When New York A-listers tie the knot, they often choose to hold their weddings and ceremonies at this prestigious facility. This was the case recently when a prominent event planner got married. She called on Jeffrey Kwan of Canal Sound and Light to light the ceremony. Kwan delivered an elegant lighting package with mood-setting uplighting and stylish pin spotting, thanks to an assist from a collection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional and Chauvet DJ.
"You might say the pressure was on," remarked Kwan. "The client was an event planner, so she knew her stuff and the venue is very high profile. I wasn't worried though, because our team is skilled and experienced and we know that we can rely on the fixtures in our rig."
Kwan used 30 battery-powered Freedom Par Quad-4 RGBA LED fixtures to uplight the dining area of the historic building. Controlling the wireless fixtures remotely, he was able to change colors during the evening to set different moods.
"Uplighting the room's brick columns really warmed things up and set an elegant tone for the entire proceedings," he said. "The colours we were able to get from the Freedom Pars were all very rich and natural looking, which helped our presentations. The fixture's casing was inconspicuous, so it didn't detract from the appearance of the room. Of course being that these fixtures are battery controlled, it freed us from having to worry about running cables around the room."
In addition to the Freedom Pars, Kwan used 28 EZpin IRC fixtures. He positioned the battery-powered LED pin spots around key scenic elements such as gigantic floral displays to accent their appearance. "There were some very impressive floral displays in the room," he said. "It was a theme running through the event. We gave extra depth to these with the pin spots, which have an impressive light output despite their size.
"We also accented the wedding cake and the centerpieces on the different tables with pin spotting. In my view, this is a very reliable way to bring out the aesthetics of any key item at a wedding. Since they are also battery powered and have a magnetic base, we were able to easily mount them without running power to all of them."
For highlighting the dance floor and creating a club-like atmosphere as the evening progressed, Kwan relied on two truss mounted Rogue R2 Spot moving fixtures. Drawing on features like gobo morphing between the LED fixture's two gobo wheels, as well as its split colour capabilities, he created unique looks that encouraged guests to get up and dance.
"At most weddings, you really want to accomplish two things," said Kwan. "On the one hand you want to create a sense of elegance, while on the other you want to turn the room into a club-like venue later on. You can do both without a huge number of fixtures if you build your rig wisely."
(Jim Evans)
