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2023 Recap: Breaking Down the Coolest Ice Sculptures of the Year

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As 2023 comes to a close, we can’t help but reflect on what a wonderful year it was! 2023 was a year of refinement and growth, as we perfected our processes in preparation for the new endeavors we took on. We created more ice sculptures than ever, including carving for some of our biggest clients and events ever.

In this post, we’ll take you on a journey from the beginning of 2023 to the present, showcasing the coolest ice sculptures we had the pleasure of creating this year. We are immensely proud of everything our team has accomplished and soon you’ll see why! Make sure to read to the end for a sneak peek of what we have in store for the new year…and there just might be a special promo tucked in this post!

Let’s go!

Loop Ice Carnival 2023

We kicked off 2023 with an enormous undertaking that set the tone for the year! The Loop Ice Carnival is a winter festival in St. Louis, MO that our owner, Sean, was a founding member of when the event first began. It has grown so much over the years and our team always loves contributing specialty ice sculptures for it!

The carnival is a special community event that takes place outdoors in the University City Loop, the primary shopping district of St. Louis. Families and guests are able to enjoy all the festivities while supporting the local shops, restaurants, and bars in this area. Entertainment options include stilt walkers, face painters, character meet and greets, and of course, our ice sculptures!

At the beginning of this year, we created over 40 customized ice sculptures for this event. Each sculpture featured a local business’ branding and we set each carving right in front of each shop.

We also produced four life-size showpieces to serve as focal points throughout the carnival! These St. Louis and winter themed ice sculptures also acted as photo opportunities, where guests could stand behind the ice and place their face in a cutout, putting them right in the action! Attendees loved putting their faces up to our Chuck Berry sculpture especially!

Lastly, Sean brought Elsa from the movie Frozen to life in front of everyone’s eyes in a live ice carving demonstration! Live demos are always a hit, as people get to see for themselves exactly how our ice sculptures are created. Sean breaks out his chainsaw and chisels to transform raw blocks of ice into a spectacular ice display that dazzled guests long after the demo was over.

The Loop Ice Carnival 2023 was an overwhelming success and it only fueled us as we dove headfirst into the rest of the year.

Brand Partnerships

Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures has been an Austin staple for all things ice since 2010 and in that time, we have worked hard to forge trusted partnerships based on our customer service, quality of our ice products, and overall professionalism. In 2023, these collaborations came to fruition more than ever before, as we created epic ice sculptures for events like the CMT Awards and the Spurs opening games.

The illustrious Moody Center set the stage for these events, starting with the famed CMT Awards. Celebrating country music videos, television, and artists, this awards show is highly anticipated every year and this was the first year it took place in our backyard of Austin, TX. We created ice sculptures with the CMT branding on it: one in the shape of the awards they were giving out that evening and another ice mural that featured the CMT logo and Austin themed icons. Last but not least, we carved a special champagne bottle holder for the timeless brand, Moet. Featuring their logo and the ability to hold 4 bottles right in the ice, this piece enhanced their signature bar very n-ice-ly.

This spring, we also celebrated the Spurs at the Moody Center! If you know us, you know we love supporting the home team, so we were honored to create three Spurs-branded ice sculptures. The first was a seafood tray with a full color Spurs logo cutout sculpture. The next featured a basketball going through a hoop with the Spurs logo on it and the crown jewel of the event was a life-size Spurs ice mural! This showcased a Spurs player in action about to dunk a ball and it made for an incredible photo opportunity for the VIP guests at the game!

Speaking of supporting the local community, every year, our team has the privilege of working with Big Brothers Big Sisters for their Ice Ball Gala. This summer, we provided a huge installation for them in the form of a multi-tiered, branded candle wall! It was life-sized, so it could serve as both event décor and a photo backdrop and we just loved how it turned out! A great ice display for a great cause.

Hello St. Louis!

Our company has been based in Central Texas for the last fifteen years and while the Lone Star State will always have our hearts, this year, we set our eyes on expanding to St. Louis, MO! This is our owner and ice master, Sean’s hometown, so this was an extra special endeavor that we were all so proud to achieve. We established a permanent home in downtown St. Louis at the beginning of fall and we came out of the gate strong!

We carved some truly epic ice sculptures for a special wedding in Kansas City, MO, including a 360 degree ice bar setup, ice vase, a monogrammed champagne display, and an oyster display. These luxurious pieces helped elevate the wedding by providing a unique and special touch that none of the guests expected. These sculptures created unforgettable photo opps and memories for the newlyweds, their families, and all their attendees, and we were so grateful to have been a part of it.

Catering: Brancato’s Catering
Venue: Union Station

Since then, we’ve carved countless ice sculptures for weddings, private events, and holiday parties. No matter what the St. Louis community needs, we’re able to provide it, from seafood displays to branded sculptures to themed luges.

If you’re in the St. Louis area with an upcoming event, we’d love to help! We’re even offering you a special gift of 10% off your very first order! Hit the button below to reserve your date on our calendar and get ready for the ice sculpture of your dreams.

Our Biggest Moody Center Event Yet

Back in Texas, our team absolutely crushed it at one of our biggest events of the year! Set at the famous Moody Center in Austin, we handcrafted four HUGE one-of-a-kind ice bars and seafood displays. Completely 3D and realistic, the crown jewel of the event was our 23 foot wide bar with truck cabs on either end and a stunning ice fountain in the middle. Freestanding and branded, this truck bar was a complete hit with the clients and guests, as everyone enjoyed fresh seafood straight from the ice!

We set the other seafood displays around the event, complete with unique branding for Moet, Fusion Power, and Bouchon Bistro. There’s nothing like having fully functional and interactive ice displays that also look incredible! Talk about a triple threat!

Hook ‘Em Horns!

As we went into the fall of 2023, we were ready to cheer on our UT Longhorns once again! We were there to support the team for the entire season, providing UT and Longhorn themed ice sculptures for every home game. We created ice bars and seafood displays with UT’s signature burnt orange, which served to wine and dine the UT club members and cheer the team onto victory! We’re so proud to be part of Longhorn Nation and we love to celebrate them no matter what in the best way we know how: with ice!

Wedding Ice Sculptures

There’s always a special place in our hearts for the weddings we do! It’s never lost on us what a privilege it is to contribute ice to a couple’s big day, whether it’s an ice luge, ice bar, seafood display, monogrammed piece, or engraved cubes.

We know how special your wedding day is and how important it is to make it uniquely your own. That’s why we will incorporate your monogram, initials, wedding date or any other desired wording or imagery to personalize your ice sculptures to you. In the planning process, we’ll also draw inspiration from your invitation suite and wedding website in order to ensure that the ice perfectly aligns with your wedding design.

Here are just a few of our favorite wedding pieces from 2023:

If you’re newly engaged or having your wedding in 2024, now is the perfect time to reserve your wedding date on our calendar! We can’t wait to hear all the details of your big day and are excited to see the ice sculptures what we dream up together!

Winter Festival Ice Sculptures in Lehi, Utah

2023 was our biggest and best year yet! Not only was it a massive year in our Texas home base, but our clients took us to new places, including St. Louis and Utah! We were honored to be included in the city of Lehi, Utah’s winter festival this year. They truly wanted to give their community members a fun event, where everyone of all ages could gather and enjoy the holidays together. They certainly achieved this! They brought in an ice skating rink, invited guests to attend local Christmas shopping events, and of course, had our team come in to install some life-size ice sculptures!

For this special winter event, we custom created an almost 6ft tall holiday cowboy boot, a branded snowflake sculpture, and an 8ft ice throne! Each of these pieces had a unique significance. The cowboy boot was a nod to Lehi’s own history and culture with a fun holiday berry detail on it.

The snowflake sculpture actually doubled as a photo opp, where people could stand behind it, place their face in the cutout, and snap a fun picture! We love interactive pieces like this, especially to encourage social media engagement, and with the City of Lehi’s logo engraved on it, it was a win-win!

Lastly, the majestic ice throne was absolutely fit for an ice king and queen! It was able to seat 3-4 people at a time and guests loved capturing pictures with this piece as well.

These ice sculptures were as grand as the winter festival and we’re thankful we got to round out the year with such an incredible community celebration!  

Coming in 2024…

From everyone on our team to you, we want to shout out a big thank you for a wonderfully unbelievable year! Whether you are a client or vendor partner of ours, we wholeheartedly thank you for allowing us to contribute our ice to your celebration. Nothing makes us happier than blowing you and your guests away with our ice creations and having the ice be even a small part of your event.

To our clients: A special thank you for choosing us to carve for you time and time again. It is our honor and privilege to earn your business and handcraft creative and unique designs for you. Your joy is the reason we do what we do!

To our vendor partners: Congratulations on a successful year and thank you for your wonderful partnership! We know how hard you work to make these events come alive, and we’re continuously grateful to work with such talented people like you! Cheers to the new year and all the new events it brings!

Stay tuned everyone! If you thought 2023 was a big year, just wait until you see what we have in store for 2024! We have a ton up our sleeve, but here’s a sneak peek: We’re coming back for the Loop Ice Carnival in St. Louis! Now that we have a home in the city, we’re more excited than ever to create some of our best pieces for it yet! Make sure to follow along on Instagram by hitting the button below and be the first to see what’s new:

Happy holidays!

What Can We Create For You in 2024?

Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures designs, produces and displays the highest quality custom ice sculptures for all types of events. Serving Central Texas and St. Louis, MO, our specialty is creating ice sculptures that are customizable, functional, and most of all, memorable. 

From shot blocks to branded sculptures to craft cocktail ice, we can fulfill all your ice needs. The only limit is your imagination! 

Contact us today to see how we can bring your ice visions to reality!