Let’s Lunch for Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital!
Tomorrow from 11:30-1:30 pm, WM Events will be lunching at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market in support of Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital! “Let’s Lunch for Hughes is an event which I have spear headed as a community board member for this awesome institution. I urge you all come out and support us for this fun event.
-William Fogler
WM Events
Rennie Moran Celebrates 70 Years of Being Amazing!
If anyone deserves a fabulous birthday party, it’s Rennie Moran. She’s the most vivacious 70 year old you’ve EVER met, and we were absolutely honored to help plan and design her birthday at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. Thanks so much to our friends at Newberry’s for the beautiful flowers placed in vintage silver vessels. Take a look at the photographs below (more on our Facebook Page) to get the full picture of this celebration. And oh, by the way, that’s HER art on the walls!
-William Fogler
WM Events
WM Events Helps Engineers STAY WITH IT at GA Tech
Last year the New York Times reported that roughly 40% of students planning of engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That staggering statistic is exactly why President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness- with the help of Intel, hosted a Day of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Stay With It was a chance for students to rub elbows with some of the most accomplished engineers in their fields.
For this event, we partnered with Peachtree Tents and Events to create crowd-catching experiences at the Kessler Campanile and the Ferst Center. These lucky engineering students took a break from their grueling schedules to grab Stay With It water bottles and laptop decals and to win various prizes- including a new Ultrabook computer! We designed lounge areas for students to mingle with the VIP’s, including Intel President, Paul Otellini and NASA Administrator and former Astronaut, Charles Bolden. The GA Tech Pep Band, an exciting DJ, and interactive jugglers helped animate this encouraging event.
When the event at the Kessler Campanile ended, students were ushered into the Ferst Center for the Performing Arts to hear Maria Teresa Kumar host a panel discussion on the importance and versatility of engineering in today’s world. With a video introduction by President Obama, this element of the event was broadcast to multiple campuses across the country using Facebook LIVE . The panelists answered questions posted to the Stay With It Twitter and Facebook pages in real time. After the panel was over, students were treated to chicken sandwiches and popcorn. WM Events helped out by decorating the stage set you see below as well as amping up the greenroom of the Ferst Center.
Thanks again to all our partners who helped us make this happen, and to Patrick Williams for the stupendous images! If you’re dying to see more, check out the Facebook Album!
-William Fogler
WM Events
Ask the Experts: Event Lighting
We gave you a vocabulary lesson about gels and gobos last week with our Lighting Your Event post. This week, we’re turning our eyes and ears to a couple amazing lighting designers for some great advice. Todd Finch is the President of MAGNUM, a production company based in Atlanta, and Julian Bradley is the Owner of ESP Lighting, a company that specializes in LED lights in the Denver area.
WM EVENTS: What is the most common misconception about event lighting?
TODD FINCH: That it is expensive. Just like anything, it can be expensive, but you can also use it in subtle ways that don’t cost a fortune. Simple uplights of color add a big effect, which is not expensive. It more like an accessory.
JULIAN BRADLEY: That it’s too expensive. Even some basic well positioned light fixtures can add a huge amount of excitement and energy to an event.
WM: How can people get the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to lighting?
TF: Color. Uplights add nice splashes of color that linen or chairs or other things just can’t do. It really takes the otherwise ‘neutral’ space and brands it with the event colors. Similarly, gobo/pattern with color and texture can do the same. Many of the event spaces are neutral for a reason. If you want it yours, add color. (The pink at the High Museum was a great example of this!)
JB: Plan as far ahead as possible or be prepared to pay more for “last minute”. A creative, well thought out lighting design that fits within your budget will take time to create. MORE TIME = BETTER DESIGN.
WM: What is your biggest frustration as a lighting designer?
TF: The ‘budget question’. Anytime a ‘design’ comes into play, a budget matters… large or small, it is a perimeter that must be taken into consideration. I think we are so conditioned in other areas of our life to shop price, negotiate down, don’t show all your cards, etc., but when it comes to ‘designing’, designers are really on your side- building a vision of what you want, what you envision and what you can afford.
JB: Champagne dreams with only beer budgets to pay for them.
WM: What is the biggest help you can get from a client about their event?
TF: Know as many of the outside perimeters as you can- time frames, logistics with other vendors, other design elements. Tahe more information the better. Designers can always throw out the information that is not relative, but having more can bring to light a key piece that helps lead you to the end result.
JB: Great question! I would say prior to consulting with any designer, start by writing down some basic details or ideas about your event and then work up from there. Put in as much thought as possible into the type of event you want to have or what kind of event is it. A serious corporate meeting that requires the speakers on stage evenly lit in white light? OR A celebration that needs a more creative approach? Have the venue and the event date been confirmed yet? Do you have any favorite colors that you would like to see used at your event? Will there be dancing? Or a performance that will need to be lit? The more details a client can provide earlier on – the more realistic I can be with creative suggestions, price quotes, etc.
We hope that helps you prepare for the lighting portion of your next party or wedding. Let us know if we can answer any questions for you. Don’t hesitate to call us, using the number on the contact page, or leave a comment section below.
-William Fogler
WM Events
WM Events LOVES Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!!! We hope you and your sweetheart are having a fantastic February 14th. Flowers, cards, chocolates, candles- even the Google Doodle for today is love themed. We can’t help but remember that wonderfully heart-felt occasion we planned a few years ago. What are you doing tonight on this day that celebrates all things love? Leave your comments in the section below.
-William Fogler
WM Events
How To: Lighting Your Event
Let’s face it. It’s a lot more fun to visit your Caterer or Cake Designer for an afternoon tasting than to visit some hidden warehouse to talk about gel colors, gobos, and fresnels. What are those things anyways? We can complain about cold chicken any day of the week, but developing a lighting design is a complex, multi-dimensional, exercise that takes talent, skill, and a discerning eye. Yet, despite these intricacies and mood-altering affects, any event’s lighting budget is usually the last to add on and the first to slash.
Sometimes breaking the vocabulary wall in the lighting world can do wonders in the eventual success of an event. So, let’s put the spotlight on some commonly used terms.
1. Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight (Leko & Source Four)
These fixed lighting instruments collect and direct light through a barrel that contains a lens. ERS instruments come in all shapes and sizes. While each particular model of ERS has its own set of characteristics, every one contains a) an adjustable lens that can change the focus (softness or hardness) of the beam of light projected by the unit, b) a set of brackets on the end of the lens tube for the insertion of gel frames, c) a series of four shutters that allow for precise shaping and sizing of the unit’s beam as lines, and d) a slot for the insertion of metal gobos.
2. Gel
Lighting gel is a transparent thin sheet of polycarbonate or polyester that is placed at the end of a lighting fixture in order to color the light. There are a few different companies that manufacture gel, each using a different code to signify the color profile of each piece (like Rosco 39 and GAM 841. Swatch books (as seen above) give lighting designers a better idea of the end result, just like interior designers use paint color pallets. Also similar to painting, it is best to use smaller combination of colors or stay in a color family when lighting your event. Too many oranges, blues, purples, and yellows, and your lighting concept will appear muddled and fight with your decor.
3.Gobo
Derived from the phrase “Go between”, a gobo is a thin, round piece of metal with patterned holes placed in front of a light source that controls the shape of the light. The gobo stops some light from passing through, while letting the cut out pattern continue for an interesting effect. Situated at the instrument’s point of focus in a holder (as seen above), the gobo can be crisply focused for logos and details, or softened for patterned breakups or geometric designs. Perhaps you might want to add stars to your venue’s ceiling, or a tree pattern (with green gel) for your jungle themed party. Brides, corporations, and guests of honor can all benefit from having a customized gobo cut for around $100.
4. LED Lights
The items detailed above have been around for a long time, but developing technology seems to be focused in the world of LED lighting instruments (mainly because they have high light output with lower power consumption). LED instruments can contain a number of different colored LEDs, often Red, Green and Blue, and different light output colors can be achieved by adjusting the intensity of each LED color group. LED instruments have a long life relative to other options, without the expense of color gel or replacement lamps. The three types of LEDs are a) Round PAR cans that house a round circuit board of light, b) Strip lights that use a long, narrow source of LEDs, and c) Intelligent LED lights that can move positions around an axis.
Check in for our next blog post with lighting experts, Todd Finch and Julian Bradley.
-William Fogler
WM Events
Succulent Inspirations
We hope you all loved our living table from the NACE Design Trends competition that we posted earlier this week. The table was created largely out of plants called succulents. No doubt you’ve rubbed Aloe-infused lotion on a sunburn to ease the pain after a few too many minutes outside. Or maybe you’ve seen those gigantic cacti in the dessert (these). Both of these plants are part of the succulent family.
Succulent plants are especially well-equipped at retaining water in the leaves, stems, and roots in order to survive unfavorable conditions. That’s why you often find them in dry, arid climates like the desert. They have a few evolutionary advancements that help them collect as much moisture as they can. For instance, roots very near the soil’s surface can take up moisture from small showers or heavy dew, while an impervious, outer skin cuticle retains this water. Succulents are like the camels of the plant world.
One really interesting type of succulent is the epiphyte, or air plant. They have limited or no contact with the ground, remaining largely dependent on the moisture taken in from the air to survive. Take a look at a few of our pictures below to get a better understanding of what these succulent plants look like. Don’t be afraid to mix them into an arrangements, a terrarium, or even a bridal bouquet. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
-William Fogler
WM Events
The New Lighter Than Air Camera- Literally!
Cameras have been shrinking for years. But what if they became so thin, they weren’t there anymore? That’s what Yeon Su Kim’s Air Clicker prototype strives to do. With two simple rings you wear on one hand, this camera looks more like a jewelry accessory than a state of the art photographic device for space-saving shutter bugs.
Here’s how it works. The lense is situated on the thumb ring, and activates using the silicon sensor on the pointer finger. So, when you would have bent your finger to press a physical shutter release button, you’re instead just pressing the air. The two rings sync up and take a picture, which is then wirelessly sent to your phone. Voila! Also, a prolonged tension in the ringer finger sensor will change the camera to video mode like in the picture below. I wish this technology would hurry up so I could save some pocket space. How much would you pay for something like this?
-William Fogler
WM Events
DIY: Doodled Shoes, A New Life For Old Soles
Here at WM Events, we’re all about breathing new life into old or otherwise unusable objects. So, when a pair of her white leather shoes got a little scuffed, Leigh looked for a wonky way to spice up her spikes. Inspired by a contest on DoodlersAnonymous.com where the website gave away a pair of Sam Pierpoint doodled shoes, she took to her red sharpie and went to town. They’re relatively symmetrical, and filled with interesting patterns that will make any little black dress pop with artful flair. These conversation pieces took about 2 hours and 5 sharpies total. What are your favorite ways to cover up imperfections? Would you wear shoes like this down the aisle? Leave your comments below!
-William Fogler
WM Events
TEA WEEK: Leftovers to Love
Whether you’re celebrating Veteran’s Day, 11/11/11, or just Friday, today is the perfect Fall day to stop and relax for half a second. And ok. We may be going a little overboard with the tea thing, but it’s a serious comfort drink that a lot of people are serious about. To be honest, we’re just a little excited about the first onset of cold weather. Here it Atlanta, it always happens much later than our northern counterparts, and we’ve been a little jealous. So we’re wrapping up the week of with a slew of special additions to your tea-drinking traditions. These cool design finds are perfect for stocking stuffers, welcome baskets, or corporate take-aways. Have you ever tried the products below? Tell us in the comments!
Blooming Teas via Teavana
Tea Top Brew Travel Mug via Mighty Leaf
Sugar Time Capsules via Erez Bar-Am
-William Fogler
WM Events
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