Brides & Grooms, Avoid the Blue Smurf

Hey friends,

In this blog article I want to talk about uplighting, when to use it to enhance your event venue, how much to use and yes even when not to have lighting at all.

Many DJ services offer room uplighting and we are commonly asked about it: What is it? Do we need it? How much does it cost?

Room uplighing typically comes in the form of LED lights that are strategically placed around the perimeter of the venue and usually angled to shine upward on a wall, a curtain or other backdrop. Understand that there are different types of lights that provide a variety of features and effects, so ask your DJ about the type of lights they own and what they can do with them, the various color schemes that can be created, etc. Typically, they need to be plugged into a wall outlet so DJs pay close attention to where in the room they can run power cords without getting in the way of guests. We love venues with many electrical outlets. Lights can also come battery powered which gives your DJ more options but those units tend to cost 3 times what a corded light costs and may be more expensive for you to have. We use a combination of corded and battery powered lights using corded whenever possible and reserving battery operated lights for logistically challenging places in the room.

The goal of this article is not to go into depth about the types of lighting available but to have you think strategically about what you want the room to look like when they're set up. Most people admit that they don't know how many lights are appropriate to have and so they leave that up to their vendor to decide within budget. Many DJ services charge per light so, of course, they don't mind giving you as many as possible for your event if you can afford it. More lights, more money!

I caution you not to overdo the uplighting. A room that is heavy on uplighting sometimes glows with that particular color, which is fine to a point but you don't want to risk a situation where you and your guests end up looking like blue smurfs. You remember those little guys, right? They're cute but, well they're blue...

This is me, blue smurf

The problem is exacerbated when your photographer can't get clean  photos at your reception because they are so polluted with the glow of uplighting. This may not be an issue for you, so if you simply don't care, that's fine, go crazy with uplighting. But if you're paying a considerable amount of money for a professional photographer to take photos of your special day, why make their job harder by paying your DJ to create an overly lit room? I've chatted with a number of photographers about this and some agree that it makes editing photos a chore yet others don't seem to mind. I would simply advise you to have this discussion with both your DJ and your photographer to get some consensus on how much lighting is just right. Some photographers bring additional white lights if they know in advance the room will be dark and enhanced with uplighting. Your DJ can minimize this problem by alternating some of the lights with pure white to offset the effect.  I tell clients that uplighting should be used in moderation to enhance the room's features and complement your color scheme but not to excess - unless of course, you want to look like a blue smurf.

To be fair, part of the magic of uplighting is that it can make a drab looking room look much better. If however, your venue is already very beautiful in a unique way you don't need much additional lighting to make its features stand out. You may not need uplighting at all. In fact, if you overdo the uplighting in an already beautiful room you risk minimizing the features that you want guests to enjoy.

Again, have this chat with your DJ and photographer. Tell your DJ that you want uplighting in moderation to enhance the room but not to overdo it to the point that it looks like a sci-fi movie set.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about uplighting, wedding and event photos and more. Please leave a comment and we'll continue to explore this topic further.

Event Pros, What To Accomplish During The Off Season

We are sometimes asked, what do event professionals do during the off season?  The answer is that we continue to stay busy but in different ways.

This post is really meant for our colleagues in the event and wedding industries but it may also be of interest to the broader population including brides and grooms, event planners and others in the field, so here we go!..

In northeast Ohio, where we operate, the busy season for us starts in late April and continues strong right to the end of the year.  Our slower season is January, February and March, although we still typically have a number of events to fulfill.

First let's acknowledge that for serious event pros, our busy season takes a lot out of us. We're constantly on the go, traveling from one event to the other, conducting planning meetings with clients, setting up, performing and taking down equipment, etc.  It's a long busy marathon that doesn't seem to end but when it does, we're truly exhausted. And I can say this because I've been in the industry for over 25 years now, the older one gets the more it seems to take its toll.

A funny thing happens, however, when we finally do enter our slow time of the year. After a couple of weeks of recovery in the way of sleep, rest, and maybe a short vacation, we begin to get antsy for the business again, don't we?  We begin to get excited about the coming year and we try to prepare in the best way possible.

Here are some important tasks for event professionals to accomplish during the off season:

Respond to inquiries and book events - Many bookings for the year happen during the down time, so we're actually really quite busy responding to inquiries, answering questions, meeting with prospective clients and generating contracts. The goal here, of course, is to fill up our calendar for the upcoming year!

Review your pricing strategy - If you are going to change your prices, now is the time to do it.  Are you adding new packages and prices?  How will this affect your marketing strategy?

Review your marketing strategy - If you are going to change your marketing strategy, make these changes while you can before things get busy again.  Does your website need an update?  Are you going to do more or less paid online marketing?  What kind of traditional marketing will you do, if any?  Review your print material, are these documents still accurate?

Prepare for the upcoming tax season - Consult your tax preparer, issue tax related documents to employees and contracted workers.  Gather and organize receipts, copies of contracts, etc.  Make changes in your book keeping routines if you need to in order to have a smoother year ahead.

Repair or upgrade equipment - The field is tough on equipment.  During the year you have probably noticed a need to repair or purchase new equipment.  Perhaps you finished the last few weeks by using your back-up stuff because something was dropped or broken but you really don't want to start the new season with back-up equipment.  Be sure everything works perfectly going out of the gate!

Communicate with your insurance broker - Annually, make or update a written list of equipment inventory (as detailed as possible) and send it off to your insurance broker.  Savvy event pros will also include photos for good measure.  You want to be sure they know what kind of stuff you own and how much it all costs.

Communicate with your lawyer - Send your lawyer a brief email describing any new services or assets that you've added recently or intend to add to your business.  For example make sure he or she knows how many people you employ, describe your services, especially anything new you are adding.  It would also be a good idea to have your lawyer do a review of the language in your contract.

Communicate with staff members - It's important to communicate with employees and others who help you operate your business in order to share with them your strategy for the upcoming year.  What will be expected of them?  How will their respective roles change?  Are you adding products or services?  Will training be necessary to learn about new equipment, software, etc.  Be sure everyone is on the same page about what you want the business to accomplish when things speed up again.

Back up files - You should be doing frequent, periodic back-ups of electronic files during the year but at least annually, be sure to have a back-up system in place.

Prepare for bridal fairs - If you participate in bridal fairs and other such gatherings you know how much work is involved in setting up a booth or table, preparing marketing materials, etc.  Be ready with these items so that you can concentrate on being with guests and prospective clients and not running around at the last minute!

Get serious about your health - Many people begin their new year's resolutions during the off season and this is a good time to get serious about your health.  As an entrepreneur, your health is an asset of the business.  When asked about their biggest fears, self employed people will often say staying healthy is always a big concern.  They know that if they should get sick or injured, their business could suffer affecting their ability to make a living.  So now is a good time to establish diet, exercise and sleep habits to promote better health for the whole year 'round.

Well, I hope these suggestions are helpful.  Please let me know of other tasks to accomplish during the slow season that I may have forgotten to list.  I will add them in future updates to the article.  Best wishes for a successful year!

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