.