The Sedona Weddings and Corporate Events Guide

Event Decor Winners

“Best of 2009″

International Special Event Society / Arizona  

Ken and I are so honored that the Arizona Events Industry awarded Show Stoppers the “Zonie” for “Best Event Decor 2009.”  The award was presented at the annual I.S.E.S. awards dinner which was held at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale Arizona on May 13th.

Show Stoppers won the accolades by transforming the cavernous Pavilion at the Scottsdale Princess into a Las Vegas night club for 800 guests. The project was brought to the attention of I.S.E.S. by Deb Beggs of Tri-Rentals in Phoenix.  You may SEE THE TIME LAPSE VIDEO HERE :

   We are so grateful that one of the largest and most respected event rental services in California, Arizona and New Mexico has honored Show Stoppers by choosing one of our events to feature on their main website.  Hundreds of clients contact the specialists at  Tri-Rentals everyday for quality, tenting, tables, chairs, staging, tableware and just about anything needed for events in the entire southwest.  Work with them once and it will become clear why Tri-Rentals is hands down our favorite rental company.  Our friend Deb Beggs from Tri-Rentals has become a major player in Sedona often traveling up once a week from her Phoenix office.  Thank you everyone at “Tri” for being so supportive of Show Stoppers.  You make us look so good and we could not stop the show without you!  Visit the Tri-Rentals website and our featured event HERE:

On June 3rd, the most wonderful event took place at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix.  It was the 10th Anniversary Gala for Phoenix Bride and Groom magazine.  Please visit the magazine here:   It all began in a photo shoot with the renowned artists, Katrina Wallace and Andrew Mejia, of Sedona Bride. See: SedonaBride.com. Everything just seemed to click and came together really fast.  Don’t miss the slide show of the photo shoot and the gala!  All the images really tell the story how everything evolved in such a special way.  See the SLIDE SHOW HERE:  One of the shots made the cover, which inspired the colors of the event.  Show Stoppers was asked to design the festivities.  The unbelievably talented event and wedding coordinator, Victoria Canada, worked with Show Stoppers and the results were over the top.  Visit Victoria here:

We began this project with a 16,000 square foot empty room at the wonderful Arizona Grand Resort.   Please visit:  arizonagrandresort.com

Our job was to transform the space with the use of fabric draping, painted backdrops, lighting effects and, of course, flowers.  The first thing was to draw a floor plan to scale.

Victoria came up with the brilliant idea of dividing the room into two parts so the guests could gather in the first third of the tent and watch interviews on large screens while having cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres.   A wall of sheer, white, billowing fabric was erected with an entry to the rest of the tent constructed of truss and fabrics in the middle of the fabric wall.  The entry doubled as a stage where Fran Samuel, her staff, Victoria, Ken and I were introduced to the crowd.  We used a black and white theme in the gathering room.  The idea was to have guests in a temporary but elegant black and white setting.   Then, after the program, follow the juggler and stilt walker into the main room through the entry portal into a world of amazing color…. sort of like Dorothy opening the farmhouse door and stepping into the wonderful world of OZ.  It worked!

Below is the view from the black and white room looking through the entry. As guests entered, they could go to the right or left around the colorful arch backdrops at which time the magnificent room was revealed.  Notice the incredible matching floral displays Ken designed in the entry with submerged golden barrel cactus and vividly colored tropical flowers.   They were a hit to say the least.   As guests walked around the backdrop, this is what they saw.

We love this shot of Ken’s centerpiece with the room in the background. Notice the rose petal carpet under the ariel performer’s rigging!

The rose petal carpet was 20 feet in diameter and required 2000 roses in three colors.  It took 5 people 2 hours to make.  It took the ariel entertainer only minutes to muss.

Our friend, Andrea Blaut, owner of Sedona Cake Couture designed the cake and matched my color scheme perfectly.  This cake was a stunning 5 ft. tall multi-flavored masterpiece.  Visit Andrea at: sedonacakes.com

Here is a really fun shot of Fran and Victoria cutting the cake.  Everyone had such a great time!

….. including me!

I can’t close this post without this shot of all those incredibly gorgeous girls on Victoria’s staff.  Thank you Brenna for helping us lay down the rose petal carpet!The 10th Anniversay Gala celebrating Phoenix Bride And Groom Magazine really was the the greatest show on Earth.  Ken and I want to personally thank everyone involved with this very special event.

Eventsbyshowstoppers.com

We were approached by Benfield Inc. to design a cool Las Vegas style night club for a group of 800 guests at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort.  The challenge was to transform a cavernous 8000 sq. foot space into an electric environment to complement a concert by Earth Wind and Fire.  Hardly any flowers were used except for one large design above the bar.  Show Stoppers designed this event from the carpet up.  I thought I would put this on our blog because so many people think all we do is flowers.  We do it all!  Click on the photos ( especially the one below ) to get the full effect.

I designed elevated V.I.P. areas with groupings of white leather furniture that broke up the space and provided great views of the band.  Ruby red glass cubes with candles and red and black pillows finished the look.

We ordered special retro style gobos that added lovely patterns and textures of light to the carpet and furniture.

A colonnade of 16 palm trees that were 15ft. tall greeted guests as they entered.  Yards upon yards of billowing white voile fabric was draped and back lit in ruby red to give energy to the room.

Want to see what goes into a Show Stopper installation?   Check out the TIME LAPSE VIDEO by clicking HERE.  The project took three days to complete and was sped up 8000 times to compress the installation into two minutes.  Let it load completely for the best effect.  This impressive video was filmed by Taltos Video Productions.   Thank you Schelli and Mike!

Return to Show Stopper’s website:  Eventsbyshowstoppers.com

WOW!  We can’t believe all the press we are getting on the decor we designed for the 10th anniversary gala for Phoenix Bride and Groom Magazine.  Style Me Pretty, one of the most popular wedding blogs on the planet, has thrown their spotlight on us…. AGAIN!!!  What fantastic comments everyone is making about our work.  Thanks to all of you for appreciating what we do. Thank you soooo much, Eddye and S.M.P.  You have GOT to discover this incredible wedding blog if you haven’t already… and we doooooo  mean incredible!   See wonderful images by Katrina Wallace and Andrew Mejia along with the beautiful write-up by clicking HERE: