> Being left at the altar on her wedding day, Pamela became furious.

The sentence is an example of a sentence starting with a participial phrase; in that case, it's correct to use the comma (which is the only way to separate the phrases, in that case).

A comma splice would occur in a sentence like

> ***** The Taylors won a new swimming pool, however, no one in the family knew how to swim.

The correct sentence is


> The Taylors won a new swimming pool; however, no one in the family knew how to swim.