Happy Saturday bloggers! It’s time to get back in the swing of regular posts, I know. Today I thought it would be fun to discuss event lighting. When planning an event, this often is a topic that is forgotten, but the truth is: lighting can be the transforming aspect of your event. I could try to explain to you the reasons, but it would be so much easier to show you! Take a look at the lighting transformations below to get an idea of what I mean:
Watch this plain ballroom transform into a fuscia wonderland!
This standard hotel ballroom turns into a blue bliss dreamland with blue uplighting, dimmed fluorescent lights, and gold lit chandeliers.
Although both of these are beautiful shots, notice how the purple lighting accents and pinspotting make the table decor really POP!
An ordinary hallway leading into a venue’s event space, transformed into an extraordinary entrance!
As you can see in the above before/after photos, lighting makes a HUMONGOUS difference. All of these examples lead us to your next question – How do you get your event to look like the above? The answer to that is simple, hire an event planner or lighting consultant to create a lighting plot that will accent your event to your personal needs and theme. Want to save some money? Rather than hire a lighting consultant, check with your DJ (if you’re getting one); often DJ’s have the equipment and ability to create event lighting schemes as well. Here in Rhode Island, if you are looking for lighting service, skill and immense creativity – then look no further than Ormonde Productions. They do BEAUTIFUL work that can transform the most bland looking space into a fantasy land. Check out some of their work below:
All photos compliments of http://www.OrmondeProductions.com
Last, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite aspects of lighting – GOBOS! It’s pronounced exactly how it looks (“go-bo-s”). These tools are actually small metal circles with patterns, messages, or pictures etched into them. They are then inserted into a special type of light where they are then projected onto the floor, ceiling, wall, etc. to reveal the pattern/message/picture. You can order customized disks and you can project them in whatever color lighting you have available. The patterned disks are great to break up a space with something other than just straight light or just colored light and the message disks can be used to project logos, names or whatever else you desire. Check out some examples of gobo projections below and the disks that make it happen.
This gobo was customized for a wedding with the initials of the bride & groom!
Here is an example of a pattern you could project to accent a space and give it character.
This is an example of a break-up pattern gobo projection.
Projecting a firework gobo pattern onto the ceiling of a boring white tent transforms it into a whole different space!
Gobo Pattern Disks: these metal disks are inserted into a special type of light and projected using any color lighting you have available.
As you can see above, lighting is very important for setting the atmosphere of your event. Whether you want gobos, simple uplighting, or an entire lighting color scheme utilizing all of the above – make sure you consider what lighting can do for your event before you complete the planning process! Have any of you used gobos or special lighting schemes for your events? What did you use and how did it turn out? Please share your experiences with us in the comment section, we’d love to hear what you’ve done!
Happy Lighting,
A
Beautiful pictures and nice gobo patterns. Thanks for sharing.
heidzilla – Jay R sent me some more information after I potsed about uplighting. More food for thought!
We use all L.E.D. uplighting and can customize ANY color to match what they want and being that we us LED fixtures their is no heat and barely and power consumption. This is the new technology that is only a few years old in our industry, however you have to make sure your venue will allow use of this from outside vendors as this is something that they are starting to upsell as well and may not allow and outside vendor to do this. Also, the LED fixtures are slightly more expensive than the higher heat/more power consumption units that are cheaper to set up. Standard pricing for uplighting for LED fixtures is approx 40.00 per fixture, but the more you use the lower the price.Also a side note, the older fixtures take immense power and some hotels or venues cannot run more than 5 on one circuit, proving some limitations.So to summarize, there is a big difference in the older fixtures vs. the newer fixtures. The newer ones can be computer controlled to change colors through the evening if set up correctly. Thanks again Jay R!December 29, 2008 9:47 pm