# Hey all!



## Lemonjello (Feb 29, 2008)

Hey fellas! I am in the wedding design and production biz and building an inventory of lighting gear for weddings mostly in tents, outdoors and ballrooms. I am very particular about the look of a wedding and well lit yet discrete, clean installations is my motivation. Nothing looks worse than amazing decor, centerpieces, cake etc. that the client spent good money on and it's poorly lit, dim, cheesy or obnoxious lighting. I would love input from you guys out there on some fixture choices, techniques and ideas.

In general I am looking for lightweight, discrete, clean, versatile lighting. Cable management and power supply are issues, along with the elements on outdoor weddings. I have a great canvas to work with here in Hawaii so getting the wow! is my goal.

I realize there is a lot out there but I can't exactly get away with hanging insane HES showguns in a 40x80 tent but it would be cool.

See you fellas around!


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## Chris15 (Feb 29, 2008)

Welcome to Controlbooth. The general spiel goes something along the lines of make the search function your friend, the only stupid question is the one we've answered three times in the past month. Don't be afraid to bring back an old thread if there is useful ground to be covered, but a "me too" response to an old thread tends to piss some of us off. Ask questions, answer questions. Your choice as to whether you engage in our off topic antics, we try and keep them out of the information based threads, but sometimes that doesn't happen, in those cases there is usually benefit in reading through the banter,as much of the time we hide useful information in there.

Someone will be along I'm sure to ask things about where in the world you are, whether you have a website and things like that...

So, again welcome, and my summary is this: learn stuff, help people learn stuff and we should all get along just fine. (Hughesie adds in here that Duloc is a happy place...)


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## len (Feb 29, 2008)

Most of the people on this board are theatrical people. You and I are among the exceptions. Over 60% of what I do is weddings and corporate gigs. For tents, which are mostly white, I rent some white pars and ellipsoidals if I am attaching to center poles (say to do a stage wash, etc.) and I have some white 12 gauge cable for power. For brackets, I got some that work great with a 4" round pipe (fairly standard around here) from a vendor named Bill, who posts here. He's in Virginia. 

I've picked up a lot of other tips, but it's probably better we take them to PM because I doubt most others who post here would be interested. However, if I'm wrong, maybe there could be a "corporate events" type board for issues not so directly related to theatrical stuff.


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## derekleffew (Feb 29, 2008)

Lemonjello said:


> ...I realize there is a lot out there but I can't exactly get away with hanging insane HES showguns in a 40x80 tent but it would be cool...


Now, don't be too sure about that. You could put Showguns (or any moving light) in the corners of the tent behind the ferns and bounce them off the white ceiling, changing color and texture, and the fixtures themselves would never be noticed.

I think there's nothing worse than walking into a white tent lit with those god-awful mercury-vapor lights that tent-rental companies like to provide! I've lit many tents with outdoor 300W T-3 floods, painted white and mounted at the top of the walls above head high, washing the ceiling in festive colors. Improvise a mounting system, and you have your choice of over 400 colors to binder clip onto them, at about $20 per fixture, excluding power distribution and control. Rent them for $10/day, and they're almost as profitable as the A/V Flipchart!

Lemonjello and len, please don't take this private. Often "the theatre people" are called upon to light the parties. ControlBooth is an all-encompassing community. No one has yet to shun _me_ because I work mostly in arenas, ballrooms, and showrooms; and not "THE THEATAH". (Or is it the "thee-ATE-r"?) My "control booth" is generally in the middle of the audience on the main floor 120' from the DS edge of the stage. A tent's "control booth" is usually offstage L or R, next to the food service prep/plating area, and draped to make it as visually unobtrusive as possible. 

It's all good, _as long as the check clears!

_ Now, about those huge, ugly, black PA loudspeaker boxes... I've forced many Audio Companies to wrap them in white sharkstooth scrim, and when they tell me they're losing certain frequencies, I tell them: "Fine. Paint the speakers white and get white grill-cloth for the front!" ...Somehow they manage with the scrim.


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## Van (Feb 29, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> ..........No one has yet to shun _me_ because I work mostly in arenas, ballrooms, and showrooms; and not "THE THEATAH". ..............


 
Oh, I thought you did theatre in Vegas. Well, I have to admit what was admiration and awe has been lessened quite a bit now. 

Welcome Aboard Lemonjello! Yeah there are all types of us here, while my mainstay has been Theatre over the years I've worked corporate, tours, rental houses, custom display, film.... We all have a pretty varied background, except for Hughsie. 
Post lots, ask what you want answer what you can.


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## derekleffew (Feb 29, 2008)

Van said:


> Oh, I thought you did theatre in Vegas. Well, I have to admit what was admiration and awe has been lessened quite a bit now. ...


Sorry if I misled you there, Van, by posting discussions about seating 16,500; using twenty-three followspots; three-hundred Moving Lights; twenty-four 20K video projectors; eighty V-DOSC boxes, three grandMAs networked with 10 media servers, twenty-six DMX universes. 

No, in Las Vegas, I'm not doing productions of _Death of a Salesman_ or _The Tempest_, not that that's a bad thing.

I did design a show, _Social Security_, some years ago for Las Vegas Little Theatre, using 14 360s and 7 6"FS on a two-scene EDI Director™ lighting control system.


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## gafftaper (Feb 29, 2008)

We all know Derek is part of the Illegitimate Theater world of sin city and we accept him anyway. 

Hey Lemon have you experimented much with LED's yet. It's going to be an amazing option for low power situations in the future. Currently there are some issues unless you've got a big budget. But the prices are dropping fast and there are some good accent lighting/DJ lighting options out there. Do some searching on LED and LED PAR discussions. I think Len has mentioned using them before. Also we have a young fellow named Pie4weeble who recently started his own rental business doing DJ concert type stuff and he got some LED's for it. There was a thread a while back all about his new business set up. Search for that. Finally, a member named BillESC (who was mentioned before) sells all kinds of stuff at good prices. He's got a wealth of information if you get around to buying give him a call and see what he has to say about pricing and other product options.


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## avkid (Feb 29, 2008)

charcoaldabs said:


> eighty V-DOSC boxes


Are you crazy or something?
A large festival hang is about half that.


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## Hughesie (Mar 1, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> It's all good, _as long as the check clears!
> _/quote]
> 
> Only in Vegas do you have to rush to your bank to get your pay before the payee forgets and spends it ok "drink"
> ...


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## Lemonjello (Mar 1, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> [/COLOR][/I] Now, about those huge, ugly, black PA loudspeaker boxes... I've forced many Audio Companies to wrap them in white sharkstooth scrim, and when they tell me they're losing certain frequencies, I tell them: "Fine. Paint the speakers white and get white grill-cloth for the front!" ...Somehow they manage with the scrim.


Amen. It too drives me nuts! I spend a good deal of time planning my layouts, routing power and control discretely and blend in my fixtures and the DJ shows up with gi-hugic black speaker on black tripod ( complete with brand name on the grill) and asks for some duct tape or zipties to hang his banner on the front of his table with a billion cables barfing spaghetti out all over the place. Oh! don't forget the orange extension cords still bearing the warning labels, dude.....

Thanks for all the warm fuzzy welcomes, felt like I got a group hug.(sarcasm) I admit it, I have lurked before learning the secret handshake, so I probably fit in pretty well here.

Edit:Ok, not all DJ's do this but...you know who you are.


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## Hughesie (Mar 1, 2008)

event i tech'd they asked where do they plug in these cables to?
they were the XLR's that were for his dj setup with ran to our Sound Rig.

i had to plug them in for him, the back of his desk was labeled like this

CD Player 1
L RCA (the first red one goes in here)
R RCA (White one goes in here)

CD Player 2 (see other cd player)

Outputs 
L (black cable goes here)
R (black cable goes here)

i swear it would have been better to just teach them rather than send them.

ah my work experice with a sound company was fun


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## porkchop (Mar 1, 2008)

Another voice that isn't theatre exclusive. The majority of my experience is in a permanent facility, but I've done a wedding or two, and converted a rodeo area into a concert stage more times than I want to remember. Also have had some fun times with new years eve parties and the like. Doesn't the combination of cheap/free drinks and all your equipment just make your heart melt?


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## gafftaper (Mar 2, 2008)

Hughesie89 said:


> Only in Vegas do you have to rush to your bank to get your pay before the payee forgets and spends it ok "drink"



My wife is a nurse. One of her first jobs was working in this really terrible nursing home. She finally left because she might be endangering her career and license by staying there. It was so bad that everyone rushed to the bank on payday because the last one there didn't get paid!


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## Hughesie (Mar 2, 2008)

gafftaper said:


> My wife is a nurse. One of her first jobs was working in this really terrible nursing home. She finally left because she might be endangering her career and license by staying there. It was so bad that everyone rushed to the bank on payday because the last one there didn't get paid!



wow i stand corrected


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## len (Mar 2, 2008)

gafftaper said:


> My wife is a nurse. One of her first jobs was working in this really terrible nursing home. She finally left because she might be endangering her career and license by staying there. It was so bad that everyone rushed to the bank on payday because the last one there didn't get paid!



In Illinois that's a misdemeanor. I'll bet it is in other states as well. If it happened to me I'd file a police report, and fax a copy to the hospital and nursing home accreditation bureau. Nothing like a facility losing its standing (which costs them money) to shake things up.


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## Van (Mar 2, 2008)

gafftaper said:


> My wife is a nurse. One of her first jobs was working in this really terrible nursing home. She finally left because she might be endangering her career and license by staying there. It was so bad that everyone rushed to the bank on payday because the last one there didn't get paid!


 
I used to work for a scenic company based in Clackamas Oregon which has, thankfully, gone out of business. In the 4 months I worked for them they bounced 4 checks and once abandoned me in Factoria, Wa. with no way to communicate with them, when I was sent up to install a set for a video shoot for a computer game. After my last trip up there, I walked into the office handed the owner the keys to the truck, said, " No More." and walked out.


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## gafftaper (Mar 3, 2008)

len said:


> In Illinois that's a misdemeanor. I'll bet it is in other states as well. If it happened to me I'd file a police report, and fax a copy to the hospital and nursing home accreditation bureau. Nothing like a facility losing its standing (which costs them money) to shake things up.



The corporation that ran this nursing home seemed to have a policy of always operating one demerit above being shut down. It was not a good place to work and definitely not the place to send your love ones.

After spending several years working in both good and bad nursing homes. My wife's advice to everyone who has a loved one going into a home. You *must *make sure there is a family member visiting there *every *day during normal business hours. Even in good homes, if a family member is there, the simple truth is your patient will get better care. If you only visit after hours and on weekends they won't get as good of care. The key employees who oversee your loved one's needs are there during the day and the squeaky wheel gets the grease.


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