AFTER you have produced top-flight special events for years, what's next? If you are event-makers extraordinaire Cheryl Fish and David Tutera, you keep moving toward the top. The two are teaming up with High Rise Events, a venture that will bring the “wow” of special events to penthouse life in Las Vegas.
SPECIAL EVENTS MAGAZINE: How did the two of you meet?
CHERYL FISH: It was at The Special Event in 1989 in New Orleans. I was speaking, David came in — it was instant chemistry.
DAVID TUTERA: I was mesmerized by everything Cheryl was doing. We connected as soon as we met.
Q: What services does High Rise Events offer?
CF: What we're doing has never been done before. About a year ago, we had dinner when David came to see me in Las Vegas. I told him about my idea for High Rise Events — creating wonderful parties in high-rises. His face lit up. What we are putting together and moving forward with is an “event concierge service.” We're working with high-rise developers in Las Vegas to create gorgeous, fabulous events for clients of that taste level and financial caliber. We're not joining forces to do an event company together. David will go on doing his events, his books, his media appearances — that is not changing.
DT: Let's say you've bought a fabulous high-rise [condominium] in Las Vegas. You fly in, and you don't have time to put together a celebration or cocktail party in your home. You come to us — we have 20 years each in this business — and we turn to the people we work with to create fabulous specialty drinks, wonderful flowers, gourmet foods and boutique products that are unique and customized to your home. That's the celebration side. On the other side, you may not be doing a celebration, but you can call High Rise Events for all the luxury elements you will need when you move in — textiles, soaps, linens, vases, candlesticks. We turn your personal world into an experience.
CF: When you come to Las Vegas, call High Rise Events, and we will have the floral ready, rose petals in the bathtub, Cristal in the ice bucket and music playing. You are coming home.
Q: What led you to decide that the market was ready for this service?
CF: I have an entrepreneurial spirit. We've been working with builders and real estate developers, and they don't have a plethora of people who can make this happen. We come with experience and know-how and lifestyle taste, and they come needing what we have. If we both work together, how can it not fly?
Another thing we want to do is produce “parties with a view,” as I call it. We're launching a book about “events with a view,” and these will be from all over. We're in Las Vegas now, but our goal is to open up in other cities. We're not an event company that wants to do events for 3,000. We want to do the really gorgeous events for people who want to enjoy their life in their homes.
Q: How do you complement each other?
DT: Cheryl and I have different styles but similar tastes; that makes our collaboration very unique. Not to pat ourselves on the back, but we've seen and done it all. You have to keep reinventing yourself, finding ways to be more unique and trend-setting.
Based in Las Vegas, High Rise Events can be reached at 702/756-4443; www.highriseevents.com.
