We were honored last year to work on an awards banquet with a fun “Under the Sea” theme. This theme really came to life in a variety of ways.
We started with a fairly blank canvas with an empty ballroom. We closed a portion of the air wall halfway and sectioned off one side for pre-function and the other for the dinner with a spandex tunnel in between for guests to walk through as they journey from one part to the other. The pre-function was decorated more with a beach style with palm trees, shells, an ice sculpture, etc. Once they passed through the tunnel, however, they walked through a hanging seaweed strands and were taken into the ballroom for an underwater experience.
Once they came out of the tunnel, they found a lighted display with tall bubble columns, coral, and large branch arrangement surrounded by faux boulders. High overhead, large shark and whale props were hung from the ceiling. Water patterned gobo projections were projected onto the ceiling and oversize clear balloons to look like bubble and hanging strands of seaweed hung down from overhead. For this event, we also custom-made giant jellyfish props to hang as well along with other assorted schools of fish.
Around the outer walls of the room, printed under the sea backdrops really made it feel as though you were under water. Guest tables were covered in various shades of blue linen with tropical floral centerpieces in blue wave glass containers. The head table was made out of an acrylic shadowbox table filled with fishing nets, shells, and other under the sea finds.
All these elements combined really made for a spectacular event. We are honored to be recognized as a nominee for the ILEA Esprit Awards for this program.