My lightscaping design began with deciding my goal. Should we feel like we're inside the luxurious ballrooms of the Titanic or outside on its grand decks enjoying the dreamy views of the starry night sky and ocean horizons? I decided right away that we needed to experience both. The event was held inside the Grand Ballroom of the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield, Mass. so we already had the opulent ballroom experience going for us. Choosing warm uplighting to play up a luxurious golden palete was a logical choice. The real challenge came from deciding how to create an oceanside view, but lapping ocean waves and night skies don't appear on any rental lists. This project centered on how to achieve this without adding a lot of work to the committee's already long to-do list.

The existing layout of the room devotes about one third of the end of the space to one of the largest dance floors in the County surrounded by some additional open floor space on all sides with an impressive vaulted ceiling over that section featuring the highest ceiling heights of the entire space. In these ways the space is already broken up so I used this natural separation to guide my lightscaping decisions.

It really felt like you were walking out onto the deck of the Titanic surrounded by a horizon of ocean waves meeting the night sky. The combination of lighting and video projection meant the ocean waves were actually moving and sparkling in the moonlight.

Warm golden uplighting gave a luxurious feel to the already grand Ballroom. 

A conference room across the hall held the photo booth and dessert buffet. Much less ornate than the Grand Ballroom, the committee was eager to hear my ideas for how to dress up this space. A few golden uplights and this crystal chandelier were just the answer. The chandelier did more than just look pretty, it focused warm, dimmable downlighting onto the large dessert spread, making it the showcase of this room once the sun set.

The client placed wooden silhouettes like this throughout the event spaces. A significant amount of work went into these so we agreed they would be well-served by a dedicated uplight to highlight each one. Having wireless uplights meant the silhouettes could be placed anywhere without worry of whether an electrical outlet was nearby.

Some texture lighting added some eye-catching elegant scrollwork to the walls of the Grand Ballroom.

The client provided this showcase piece and the starry backdrop behind it. Guests took turns for their photo opp as "King of the World!!!"

All food stations were accented with downlighting.

The client rented these fancy beverage fountains. They sparkled magnificently and were kept from being lost in the dark by some well-deserved pinspotting. The spotlit food station in the background will soon be loaded with food as we get closer to "doors open."  

All food stations were accented with downlighting. Carefully placed lights means guests can enjoy the stations without being blinded.

All food stations were accented with downlighting. Carefully placed lights means guests can enjoy the stations without being blinded.

The beverage fountains were a nice touch and were busy all night by couples working up a sweat on the dance floor.

A few high-powered, ceiling-mounted, LED moving head fixtures, coupled with real-time, wireless control from my DJ booth over the lights surrounding the dance floor made for a very impressive club-like experience!

Without a doubt, the realistic, moving, high-definition ocean waves, full moon, and night sky were the showstopper at this event and the combination of 3 custom motion monograms made up a significant portion of the total labor and cost for this contract. Since I'd pack the dance floor for all of this event, it was important to pull off this effect by locating gear safely, and away from the massive crowd who'd be partying there. As you can see, I pulled it off for some very appreciate partygoers! I couldn't be more proud of this particular project.