Bandit lights Blackberry Mountain wedding
- Details
The Beall family opened Blackberry Mountain in 2018 after years of success with their property Blackberry Farms. They called Bandit Litesto bring their expertise, preparedness and creative adaptability to their guests. Wedding coordinator Jennifer Matteo worked with Bandit to configure a lighting design that would fit the spaces and budget.
“The buildings of Blackberry Mountain have an aesthetic that must be seen in person to be appreciated,” said Bandit Lites general manager Giff Swart. “They are designed to complement the surrounding area through use of natural materials, so one of our goals was to enhance and showcase this beauty. Communication with the Blackberry team of Savannah Sullivan and Savannah Tyree was absolutely critical to our success. They are a delight to work with, and we understand fully our role in maintaining their clients’ comfort and enjoyment of the spaces we are tasked with lighting.”
With limited access to each of the venues for the three-day event, Bandit’s team had about two hours to get the lighting set up and working for seated dinners. Two spaces had no existing lighting to speak of.
“Our first challenge was to get some overhead lighting,” said Swart. “We used our own bistro lights specifically procured for use at Blackberry along with our grapevine chandeliers, all of which were controlled by a Road Hog and Chauvet dimmers. Our wooden supports, bistros, and chandeliers were all enhanced with foliage from the floral vendors on the team, Tailored Twig. The result transformed the event lawn into a warm and inviting space where memories could be forged.”
With no way to access the second space through the venue, Bandit’s team traversed the stone stairs leading to the stone terrace to illuminate the cocktail hour and dinner while Freedom Pars enhanced the architecture of the Lodge. The following day saw the crew ascending the top of the Blackberry Mountain property in a loaded box truck to outfit the Firetower, a restaurant built around an actual lookout tower from the 1950s.
Three custom in-house built Edison bulb wooden chandeliers adorned the ceiling of the porch, and to preserve the wooden beams sparing the wood from any fasteners, Bandit rigged horizontal steel cables for support. Freedom Pars up lit the wooden columns of the porch as well as the actual observation tower.
