Arizona Bride Magazine recently honored Encore Creative with an award in their annual 'Best of ' list. The List is a who's who of Arizona wedding planners and specialists, and is worth a look; whether you're a prospective client, or an industry professional.
This award, in the category of  Best Talent Agency, comes as a great honor, and spotlights an area of expertise that some of our clients didn't know we were involved in. We are, in fact, involved in so many aspects of Wedding and Special Event Planning, that it can be a surprise to those who don't know us, but with 30 years in the business, and so many talented people on staff, we take a lot of pride in being able to tell our clients that "we'll handle it all."

Best Talent Agency
The finalists are: Encore! Creative, Krigsten Agency, and SRO Entertainment and Productions Ltd.
The winner is: Encore! Creative
Tempe & Tucson | 480.736.2800 | encorecreative.com
“Encore provided us with the help we needed to make our venue warm and welcoming. They handled everything from the basic tent structure to providing us with very useful ideas regarding decorations, lighting, etc. They also have a wonderful floral department [staff] who outdid themselves. We only have one daughter so this was our only opportunity to plan a wedding, and it truly turned out to be a great evening, helped in no small part by Encore.” - Beth Dorweiler, Scottsdale, mother of Lauren Dorweiler, married Nov. 14, 2009

 

The 4th Annual Zonies (Arizona Event Industry Awards) took place on May 14th, 2010, with Encore Creative selected as a finalist in the categories of Best Entertainment and Best Decor. Encore staffers, Michelle Magana and David Kellett, who put together the company's entries, were on hand for the awards dinner, which was held at Chase Field's Suite Lounge.

The evening's events commenced with a Networking/Cocktail Reception, during which time, guests were able to review all of the finalist's entries. Dinner was served during the awards ceremony, with a break at the mid-point for for some live entertainment from the local dance troupe Foot Klan.  A highlight of the evening was when guest were taken on a guided tour, down through the stadium's corridors, past the dugouts, and right onto the grass of Chase field!

Encore Creative congratulates all those who took home a Zonie award!

Recently, a client came in with a scrap of fabric,  that had a pattern on it, which they wanted to use as a motif in their wedding.

The plan was to order rolls of the fabric, to make our own custom linens and accents, but  a challenge arose, when it was discovered that the fabric in question had been discontinued.

Some would resign themselves to the fact that they would simply have to select a new fabric, but not us! Here's a great example of how our team and resources came together to pull off a seemingly impossible task.

First, we had our graphics department scan the client's fabric swatch. Then,  using a graphics program, we were able to create a tile of the pattern. This allowed us to recreate the pattern without any seams, on any sized surface, no matter what the width or length.

Using our large format printer, we printed the pattern out onto a special canvas, recreating the look and feel of the original fabric!

Eric has been working in a sales or management position for nearly two decades.  He started his career in sales shortly after graduating from college in Minnesota and quickly worked his way into a management position.  An opportunity arose in management with a world renowned healthcare organization, which ended up bringing him to the Valley in 1998.

While working full-time as a manager in healthcare, he attended graduate school in the evenings earning his MBA.  He left the healthcare industry to go to work for a start-up marketing company, returning to his sales roots.  Eric has been working in various upper management positions since, including working as the VP of Sales and Events for the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce before joining the Encore team as a Sales Manager.

In his spare time Eric enjoys watching and playing sports.  His two favorite sports are golf and baseball, so summer is always fun!  Some day Eric would like to elevate his golf game enough to qualify, and play, in a national tournament on the amateur level.  He lives in Scottsdale with his wife Susie and cat Nancy.

With a number of our bigger shows in the spotlight lately, I wanted to point out one of the key components to making these productions successful; the minutiae, and I don't just mean nice napkin rings, but awesome details. Here are a few examples:

Tracy O’Brien comes to us from an event management background – having started in the business as an intern for the United States Bobsled Team.  

While in Las Vegas, she worked for GES Events and worked on large sporting events that included:  Major League Baseball All*Star in Cleveland & Denver, National Football League Superbowl in New Orleans, Alpine Skiing Championships in Vail,  ESPN Extreme Sports in San Francisco, etc…

While at the Hard Rock Hotel she produced over 90 corporate events in seven months that included:  a large scale circus for Skechers, a huge tent concert for Steve Madden, a car show in the parking garage, a high-roller wedding with over 1000 guests, the 1200 guest extravagant Playboy Party with Hugh and the Bunnies, etc…

The last seven years, Tracy has been working in destination services, catering and sales for Scottsdale and Santa Fe resorts.  After returning to Arizona, Tracy chose to return to her crazyland love of events.

Last week Scottsdale Healthcare sponsored a Health and Wellness Expo, hosted by Casino Arizona and produced by Encore Creative.

Check out some highlights here.

Encore Creative staff were on hand Saturday, providing sound production support for the annual Parada del Sol parade. Now in it's 57th year, the parade is a Scottsdale institution. This year, the spotlight was on breast cancer education, with the Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign, the Pink Heals Tour Fire Trucks (which bear the signatures of breast cancer survivors), and Pink Street, a grouping of vendors and non-profits doing their part to provide information and support. The gloomy weather didn't prevent people from having a great time; As one MC said to the crowd, "That's not rain in the air, that's Scottsdale spirit!" We wish to thank our partners, and the public for making this event a success, and are looking forward to next years parade!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is David Kellett, and I am the new coordinator of Online Content and Social Media with Encore Creative. I come to this position with a background in Website Design and Content Development, always with a finger on the pulse of Social Media Marketing.

With a solid Social Media campaign being a key component to any company’s online marketing strategy, you’d be amazed at how frequently it still remains an under-utilized, or even an altogether neglected, aspect of a company’s online presence.

We at Encore Creative are determined not to allow ourselves to fall into that category. We are dedicated to staying ahead of the curve with the creation of this new position and in building upon, and expanding, the foundation already in place.

If you ever have an opportunity to tour Encore Creative’s Tempe facility, one of the first things that you will notice is the magnitude and grandeur of our projects. You will find a prop warehouse, a metal fabrication shop,  a carpentry/paint shop, a floral design department, a set dressing and textile facility (including a very large linen inventory), and a commercial graphics facility (which now includes large format printing capabilities).  All of this under one roof!

There are many fascinating stories here waiting to be told, and I think you’ll be quite impressed with learning about all of the extraordinary and unique talents that the staff and crew of Encore Creative have to offer.

It's been quite a while since our last blog and there are a lot of exciting developments to report. We've completely immersed ourselves and the company into Television production, partnering with Mike Ousley productions on the local production of "Lucky Break", currently hosted by Brad Perry at Lone Butte Casino. I (Jeff Lowy) and Associate Producer Aimee Schwierjohn have hosted live auditions on Wednesday nights, along with the "world's most dangerous DJ", Rob Shakmanwith great turnout and response. I continue to function as one of the three judges along with Jan Ziff of Successes.com and CBS Radio and Linda White Wolf of White Wolf Productions, a platinum Grammy recipient/producer. The show airs on CBS (KPHO) 5 in Phoenix…and we're hoping to renew next season at Lone Butte shortly. If not, we'll be finding a new venue from which to air the locally popular show. You can find it on Facebook (become a fan!) and complete episodes at www.wingilariver.com. Really exciting news-we're in talks with Cecil Chambers, award winning record and film producer, and CEO of Triumphant Pictures on creating a Spanish language show for Univision and a "Teen Idol" show, possibly beginning in March at a local Valley mall….and potentially nationwide in partnership with a very large management company. On the event side, we've produced videos for the grand opening of the new Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino along with a charitable effort on behalf of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Arizona. I'll post those very soon…if not today! We also produced a completely outrageous and high quality Las Vegas-style "Showgirl" review for a promotion at Jobing.com. Check out the videos here soon….along with some pictures in the slideshow below. Thanks to Darcy, our choreographer, Kirsten and Andrea, our costume designers, and all of the crew-Todd, Chad, and the rest of the gang for implementing an on-site dressing room, security, stage and decor, and soundstage. As always, Georgia Varela, operations manager, handled all of the coordination with aplomb. If you get to work with her on your event…you're in great hands. The grand opening of the new Wild Horse Pass Casino and Resort provided us with three days of constant events and production. Thanks to motivational speaker Mike Miller, author of Sales at Combat Speed, and CEO of PrimoSolutions, LLC, Emil Miller of Phoenix Sound Labs and countless others for their support and superb efforts. Andrea Vote, our floral designer, and her team, have been cranking out hundreds and hundreds of outrageously creative and stunning arrangements for numerous events. Pics are attached….check them out! Our new showroom and foray back into the social markets have been extremely successful and special thanks go out to Goodwill Industries for giving us great opportunities to work with them on events, Scottsdale Health Care, who now asks us to organize their health fairs and the Novak, Blumenthal, and Dortwiler families for giving us the chance to demonstrate our wedding coordination expertise and creative input into their events-from linens and chair covers to centerpieces, entertainment and floral arrangements, candles….anything needed for a great event. Lots more to come….we're doing all types of printing in-house, created ATM machine covers for several local casinos, and are producing a spectacular Jazz Brunch in Chandler, with local luminaries like Alice Tatum, Sherry Roberson, Jerry Donato and Augie Mendoza, Tim Downs, and soon-Bridget Maynes, Delphine Cortez and Margo Reed (tentatively). The Encore Band is making a resurgence, displaying it's 30 years of experience and "chops" at a recent event with long-time members Greg Anderson, Randy Walker, Joe Schofield, Dave Schmidt, Claudia Maynes-Burkland and new rising local star Jermaine Johnson-discovered at the Lucky Break competition. Lots of old stand-bys but also a new Michael Jackson set, some Jason Mraz, Counting Crows, Journey, and pop hits by Coldplay, Sara Bareilles, and lots more. Corporate and social clients should definitely check out the new look and playlist. Again, a lot more has gone on…and I'll follow up soon with video and photos of events for local companies like ReBath, Clean Cab, and large corporate events for Genentech, Marsh (on the road in Dallas) HP, and many more. Stay tuned….we're going to return to a weekly (or more blog) to entertain you over the holidays. Finally, a shout-out to my son Sam Lowy, who is directing the ASU improv troupe, Barren Mind, participating in the university's sketch comedy troupe, Farce Side, and working on his own projects, "Marvin's Room", Tempe's first independent Improv group, with shows at the Madcap Theaters every other Friday night, getting his stand-up skills honed at ASU's Comedian's Club, and, like all young performers, working in the Encore warehouse in his "spare" time. Check out Marvin's Room on Facebook and become a fan!