It’s certainly no secret that lighting and design can make or break an event. What's more of a mystery is exactly HOW to set the mood and make that experience memorable for everyone that’s involved. Imagine going to a concert that had a sound system that only the first 20 rows could hear, or to a romantic dinner that was as bright as the sun in July.
Recently, Sound Express had the honor of teaching a class on lighting and design at the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. A professor saw one of our lighting designs at The Hilton Garden Inn at College Town and approached owner, David Pfluke, about coming in to talk to their students about what it takes to put together a memorable lighting composition.
We spoke with the students about how Sound Express has been leading the way in lighting and event design for years, offering the highest quality designs and going above and beyond industry standards. From weddings to mitzvahs, school to corporate, intimate to extravagant, Sound Express can customize an option for everyone!
One of the ways we do this is by providing the area with exclusive options like our LED dance floor! Lights draw attention to themselves naturally, and although our amazing DJs already draw people to the dance floor, the LED lights make it even more irresistible. And what’s a great party without dancing, right?!
By far our most popular option, Up Lighting really sets the tone for your event. We use DMX wireless technology with our LED up lights, which allows us to adjust the fixtures remotely from a single controller. Most others have very limited options and no means of dynamic control. This gives us complete command over color mixing, fading, and strobes throughout the evening. It also allows us to program patterns and schemes for special times throughout the event or customize a specific section, like a stage or head table.
Another hit is our Open Air photo booth (and all new Mirror Booth). This kiosk-style booth is always a frequently visited area at the venue with its “red carpet” photo-op appeal. By keeping the booth near the dance floor, you ensure that guests are never too far from the fun. Pictures can be taken and printed one minute, and you’re back to dancing the next!
Event set up and strategic placement is often an overlooked aspect in the planning process. Would my monogram look good on that wall? Can I hang crystal columns over the dance floor how I’d like? Is there enough space for my photo booth over here? Sound Express is very familiar with MANY of the venues in the area and coordinates with them beforehand. Often we find our clients dealing with multiple vendors, simply hoping that it all comes together properly. This is why we help our clients with planning tools, both online and in person, BEFORE the event day. If there’s one thing that we can say for certain, it’s that surprises on your big day are almost NEVER a good thing.
These are just a few designs that we touched on with the RIT students, as we couldn’t possibly fit our 20+ years of experience into one class period. We feel honored to have been a part of helping to educate the next wave of industry professionals and we thank RIT for giving us this opportunity.