LAURA & JOE | THE VIEW ON THE HUDSON IN PIERMONT, NY

We took over The Aqua Turf Club and rolled in a ton of lighting for this large charity event.  Kay's Pier North and South were opened up for these 600+ guests. No DJing for us this night - it was all about setting the Hollywood Theme with lighting.  From the Hollywood sign up on the ceiling to the film strip outlines and the amazing costumes that guests showed up in - this was a night to remember.  We are looking forward to next year's theme...

Many people ask what the differences are in lighting packages. I wanted to try and answer most of your questions with this blog post. There are three basic kinds of lighting at a wedding reception. There are dance floor lights, table lighting and architectural lighting of the room.

Dance Floor Lighting:

Basic Dance Floor lighting consists of 2-3 light fixtures that move, change color and shape of the beam based on the music. This is a great way to give some energy to your dance floor.

Club Lighting takes your basic dance floor lighting and brings it to a larger level. We bring more light fixtures. The style and complexity of the fixtures rivals what you’d see in a typical night club. This style lighting creates more of a dance party atmosphere. We can control the lights and adjust them based on fast v. slow music.

Table Illumination:

Table lighting can come in a few typical styles. You can illuminate your tables with candles. You can use LED glow fixtures in vases or in your floral arrangements (talk to your florist about lighting options). You can also pin-spot your table centerpieces. Each table centerpiece would have 1-2 white pin-spots pointed at it from high above (ceiling mounted or 11’ in air well above people) to make your table glow. We can do all guest tables or just your head table, cake table and maybe even your parent’s table. We can even make a table GLOW from underneath.

Architectural Room Lighting or Up-Lighting:

Up-lighting is a huge wedding trend. Something so simple can dramatically change the overall feel of your venue. Dark wood tones? We can warm it up with an Amber LED or Par Can. Want to turn the room blue or pink? We can do that too with our 3 watt LED high intensity LED up-lights (~10,000 lumen output). These up-lights can remain one color through the entire reception or we can wirelessly control color scene changes for your entrance, first dance, or the lights can change based on the music over the course of the evening to add to your party atmosphere.

You can use wash LED lighting OUTSIDE to change a tent or even the ENTRANCE of your venue.

Texture lighting normally requires high vaulted ceilings or tents but can be projected on divider walls, behind your head table or on the ceiling or dance floor to add yet another dimension to your space.

Dance Floor Lighting

Club Lighting

Table Illumination

Architectural Up-Lighting

Texture Lighting

Check out some of the photos from Tony and Tina's performance on New Year's Eve at The Hotel Northampton.

This is the time of the year when we do a little driving and check out some unique wedding venues that we have scheduled for the upcoming season or new reception sites that have shown up on our radar.  Let me tell you about a few of the recent stops that we made:

Mill 1 at Open Square in Holyoke, MA

This is a unique industrial feel with all the exposed brick and modern bar structure. http://www.opensquare.com/

Farmington Gardens in Farmington, CT

With a separate dining area, social hour area and outdoor space, this is a well thought out venue.   This is surely not your run of the mill wedding venues.  It is well worth checking out.  http://www.farmingtongardensct.com/

Belle Terrace (Avon Old Farms Inn) in Avon, CT

Recently renovated - this venue will be making a comeback with new management in place.  They have an outdoor area for social hour or ceremony.  It is run by the Riverhouse Properties.  http://www.avonbelleterrace.com/

Vania & Jeffrey had a beautiful day for their 11 hour long wedding reception.  In typical Portuguese fashion, we had nearly 350 guests and two meals over the course of those 11 hours.  The desert spread was simply amazing.

Vania & Jeffrey wanted to do things a bit different at their wedding.  They had a slide show that looped during social hour on the two video screens we provided.  There was a slide show for Vania & her father, and one for Jeffrey and his mother's dance.  We even had their engagement photos from Chris Kerr up on the screen.  When dancing started, we even played music videos for the top 40 songs that we played.

Engagement Photos above courtesy of Chris Kerr Photography.  (Rest of the photos are mine)

Introduction Song:  Forever - Chris Brown
First Dance:  Then - Brad Paisley
Jeffrey & Mother's Dance:  Mamma - Boyz II Men
Cake Cutting Song:  Sugar Sugar - Archies

As a recipient, we are recognized as part of the top 5% of Wedding Professionals nationwide. Thank you to all of our past clients that took the time to review us on www.weddingwire.com and who's wonderful comments made this happen.

Congratulations to Elizabeth & AJ.  Their wedding was last weekend at the Riverview in Simsbury, CT.    We provided the sound, lighting and entertainment for their celebration.

Although the photos below are taken by us, Elizabeth & AJ's photographer was Stephen Charles.

Introduction Song: Separate songs for each couple, Elizabeth & AJ's intro was a custom mix of 3 songs...
First Dance:  At Last - Etta James
Cake Cutting:  Candyman - Christina Aguilerra
Bride & Father Song:  I Loved Her First - Heartland
Groom & Mom Song:  Song For Mama - Boys II Men
Toss Bouquet:  Diamonds - Marilyn Monroe
Last Dance:  Save The Last Dance - Michael Buble

We have been working with Shelton High and their winter formal for years.  This was the first year we incorporated our photo booth into the festivities.  THEY HAD A BLAST.

We had our 14' video screen and projected music videos up on the screen all night.  The students were lined up for the photo booth from the moment they walked in the gym to the moment we ended.

Isn’t that grand. You’ve found a string trio for your outdoor wedding ceremony. But how are your guests going to hear the officiate or the two of you exchange vows? If you don’t care that your guest will not hear anything – no problem. Why even invite them to the ceremony then?

If on the other hand you do want your guests to be there and engaged in the exchange of your vows, then you need to think about procuring a professional PA system for your outdoor wedding ceremony. As a minimum, you need a microphone for the officiate. (No matter how many times they tell you that they speak loudly and do not need a microphone) Without amplification, they are not going to be heard in the back or over the water noise or truck driving by or plane passing or child crying.

To do it right- you also need a microphone for any readers and one to pick up the two of you exchanging vows. Are you counting? That’s 3 microphones for most ceremonies. Someone also needs to be managing the microphone levels and EQ. No one likes a squealing microphone when it feeds back. Live musicians are great, but you still need some form of PA sound system so all your guests can enjoy your ceremony. Give us a call – we can help!