Lighting for Events and Parties: What Temporary Displays Involve|Planning Event Lighting: A Practical Guide|Lighting an Outdoor Event: The Honest Checklist

What temporary means here

The distinction is worth making: one is installed, the other is set up. Weddings, parties, celebrations: set up for the date and removed after. That changes the whole approach, starting with the fact that there is no second chance at it.Which changes how the whole thing has to be handled. An installation has time to be adjusted. An event is judged once, in one evening. Everything gets https://evercrestlighting.com/contact/ settled before the week of, because there is no room to improvise on a fixed date.

The one thing you cannot negotiate

Permanent work can slip a week. An event has a date. The lead time is not proportional to the size of the display. Even a modest setup involves a visit, a plan and scheduled labor, and those steps take the time they take.

The unglamorous part

Indoor events have power everywhere. A back yard, an outdoor venue rarely has power where the lighting needs to be. Ask about how it is getting powered before the design conversation feels finished. A beautiful plan with no way to power it is a drawing.Tell the lighting company about the band, the caterer and the photographer, since all of them want power and floor space too.

Planning for the day going wrong

Outdoor events in the Upstate can meet weather. Ask early: what the contingency looks like. Having an answer in advance is the difference between an adjustment and a crisis.

What tends to be worth lighting

At an outdoor event there are two jobs: making it look right and letting people move safely. Atmosphere comes from the canopy and the feature areas. Function covers paths, level changes and exits, and it gets forgotten until somebody trips. Both belong on the list. Only one of them gets remembered fondly.

Who else needs to agree

If the event is not at your own house, somebody else sets the terms. Access windows, what can be attached to what, whether anything can be staked into the ground, and when everything has to be gone are all set by the venue, not by you. Getting the venue contact talking to the lighting company early removes most of the day of problems.

Scale

The instinct with an event is to fill the space. Outdoors after dark, a modest amount of light goes a very long way. The spaces that people remember are lit sparingly, with genuine dark between the bright points. A designer who says the plan is already enough is doing you a favor.

Getting it planned

Temporary displays get designed around the space and the date. EverCrest Lighting installs temporary lighting displays for events and parties alongside its permanent and seasonal work, for residential and commercial clients throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email [email protected] well ahead of the date.

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