Vendor Spotlights Archives

Flash Back Friday: November Wedding with She-N-He

January 27, 2015

As a catering company, we’ve always like the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Sometimes it is hard to describe what the wonderful photographers have captured at the countless events and weddings we have been a part of. As we flash back to a wedding we had back in November, we wanted to feature the photographers of the event, She-n-He.com.

Husband and Wife team Melanie and Steve specialize in natural and modern wedding and portrait photography and boy, do they capture some amazing moments. Hosted at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, we served a vast assortment of cheeses and charcuterie along with a caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella. Leaving us speechless, enjoy this flashback Friday through these amazing photographs.

Vendor Spotlight: Marquee Events New Chargers

December 18, 2014

We have all heard it before, presentation is everything. A dish is only as good as it looks when it comes to event catering (for the most part). Although at times unfortunate, this rings so true in our industry. This is why it is so important to have our dishes displayed along with centerpieces, fine table cloths and chargers for aesthetic appeal. The food will always taste amazing if made with fresh ingredients, but it does help to add a bit of pizzaz or sparkle.

Speaking of chargers, a fellow vendor in the industry, Marquee Events Group has released a whole new line of chargers meant to beautifully hold the place for a dish while your company mixes and mingles. Have a look and let us know which ones you like!

Local Eats: December

December 4, 2014

Our monthly feature of local new restaurants allows all our Crave readers to make sure they get a taste of what’s new in Austin. Keep Austin weird by keeping Austin local!

Olamaie

The creation of chefs Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas, Olamaie specializes in Southern food with a modern twist, inspired by local ingredients. The fresh local ingredients like Fredericksburg tomatoes finished with a lemon basil granita are a refreshing appetizer that can be followed by the traditionally southern likes of biscuits and gravy, topped with a sunny side up egg and Tabasco sauce.

Fork & Taco

Competing in the already saturated taco market is Fork & Taco, situated between Noble Sandwich Co. and Pint House Pizza on Burnet Road. This taco joint however does not do queso, pico and guac like the others. The menu is separated into four sections (Pork, Fish, Beef and Veggie) from which there are 2-3 tacos with fresh and unique flavor combinations. The red fish tempura taco for example, is topped with chile lime mayo, cabbage and red onion.

Local Eats: Austin

November 18, 2014

This month of local eats Austin features some new locations of already existing staples of the city.

Counter Café East

With the first Counter Café situated snugly between stores on N. Lamar across the street from retail giants like Anthropologie and REI, this second location will provide owner Debbie Davis and her business partners some space and variety in location. Counter Café has always been known for fresh, locally-sourced food which will transcend into the second location located at 1914 E. Sixth St.

(photo by: Brenda Herrera)

Vendor Spotlight: Greenbelt DJ Productions

October 16, 2014

One of the exciting things about the business climate in Austin is the opportunity to interact with and be inspired by so many talented businesses and service providers. Greenbelt DJ Productions is one of those businesses.

Below is an opportunity to learn a little about Greenbelt, in their own words. If you need a DJ for an upcoming event, we highly recommend them.

How long have you been in business?
Owner Joel Giorgio started Greenbelt DJ Productions in 2006. Since then, Anthony, Erik, and Joel have DJ’d approximately 1,200 weddings.

What do you do?
Greenbelt DJ Productions – named after the Barton Creek Greenbelt – has a stellar reputation for providing exceptional mobile DJ and lighting services at weddings, corporate events, and other functions.

What is unique about your business?
We mix live using turntables, which adds excitement to your dance floor. We also offer professional MC services, gorgeous up-lighting at competitive prices, and the highest level of customer service you’ll find in Austin.

Vendor Spotlight: Bouquets of Austin

September 6, 2013

Our featured vendor this week brings the beauty and elegance of flora to life. Bouquets of Austin is a highly esteemed floral design studio that brings passion and dedication to creating unique floral arrangements for any occasion. Their original hand-crafted designs are always catered to capture your vision and personal taste and have been doing so for the past 17 years in Austin and The Hill Country.

We have always had such a pleasure working with Bouquets of Austin and value our relationship with the many vendors we feature on our spotlights. Here is what they had to say about the longevity of their exceptional business.

How long have you been in business?

Since 1996; 17 Years in Austin

Give us some of your company history. What do you do?

We provide gorgeous florals for weddings and special events.

What is unique about your business?

We primarily service weddings and special events so we are truly dedicated to our clients during their planning/design process.

What is one of your favorite aspects about your business?

Aside from working with some of the most gorgeous flowers, it’s the opportunity to work with an awesome community of colleagues and clients.

What do you love about working with crave?

What’s not to love? From a vendor perspective, they are prompt, attentive, responsive, and they know that we are all working for the same outcome – a happy client. Not to mention, the food is delicious and the service impeccable.

What has been your favorite event that you have done?

If you ask our staff, it’s the last one we’ve done…seriously! An event in which the client and their family are happy are our favorites. We also enjoy those events in which we’ve met and overcome challenges. We love all the personal touches that go into event planning.

What’s the best way for someone to reach you?

Visit our website at www.bouquetsofaustin.com and fill out our online questionnaire. We’ll email you directly back with information and offer options for setting up an appointment with our designers.

What’s the best advice you could give to a customer?

Come with inspiration and an open mind and let us do our job – it’s what we love to do!

Take look at some of their beautifully designed bouquets and arrangements with you in mind.

Vendor Spotlight: Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures

August 13, 2013

For this spotlight, we are focusing on a wonderfully skilled and creative vendor: Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures. Serving both Austin and San Antonio, Full Spectrum Ice specializes in high quality customized ice sculptures to fit any theme or event.

Owner and sculptor Sean Leahy began his career in the industry with an artistic background that has helped incorporate unique and innovative factors to his designs. His expertise has led to a variety of awards, and he has been recently recognized by the National Ice Carving Association as a Certified Professional Carver and Ice Educator.

As fellow winners of an Austin ISES Award, this luxury vendor has exhibited skill and professionalism time and time again to produce superior sculptures. It has been a pleasure working with such a wonderful and imaginative artist, not to mention how thrilled we were when we saw the beautiful sculpture made especially for Crave.

Here is a little more on what Full Spectrum Ice has to say about their endeavors:

How long have you been in business?

I have personally been sculpting ice since 2004. I worked for a company (Ice Visions) in St. Louis, MO for several years until I decided to start Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures. I moved to Texas in August 2010 and opened for business at the end of October 2010. This is my third full year in business!

Give us some of your company history. What do you do?

Full Spectrum Ice designs, produces, and displays the highest quality custom ice sculptures for the client who appreciates consistently superior services. After earning a BA in Studio Art from Webster University, I was searching for a way to apply my degree and love for art in the “real world”. I was introduced to the idea of ice sculpture by my older brother who is a chef. Historically ice sculpture is a culinary art and he had some interactions with the medium while he was in school and through his work. After our conversation, I reached out to the owner of Ice Visions and told him I was an art student interested in learning a new medium. I started working there that Monday. I caught the entrepreneurial bug working in that small business environment and knew that it was something that I wanted for myself. The transition from employee to business owner is a constant learning process that reaches far beyond sculpting. I work with clients directly to customize designs that fit their events and add an impact to their decor. Once an idea and direction is determined, I create a few designs to select from. This design process puts everyone on the same page and lets the client know exactly what they will be getting. The designing process also serves to create the templates used to sculpt the ice. Like I said earlier, there are a ton of non design/sculpting elements to running the business, but i’ll leave it with the fun stuff.

What is unique about your business?

Sculpting ice in it of itself is a pretty unique business, but what separates me from other ice sculpting companies is my art background and ability to design. I like to combine functional displays with aesthetics that fit the individual customer’s needs. This helps break up what is expected, looks great while fitting in with the rest of the decor and creates a memorable experience for the guests. I like to say “Think outside the blocks”.

What is one of your favorite aspects about your business?

One of my favorite aspects of my business is the ability to be creative while contributing to some great events. My sculptures can literally be anything and for any occasion. Figuring out the what and how is always a challenge that keeps me interested. The process is very satisfying for me as an artist and the final display at the event is the cherry on top.

What do you love about working with Crave?

What I love about working with Crave is their willingness to do different things and allowing some creative flexibility on my end. They make great food and it always looks delicious too. The food and ice compliment each other so well. I love how they make my products look better. They are also great about giving feedback to help improve our collaborations, making for better and better experiences for their guests.

What has been your favorite event (or one of them) that you have done?

One of my favorite events was a Star Wars video game launch party. It was a huge, over-the-top event that was a ton of fun because of the attention to details from the movies and game that were incorporated in the event. Aside from the theme, it was great for me because I got to show a variety of products: color logos, 14′ curved bar with Ion cannon shot luges, and a life sized, ride-able Taun Taun (a creature from the planet Hoth used for photo opportunities). The ability to show off all of these techniques at one event showed my versatility and ability to execute on a large scale too.

What’s the best way for someone to reach you?

You can reach me and follow Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures in a variety of ways. Please follow us on all of our social media to keep up with the latest events and to get inspired for your events.

512-560-2340

stl@fullspectrumice.com

www.facebook.com/fullspectrumice

www.twitter.com/fullspectrumice (@fullspectrumice)

www.instagram.com/fullspectrumice

What’s the best advice you could give to a customer?

My best advice for customers is to consider what will give you the best bang for your buck AND be memorable. Ice can be relatively affordable (compared to other decor items) and customized to fit your specific needs. People don’t always get to experience ice sculptures so they are inherently more memorable. Finally, don’t be overly concerned that the ice will melt. ALL events come to an end and all of the elements of that event expire; the lights and music are turned off, the food gets eaten, the drinks drunk, the planner goes home, etc, etc. Ice sculptures are designed to create a WOW factor and last through out an event. A functional sculpture (ice luge, food display, photo opportunity) will have a great impact and give your guests a fun and memorable experience.

Be sure to visit Full Spectrum Ice Sculpture’s website here, but not before you see some of the amazing sculptures they’ve produced first!

Vendor Spotlight: Polkadots Cupcake Factory

July 11, 2013

Today we are showcasing Polkadots Cupcake Factory. Opened by husband-and-wife team Olga and Ben in 2008, the cupcake factory speaks for itself. Providing delicious and creative cakes, cookies and cupcakes, Polkadots strives on creating detailed and delectable masterpieces. Let’s get to know them a little better!

How long have you been in business?
5 years as of June 6th of this year.

Give us some of your company history. What do you do?
We are a local cake and goodies shop that offers custom cakes,
cupcakes or hand drawn cookies made specifically to fit your events
(birthdays, baby showers, weddings, bar/bat mitzvah.) During our first
year, we only did cupcakes but our clients started asking for custom
cakes and cookies as well so we obliged.

What is unique about your business?

We take pride in the details of our work. Our cakes have clean lines, sharp edges and they are delicious.We bake cupcakes daily and they are available for purchase Monday-Saturday 12PM-8PM either for walk-in or delivery in the Austin area. We also do custom cakes, wedding cakes, cake lollipops, macaroons, or any custom desserts. We create our special deserts just for you!

What is one of your favorite aspects about your business?
We are always meeting new friends. People are getting married, having
baby showers, bridal showers or birthdays. We love it because we get to
be a part of their special day!

What do you love about working with Crave?
They are very organized, on time and create delicious food!

What has been your favorite event (or one of them) that you have done?
For the past 5 years we have been involved with the Austin Food and Film
Festival. We love the organization because it gives Austin’s youth a better chance to learn through the Young Filmmakers Program. It is a free film education program implemented through local Austin high schools. They also have the Arts Education Outreach Program which grants over 300 scholarships to high school students to attend the annual festival, conference and Summer Film Camp.

What’s the best advice you could give to a customer?
Have an idea of what you want. We can always help with the details of
the design, but it really helps when the customer has at least the
basic design in mind. For example, we could use invitations, color
swatches for the party or color themes for inspiration.

If you are in need of a little creative baking for your event make sure to contact Polkadots! You can shoot them an email at info@polkadotscupcakefactory.com or call 512. 476. 3687

Check out the amazing detail, creativity and elegance in their designs!

Vendor Spotlight: Intelligent Lighting Design

June 25, 2013

This week we shine the spotlight on a vendor who coincidentally specializes in just that– designing the perfect lighting for your special event. Deemed as the most critically acclaimed event lighting design firm in Texas, Intelligent Lighting Design has become the forerunner with the development of the innovative iDesign LED lighting series for special events.

Let’s learn a little more about ILD Lighting:

How long have you been in business?

Since 2006.

Give us some of your company history. What do you do?

Through ingenuity and in-house design, ILD created an affordable way to illuminate any event with color-matching capabilities and endless possibilities. With over 149 million colors to choose from, personalizing an event has never been easier.

What is unique about your business?

Our state of the art iPad lighting control software allows us to discreetly control lighting by utilizing a completely wireless system. This allows our on site technicians to work from anywhere in the venue while still having full access to all of the features that our iDesign products offer. Also, we just recently launched our iDesign LED Dancefloor, the only one of its kind!!

What is one of your favorite aspects about your business?

We can illuminate ANY event from weddings, to galas, to corporate parties. It’s a huge plus when we can enjoy our work alongside meeting celebrities and corporate boards from prominent names such as Ferrari, Saucony, and Southwest Airlines.

What do you love about working with crave?

Crave Catering has such an incredible team! Their expertise and amazing food is profound, making them one of the best around!

What has been your favorite event (or one of them) that you have done? Why?

The Champions for Children Gala: Turning Skies Blue event. We’ve worked with the Children’s Advocacy Center before and each year, the gala gets better and better. This year, we incorporated blue uplighting as a symbolism of hope correlating with this year’s theme. As we portrayed “turning grey skies blue,” we programmed lightning and thunder strikes within the lighting, syncing it with audio. We helped raise over $112,000 that night; definitely an event for the books!

What’s the best way for someone to reach you?

Anybody can reach us at info@ildlighting.com or by dialing 877.266.6935

What’s the best advice you could give to a customer?

With 149 million color options, we can tailor to any concept and at an affordable price. No need to worry, let us make your vision a reality!