Category Archives: Lighting

Case Study: Garden Lights at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

Request: Create Immersive Walking Experience

For Garden Lights at MSV, the entire lighting design would need to involve colorful landscape lighting. Specialized looks, interactive exhibits, and utility lighting was developed for walking path illumination. MSV has several miles of paved walking trails as well as formal gardens, large fields and lawns, and a central water feature. Our design team evaluated various pathway routes and proposed a trail that would give the maximum number of ideal lighting locations and signature viewpoints. Once the path confirmed, we could get into the actual lighting design work. Of course, since the experience lasted for four weeks, all the equipment needed to be weather-resistant. We have an enormous inventory of IP65-rated lighting fixtures and power cabling available to handle the site conditions.

Planning Scope, Specials, Wash

Our design team performed a comprehensive site survey and photographed and mapped the entire path for easy reference. First we designated locations where special lighting moments would be most effective. For example, the Grand Allee provided a central viewpoint for a stunning interactive effect. This interactive lighting installation where visitors press a button to activate beams of light that choreograph vibrant patterns in the night sky was accompanied by synchronized ambient sounds. Once these spots have been identified, we filled in the remaining portions of the grounds with general landscape wash lighting. We look for locations where we can take advantage of the existing terrain to conceal fixtures and equipment, or rig a light fixture up in a tree to illuminate an area without an unsightly support structure.

Garden Lights Power Distribution & Show Control

Distributing power outside over tens of acres of wide open environment is never simple. Fortunately we are very experienced at handling this challenge of outdoor events. At this venue, we did not require generators as there was ample power available from the various buildings. We planned our power cable runs to be out of the way while remaining as short as possible. Everything has to be outdoors for several weeks so all the electrical distribution equipment was required to be weatherproof.

While many stage lighting fixtures are now available with IP65 ratings, most networking equipment is not. Therefore we placed the network switches, wifi access points, and lighting control DMX nodes inside specialized waterproof enclosures.

We located our production office trailer at a central but discreet location. This way we could run data networking to every corner of the event site. This enabled us to have centralized lighting control of all specials as well as WiFi and remote monitoring throughout the jobsite. Our lighting designers certainly appreciated programming from within a climate-controlled space

This enabled us to maintain the experience easily while the event was operating. The onsite technician could observe all areas of the event and dispatch immediately to check on any outages.

Garden Lights Lighting for Guest Experience

At certain areas where the direction is unclear or the ground may be less smooth, we planned for lighting that would effectively illuminate the walking pathway. The path had to cross a large open field and so we specified pathway lighting via bistro lights on stakes that was bright for safety and economical to install.
After everything is set up, we walk the route and often need to relocate a light fixture to keep it out of the scenic view or re-focus it to not be blinding another area of the trail.

Where cables crossing a walking path is unavoidable, we use low-slope ADA-compliant cable ramps so there is no trip hazard or impediment to strollers or mobility aids.

Other locations that also required lighting and courtesy power were ticket-taking and foodservice booths. Our team handled utility lighting and power for these locations so the client could focus on the guest-facing requirements of those locations.

Astera Titan Tubes provide a spectacular backdrop of hundreds of floating white and blue lines behind a pair of cars being showcased

Astera Titan Tube: The Ultimate Lighting Solution for Special Events

Lighting plays a crucial role in creating the desired ambiance, mood, and atmosphere of an event or film production. Choosing the right lighting fixtures can make a significant difference in achieving the desired effect. Astera Titan Tube fixtures are one of the most versatile and innovative lighting solutions available in the market today. These powerful and reliable light fixtures offer a wide range of features and benefits, making them a popular choice for special event lighting and film lighting. The Lighting & Sound Company in Richmond, VA has Titan Tubes in stock and available for rental or use as part of a larger production.

Astera Titan Tubes set to a rainbow of colors hang above a main entrance hallway — Astera Titan Tubes create a grand entrance hanging above a hallway

Features

Astera Titan Tube are a battery-operated, LED-based lighting fixture that offers a wide range of features and benefits. Some of the most notable ones include:

Wireless Control:
- One of the most important features of Astera Titan Tube fixtures is their wireless control capability. The fixture’s built-in wireless DMX receiver allows them to be controlled without cables. You could use a standard lighting console, or the feature-rich Astera App to easily operate the lighting. This feature makes it easy for you to control and adjust the lighting after you installed it in a hard-to-reach location.
RGBWA+UV Color Mixing
- Titan Tubes offer a wide range of color options, thanks to their RGBWA+UV color mixing capabilities. This feature allows the user to mix red, green, blue, white, amber, and ultraviolet colors, creating endless color options. Additionally, you can easily adjust the color temperature from 1750K to 20,000K.
High CRI:
- Astera Titan Tube fixtures offer a high color rendering index (CRI) of 96. This feature makes them ideal for use in film productions and other applications where accurate color reproduction is essential.
Long Battery Life
- Titan Tubes come with a powerful, long-lasting battery that can last up to 20 hours on a single charge. This feature makes them ideal for outdoor events and productions where access to power sources may be limited.
Durable and Waterproof:
- Astera Titan Tube units are built to withstand the rigors of outdoor use. You can take advantage of the fixture’s IP65 rating, which makes them waterproof. You can use them outdoors in rainy or wet conditions without concern.
Versatile Mounting Options
- Titan Tubes come with a variety of mounting options, including magnetic mounts, eye bolts, and adjustable tripod stands, making them easy to install and use in any location.

Astera Titan Tubes as Special Event Lighting

Titan Tubes are an excellent lighting solution for special events of all kinds, from corporate events to weddings and concerts. You can conveniently use these fixtures at outdoor events with limited access to power sources thanks to their wireless control capability and long battery life. Furthermore, you can create a wide range of lighting effects, from vibrant color washes to subtle accent lighting using this fixture.

Astera Titan Tube fixtures are also ideal for use in themed events, where the lighting plays a critical role in creating the desired ambiance and atmosphere. You can create dynamic lighting effects that change throughout the event, creating a truly immersive experience for your guests.

Film Lighting with Astera Titan Tubes

Astera Titan Tube fixtures are also an excellent choice for film lighting, thanks to their high CRI, wireless control, and versatile mounting options. You can create a wide range of lighting effects, from natural daylight to warm tungsten tones.

Their wireless control capability allows for easy adjustments on the fly, making them ideal for use in fast-paced film productions. Not only that, the long battery life also makes them perfect for use in outdoor locations, where access to power sources may be limited.

Astera Titan Tubes are an incredibly versatile and powerful lighting solution, offering a wide range of features and benefits that make them an ideal choice for special event lighting and film lighting. Their wireless control capability, long battery life, and RGBWA+UV color mixing make them perfect for creating a wide variety of special looks.

Contact The Lighting & Sound Company today to arrange a rental of Titan Tubes in Richmond, Virginia. We have them in stock for rental or delivery.

How Much Does Wedding Lighting Cost?

How much does wedding lighting cost in 2024?

Wedding lighting cost can vary dramatically and the reasons for this can be a bit confusing. We set out to make this guide to give you a general idea of what you’ll be paying for your wedding lighting. Because prices for lighting vary between A/V vendors, we’ve made this guide with price ranges based off of industry averages. Understanding pricing for your wedding decor can help you use your budget efficiently. You want to get the best bang for your buck!

Before we dive into how much wedding lighting costs, let’s take a step back for a second. In order to understand prices, you need to understand the services they’re attached to. If you’ve been doing your research and know what you want, continue on! If you don’t know the difference between uplighting and pin-spotting, take a look at our wedding lighting services page. There, you can learn about the fantastic options available to light your wedding.

How much does wedding lighting cost? It depends on the scope of your wedding!

Lighting it up!

Lighting can completely transform your venue. It impacts your space in a way that nothing else can. The flowers, linens, and drape can make the room look nice, but lighting can change the way your venue feels. Without the proper lighting, your guests are going to miss out on the details. In a dimly-lit reception space, the details of a beautiful centerpiece can be lost without the proper pin-spotting. Some weddings, especially daytime events, don’t require lighting. For a large majority of weddings that extend into the evening, you are going to want to consider lighting. This applies to outdoor events as well, as most tents don’t come with very aesthetic lighting. A traditional bistro look can go a long way in a tent wedding. Free-standing bistro is great for covering large, uncovered, outdoor affairs.

When you’re deciding on your lighting budget, make sure you know what you want. Uplighting is great in almost all scenarios, but it can be used to hide the wall color. This is great if the color doesn’t match your theme, or if you just hate the color! If you want to cover something up completely, pipe and drape is a practical and elegant defense against ugly art and unsightly rooms.

Our gallery might be able to give you some ideas.

Like any other service, lighting scales with your event. Larger weddings mean more wedding lighting.

Budgeting for Wedding Lighting

The quickest way to find out what your wedding lighting cost will be is to get a quote from one of our designers. It won’t take long- our designers get back really quickly! To get a general idea of what you will be paying, we’ve provided some industry average numbers below.

How much does wedding lighting cost?

Uplighting for the Entire Ballroom: $700-$2000
Monogram Gobo Light: $400-700
Texture Lighting: $75-$100 per light fixture/pattern
Cake Spotlight: $30-$100
Pipe & Drape: $10.00 – $25 per linear foot (10 ft sections)
Pin-spot Lighting: $25-$45 per light/table
Bistro Lighting: $3-5 per linear foot
Chandeliers: $225 – $500 ea
Pendants: $15 – $25 ea
Low Fog: $250 – $350

Note that these prices don’t include labor or delivery. Typically, labor costs $300 – 600, but if your scope is large, more techs will need to be added. Delivery locally is usually between $50 and $150, depending on distance.

A little bit of drape goes a long way.

What do most people pay for wedding lighting?

To those who have never heard of wedding lighting before they start planning, wedding lighting costs can look prohibitive. Is it worth it? If you are spending any kind of money on your venue, your flowers, or even your name cards, lighting is a must. You don’t always need multiple lighting features. If budget is tight, a single feature such as uplighting, or bistro is probably the way to go. It will add a gorgeous ambiance, and provide the lighting your guests need to see. We typically advise clients to budget $1100-$1300 for a small, one feature wedding. If your wedding fits inside a 40 x 60 tent outside, a simple bistro lighting hang will do the trick. For a mid-sized, multi-feature wedding, you should budget between $1500-$3500. Most weddings fit into this category. Large and multi-day events vary widely so we suggest getting a rough quote during the early stages of planning.

Pin spots add to a wedding lighting design by pulling attention towards your beautiful centerpieces.

Getting the most out of your wedding budget

Many venues and DJs will offer lighting to couples at competitive prices. While these prices are often attractive, there are a few things you should understand. There are many lights available at very low prices for venues & DJs to purchase and rent to couples for $800-$1200. Often, you’ll end up paying only slightly less for a product that has a fraction of the quality. There are a number of problems with this low-quality lighting. Often, the Red/Green/Blue LEDs within the lights that are used for mixing to different colors are not purchased from the same place. This causes the lights to have slightly different colors. Many venues will show pictures of lighting that a professional company did and claim that as their lighting package. Others will heavily edit the photos they show you so the lighting looks more impressive.

Professional lighting companies not only have higher quality equipment, they often have specialized gear for different situations. Do your research before accepting uplighting from a DJ or Venue- more often than not they are charging you for an inferior product. You wouldn’t shop for your catering this way; there is no reason to think lighting is any different. Look at it this way: You can get really affordable catering from your local fast food restaurant. Technically, that and what you’d get from a high-end caterer are both food, but they have large differences in the level of quality.

Wedding lighting and your venue

Wedding lighting is one of the most affordable ways to transform your event space. It’s also one of the best ways to enhance the finer parts of your venue. Remember, lighting is what makes your event feel special. Everything from the cake to your dress will be affected by lighting. Good lighting can completely transform your venue, instantly enhance the reception décor, and create amazing photo ops for you and your guests.

Hiring a pro

The Lighting & Sound Co is a national design and production company based in Richmond, Virginia. We provide event production services, including lighting, live sound, video, and drape services for events of all sizes, and a diverse range of clients. Our quote process is quick and easy, you can get started right now.

UVA Men’s Basketball Promo Video

The UVA Men’s basketball team were the 2019 NCAA National Champions, and needed an exciting introduction for every game. We were excited to help bring some energy to the video and, by extension, the stadium each game.

UVA Basketball Details

The directors at UVA were looking for a bright backdrop to showcase the team and wanted a way to showcase the colors and spirit of the school. Using 31 Chauvet COLORbands, we made a box of pixels that could fade and flow with each scene. A floor package of 6 Elation Platinum Beam 5Rs brought more movement, contrast, and dimension to the court at UVA Basketball.

Players, cheerleaders, dancers, and the mascot got in on the action, each are equally important to the energy on the court. Using beams and pixels, we can create a dynamic and immersive lighting display to illuminate the UVA men’s basketball team, mascot, and cheerleaders during their games. The beams of light can highlight their energetic moves on the court, while the pixels can be programmed to display vibrant colors and patterns, enhancing the excitement of the atmosphere.

Check out some of our other sports-related events like the VCU Basketball Promo Video or Boulder Bash at Riverrock

Maymont Garden Glow 2020: Outdoor Lighting

The lush 100 acres of gardens at the Maymont Estate are gorgeous throughout the year. However, at Maymont Garden Glow, you can see the gardens in an entirely different light. There is no place like the Maymont Japanese Garden or Italian Garden anywhere else in the mid-Atlantic region. The Italian Garden has specially distinct patterned flower beds, while the Japanese Garden has many Eastern-style plants. In fact, the Maymont Japanese Garden is the oldest public garden on the East Coast.

During the annual Maymont Garden Glow event, you can see the marvelous gardens majestically lit up. An extensive lighting installation is setup by our professional technicians to make this event happen. We use hundreds of outdoor light fixtures to illuminate the landscape and provide beautiful evening looks. Guests can walk the path and see all the trees, structures, and water features washed in amazing colors.

Our clients often request assistance with outdoor lighting projects, so we are familiar with the challenges posed by long-term outdoor lighting displays. Indeed, we have an enormous inventory of weatherproof light fixtures plus many miles of power cable to enable lighting installations in remote locations.

Maymont Garden Glow Areas

As an attendee of the 2020 event, you could observe many distinct areas with unique lighting elements at each location.

The walk began with numerous patterns of natural textures projected on the stone barn. Afterwards, you could see the large fountain illuminated for a colorful moving water look. Finally, you were led down a stone path into the wooded walk, illuminated with multicolored kaleidoscope pattern projection.

Wooded Walk

As you arrived at the wooded walk, a spectacular view of the Italian Gardens bathed in bright colors appeared. While walking through this area, you could see the surrounding nature lit in corresponding colors that changed in sync with the Italian music played in this area.

Moving towards the Maymont Mansion, guests first looked out over the pond towards the statue of Three Graces. A low lying fog slowly billowed out over the pond while lights shined below creating an eerie look. Furthermore, around the mansion, you could see patterns projected on the exterior walls showcasing the magnificent building. Additionally, you could see the mausoleum silhouetted against the backdrop of the James River.

Mansion Area and Interactive Effect

Coming around the front of the Maymont Mansion was one of the event’s centerpieces. A large lighting display controlled by guests walking through it changed depending where you stand. Accompanying this were sound effects to remind the user of playing a piano. Around Halloween we changed these to spooky themed sound effects. Following this scene, guests were treated to spectacular views of the large illuminated trees north of the Mansion. Wherever you looked, the nature was bathed in majestic colors.

Looking towards the exit pathway were two more major installations. A triangular sculpture made of chinese parasols was set in the middle of the path. You could take fantastic selfies in front of this structure as each parasol was lit from behind with different colors. Then, as you walked down Magnolia Row, over your head were over 2500 bistro light bulbs strung between the trees. Multiple colored paper lanterns hung over some of the bulbs adding color to this area which was already aglow. More than half a mile of bistro string lighting was hanging in the trees over this area.

Maymont Garden Glow By The Numbers:

116 Chauvet Professonal ColorDASH Par H12IP weatherproof LED wash fixtures illuminated gardens, trees, and buildings
32 Astera AX5 LED fixtures with 360-degree diffusion domes used in the peninsula
10 Chauvet Ovation E-260WW IP fixtures that projected colored texture gobos and the event logo
3000 linear ft of bistro string lighting between the west mansion turn and magnolia row, totaling 1500 bulbs
500 linear ft of Chauvet Festoon color changing bistro string lighting on the ramp, light tunnel, and parasols
250 paper lanterns on the magnolia row string lights adding color
Two Interactive Technologies CueServer units for show playback
Two Mega-Silent 30 KVa Diesel Generators for reliable event power supplied by Temp-Power
~6250 linear ft of electric power cable
~3000 linear ft of DMX control data cable
24 cable ramps to protect cables run over walking paths

What You Should Know Before Using an In-House AV Provider

Once you’ve inked a contract to rent a venue for your event, your next thought is probably choosing the vendors that will provide services at your event. Sometimes the venue has requirements, such as, they must handle the catering.

Many times, the venue will also offer to provide your audio-visual and lighting services. Unlike the catering staff, who are likely employees of the venue, the AV provider is most commonly a contractor of the venue who they recommend to their clients. (Sometimes this is not the case, and the venue does have employees who handle AV needs)

Pros and Cons of using in-house AV

Is it a problem that your venue provides AV services for your event? Not necessarily, but consider all the aspects. Here are the details:

Hotels and even some wedding venues say that it is more convenient for you to use their in-house AV team. After all, they work at the venue regularly and they (might) keep their equipment there. In case of last-minute changes to your event, the house can just grab more gear from their closet. You have one contract for the space, food/beverage, and audio-visual. Maybe there is a required penalty you have to pay if you don’t use their AV provider.

Many times, the in-house AV provider has a commission agreement with the venue. This means they pay a percentage of your AV contract total back to the venue. If you don’t mind spending extra money then this is not a concern. But if you want to reduce your AV budget, a local lighting company can usually provide better service at a better price.

These venues might neglect to tell you that the in-house AV vendor is almost certainly paying a large commission back to the venue, charged directly to you. The venue will likely forget to mention that the “on-site equipment” has indeed been onsite for 25 years and is outdated and unreliable. And there will be no mention that the “dedicated technician” for support during your event will have to service all of the rooms at the venue. Just when you need help connecting your laptop at the start of your presentation, the technician might be fixing the sound in another room, and will come over to you when available.

Quality AV Services are Key

The lighting and AV play a key role in having a perfect event or wedding. If nobody can hear the bridal party speeches because the sound was bad, all your guests will remember. Imagine if the projector breaks and nobody can see the presentation. Your audience’s key takeaway will be that your event was poorly planned. You can see that the selection of an AV company dedicated to ensuring your event runs smoothly is critical.

At The Lighting & Sound Co, we believe that service before and during your event is the most important aspect of our relationship with you. We work with you to determine a lighting and AV scope that fits your specific needs. We don’t provide cookie-cutter equipment that is barely related to your event vision. Our skilled technicians are dedicated only to your event when onsite. If you call your account manager for help, the response will be “someone is coming to fix that issue.”

Best Wedding Lighting Company bistro at hotel john marshall

Best Wedding Lighting Company & How to Find it

How to Find the Best Wedding Lighting Company for You.

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life. It’s no secret that wedding lights are extremely important when you are planning for the best moments of your life. Proper lighting can easily affect the mood and make the entire event much more enjoyable. To suit that, you want to make sure you hire the best wedding lighting company possible for your date. But what makes a lighting company great?

There are many things that come immediately to mind when you think about what you want from a company. We put together a list of some of the most important facets of a lighting company, so that you can be sure you choose the best wedding lighting company available.

best wedding lighting company richmond virginia tredegar

Doing your homework: Check the Testimonials

It isn’t uncommon for couples to meet with each of their vendors once, or even not at all. In the digital age, you can usually find out everything that you need about your vendors online. The easiest way to find out what you need to know about a wedding lighting company is to check their google reviews.

While not all couples will leave a review for their vendor, couples that have bad experiences almost always do. Sub 4 star reviews are warning signs that you should at the very least read. You will also want to check for the number of reviews, a low number means a less experienced company. Aim for above 50 good reviews to get a vendor you know you can trust.

Finally, check reviews for their legitimacy. Ensure the accounts reviewing have other similar reviews that make sense for their profile. Many small companies will only receive reviews from friends and employees, double-check for this. The best wedding lighting company will have the best reviews, reading them will give you insight into what kind of experience you can expect from the company. Which brings us to our next point…

Don’t get bamboozled! Read 6 Lies Your Wedding Vendors May Be Telling You.

Responsiveness is Key

If you’re vendor is not responsive at first, it’s only going to get worse once you make your deposit. The quickness with which a company responds is often directly correlated to the level of service you’ll get from that wedding vendor. Vendors that respond quickly take their first interaction with their clients as seriously as their final product.

When a vendor replies to you quickly it tells you two things.

That vendor takes your time seriously
That vendor has the organization and staff available to have an employee available to respond to you.

The best wedding lighting company may be a tough competition, but every serious wedding vendor should be responding to you within 24 hours.

LED outdoor uplighting events — The best wedding lighting company will have the best portfolio, customer service, and equipment.

Getting the Highest Quality

If you’re a bit later in the planning process, you’re used to hearing a few buzzwords so much you probably want to forget they exist.

Quality
Affordable
State-of-the-art
Specialists
Some combination of these

Who wants to hear a company talk about how good they are? They should be able to easily prove it!
The best wedding lighting company will have a huge portfolio of high quality images. Get as many pictures of you can of a companies work, try to find the pictures that they aren’t catering to you. Getting a picture or two of your specific venue is nice, but the best wedding lighting company can work anywhere. Ask for general pictures of work, outside of just the ones for your venue. You may end up getting inspired along the way.

Need the best wedding party rentals? Check out our friends at Party Perfect!

Using Vendor Referrals to get the Best Wedding Lighting Company

We use referrals every day to decide what to buy, but how do you trust someone with money in the game? The short answer: It’s going to be difficult. More often than not, vendors will refer you to other vendors that they have a lot of experience working with. Most of the time, this is because vendors like recommending people they know will be professional and easy to work with on their side. However, sometimes those same vendors are in on the take!

Beware of preferred vendor lists. Definitely check out the vendors on them and do your own homework, but venue recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. Often, venues charge to let vendors onto their lists, or take in commission on the referral. Taking a referral from a company getting paid to give it is never a good policy!

Picking the Best Wedding Lighting Company for Your Wedding’s Style

Many wedding companies are lifestyle companies and micro businesses. Hiring companies like this is a great way to get a unique style and feel to your wedding, but often can be quite limiting. While you might be in love with a style when you book it, your feelings might change. For a small company, a change like this can be catastrophic. The smaller the scale of a lighting company, the harder it is for it to stomach any kind of last minute problems, change, or charges.

Picking a well-managed full-size production company is the best way to ensure your lighting vendor can perform to your exact standards.

lighting and decor room transformation greek wedding

Total Room Transformation With Lighting & Decor FAQ

Transforming Your Event Space with Lighting & Decor

Completely transforming spaces is a major part of what lighting & decor companies do. As lighting & decor specialists, we are often asked to transform event spaces in varying degrees. There are many tools that we use to make a space go from drab to dream. Lighting and drape are among the most popular resources we use to transform event venues, but there are so many more options. To clear up some common confusion, we asked our design experts to answer some common questions.

Backyard wedding lighting and decor tent bistro lighting

How can I use my backyard for my wedding?

Pretty easily, actually. While tents are always a good back-up plan for weather, a tent isn’t needed for your backyard wedding. Waterproof uplighting can light up your backyard and turn it into a magical event space. Portable lamp posts can be a quick and easy option to provide area lighting. Classic edison bistro lighting is a fantastic option for covering large spaces, and it can be hung several different ways. Ground supports can suspend bistro lighting over your backyard. Learn more about those services by checking out our catalog.

Suggested Lighting & Decor Services for Backyard Weddings

Bistro Lighting
Outdoor Uplighting
Chandeliers
Pendants
Lamp Posts
Mini Lights

The Bottom Line: If you have the space, having a wedding in your backyard is both very common and totally possible with portable lighting services.

Can I use lighting and drape to transform a basketball court for my wedding?

Working in gyms is very similar to working in a conference center or hotel. Unfinished ceilings mean plenty of rigging points, making it easy to hang lighting such as pin spots, texture gobos, or wash lights above your event. The walls of a gym can be totally, or partially draped to cover up ugly paint and textures. Dropping in chandeliers just above your guests will provide both a beautiful decor effect and a practical lighting one.

Suggested Lighting & Decor Services for Church Gyms

Chandeliers
Pendants
Pin Spotting
Uplighting
Drape
Lighting Wash
Texture Gobos

The Bottom Line: With the proper lighting design and drape look, any room can be transformed into a beautiful event space.

My event is in the middle of nowhere, can I still have lighting?

Along with a huge collection of battery-powered uplights, we also can bring in any sized generator to pretty much any location. Skilled technicians will run power for lighting, your DJ, and event your caterer, while keeping hazardous cables out of pathways and neatly out of site.
Battery-powered pin-spots are almost standard now, so there is no location where lighting is out of the question.

Suggested Lighting & Decor Services for Remote Events

Battery Pin Spotting
Battery Uplighting
Drape
LED Bistro Lighting
Generators
Power Distribution

The Bottom Line: Portable generators and battery lighting make remote events a piece of cake.

Have more questions? Reach out and speak with one of our event designers.

11 Things Your Lighting Company Will Need to Know About Your Event

A guide for event planners, coordinators, and brides.

1. Where

It almost goes without saying, but you’d be surprised how many folks don’t lead with the location of their event. Production companies need to know the location of the venue for multiple reasons. The primary reason is knowing the layout of the venue. This helps with costing services and knowing what will work in the space. Any kind of custom design needs exact dimensions, so being able to get a look at the venue is often crucial to the success of the design team.

2. When

Why your lighting company knowing the exact date is important

Lighting companies also need to know when your event is. It isn’t unusual for a lighting company to book events several months, or even a year in advance. While most lighting companies can service multiple events in a day, every company has its capacity. An exact date is the only way to determine for sure that equipment and labor resources will be available for your event. Try to make sure that this information is included in your initial request for services.

Why you need to get your lighting company an up-to-date schedule.

Lighting equipment can sometimes take longer than anything else to set up. Lighting companies have a pretty good idea of how long a service will take based on past experience. They use this information to get the most out of their equipment and crew during a somewhat lopsided work week. Corporate events and meetings often happen during the week. However, a large majority of events take place on the weekends. Lighting companies service all types of events year-round, but most event companies see a huge boost in activity during the fall season. This leaves them with a large amount of events, all happening at once. Because of this, event companies keep schedules that can be very tight. It is important to update all of your vendors with any schedule changes, to prevent any issues.

3. Event Type/Theme

After providing lighting services for thousands of events, we’ve learned a couple things. We like to handle different types of events differently, and with the care they deserve. Because of this, we’ve developed several departments that specialize in different event areas. It’s useful to know early on what type of event we’re dealing with so that we can get it in the hands of the right event expert. Chances are, we’ve dealt with a very similar event, and can call upon that knowledge when designing your event.

4. Total Attendance

Knowing total attendance is important for a few reasons. For a simple wedding in a hotel ballroom, your production company probably doesn’t need to know this information. But for larger events, especially where there’s sound involved, be sure to mention this number. More people not only create more background noise that the system needs to project over, they also obstruct the sound by physically being there. Knowing how many people will be there helps audio technicians bring the correct equipment. This ensures that your event audio will be heard loud and clear.

6. Power Requirements/Availability

Your lighting company needs to know more than just the power available at the venue; they also need to know what other vendors expect to use it. Caterers often require a large amount of power for heaters, and appliances such as coffee makers or food warmers. Many large-scale coffee makers require an entire circuit to themselves. In fact, everyone from the DJ to the photo booth could require power. Insufficient electrical availability could mean an important aspect of your event might go dark or without power.

7. Onsite AV or Lighting Technician

For some events, lighting is basically just a decor item. The lighting team will unload, set up the lighting, and take off. For events with simple uplighting, drape, or string lighting, this is the way to go. Although a technician is not always needed, some event coordinators prefer to have one standing by for the very rare chance that something goes wrong. However, if anything has to change during the event, you will need onsite staff. This includes everything from tying up drape pieces into gathers, to changing the color of the uplighting. The cost of this will depend on the length of time that the tech is needed, but work calls usually have four-hour minimums.

8. Service Needs

The more you can let your lighting company know about your needs, the better. You can save a lot of time by preparing a list of the exact services you need, and the details of each service. Ultimately, many people don’t have this information in the early stages of even planning. If this is the case, save time by making this clear to all of your vendors, so you can avoid them fishing for the information.

9 . Load In Procedure

More often than not, your lighting company will already be familiar with the venue. But for unusual event spaces or private residences, it’s important that an information sheet with any relevant rules and procedures is generated not only for your lighting company, but for all of your other vendors as well. Ideally, your lighting company won’t be loading in at the same time as other vendors.

10. Parking

Parking is something that many people take for granted. Venues in urban areas can often have parking that is quite limited. Some event setups can take anywhere from four to eight hours, so it’s important to think about where your vendors are going to park during this time. Most lighting companies drive extended vans or box trucks, so keep in mind that there may need to be more room than usual for them to park.

11. Venue Rules

As an event planner, you are often the center of communication between other vendors. The venue is no exception. While many venues are proactive and reach out to all vendors to provide information, every experience varies. It’s important to pass any essential information down the line to your vendors. Often, the venues expect this, and rely on planners and coordinators to pass information along to vendors.

If you want to learn more about lighting, The Lighting & Sound Co. offers tons of resources for people of all knowledge levels. Reach out by phone or e mail to speak to a pro.

Adding the “Wow Factor” with Event Lighting

Step up your game with these underrated event lighting design techniques

Do you want your event to stand out among the rest? Of course you do. Event planners are always searching for new ways to spice up their event designs, but these five classics are timeless techniques that you might have underestimated.

Paper Lanterns

A paper lantern is a lantern made of thin, brightly colored or white paper. Paper lanterns come in various shapes and sizes, and in their simplest form, they are simply a paper bag with a candle placed inside, although more complicated lanterns consist of a collapsible bamboo or metal frame of hoops covered with tough paper.

Inexpensive and beautiful, paper lanterns can be added as a complement to bistro lighting, or hung individually without and string lighting accompaniment.

Event Paper Lanterns Lighting Design — Paper Lanterns come in all shapes and sizes, and many different colors too

Pin Spots

Pin spotting is crucial to a successful lighting design. While it is pretty much standard, it’s important to remember why it became such a popular line item. Without pin spotting, many of the details of an event can be lost.

While they aren’t essential for daytime or brightly-lit events, pin spots should always be considered. Even if it seems like there will be enough ambient light to see, a boost from some well-placed pin spots can help decor stand out . A centerpiece washed with the same amount of light as the rest of the event space isn’t going to “pop”. Like any lighting design, it’s important that the lighting for your event is dynamic, and not just a dull wash.

Pin spots help to create a dynamic lighting look that both illuminates and excites

Dynamic lighting leads to a dynamic event design. A subtle, single-color wash is a nice look. But, adding some pin spots, especially in a low light setting, can help keep the look of your event exciting. Ideally, you’ll want an evenly washed room that includes lighting accents to add dynamics and prevent eye fatigue.

Texture Gobos

While there are six controllable qualities of light, often in the event industry we focus focus on only four. Color, intensity, direction, and distribution are all given a lot of love. Meanwhile, the other two qualities – texture and movement – take a back seat.

Movement is an incredibly powerful tool to excite and amaze your guests. We cover the importance of movement in another article, so right now we’re focusing on the importance of texture. Texture gobos are an underutilized & affordable way of projecting texture onto any surface.

One of the best things about using gobos is that they are fairly simple for production companies to get manufactured. Along with the thousands of available designs, you can work with your production company to design your very own texture to perfectly suit your event.

High Definition nebula & starry night textures for an Event at the Science Museum in Richmond, Va.

There are many different materials and manufacturing processes used to create gobos. However, the two types of gobos that are most commonly used in the modern event industry steel-cut and glass. Plastic gobos are now possible with LED technology, although they are not as widely-used. With steel-cut gobos, single-color simple textures and designs are possible at an affordable price. Even custom gobos are within range for most event budgets. Glass gobos are more expensiveness than their steel counterparts, but well worth it for the range of amazing visuals they can provide for events. Glass gobos can be multiple colors, and often feature high definition images such as nebulas, photo-realistic clouds, beautiful nature scenes, star fields, and more.

Texture gobos can be used both to enhance an already beautiful space, or cover up an otherwise dull or ugly surface. Often, event designers will use texture gobos projected onto the floor from above to create amazing surface looks. That barely even dives beneath the surface of what can be done with textures.

In today’s age of LEDs, uplighting is among the most popular special event service. For your next event, keep in mind how gobos can be used to completely customize your venue, and turn a space into a magical, once-in-a-lifetime scene.

Special Effects

Getting to the good stuff. Special effects is a pretty broad category, so we’ll try to keep this brief. Low fog, haze, confetti, streamers, pyro, cryo, fireworks all belong on the list. These are event elements that you’ll need your venues permission for, but it’ll always be worth it

When the dust has settled and the event is over, these are the types of elements that people will remember. A confetti shot at the end of the night can leave a lasting impression. Low fog is great for reveals, entrances, and more. And a little bit of haze can go a long way.

Maddie & Tae perform at Fort Lee for Fourth at the Fort. Haze gives lighting designers the ability to use 3D space

Haze is often used at concerts to create a 3D space for lighting. Many people confuse haze with theatrical fog, but there are many differences. Both a fog and haze machine will create particulates in the air, but hazers produce a finer particulate. Haze is odorless and because it is water-based, it is not an irritant. Having particles in the air allows for an effect called “air light,” where beams from lighting instruments are visible in the air. Haze, if tastefully done, can be used for more than just concerts.

While some venues do not allow haze, it is water-based and completely harmless. Many professional haze machines are designed to not set off most types of fire alarms.

Custom Design Elements & Fabrication

One thing that event planners often don’t realize is the versatility of their local production companies. Like most event vendors, event production companies work with thousands of different clients from a wide variety of industries. Unlike many other industry companies, production companies provide completely different sets of services to different types of clients

A corporate client might have a fancy gala with uplighting and pin spotting, not unlike a wedding or special event. Or, they might need a video live stream displayed on a video wall the size of a house, and syndicated to live stream outlets such as Twich, Livestream, or Facebook live. Because of this, production companies provide services you might not expect. These might include custom set fabrication, content generation, or graphic design services related to your event.