If Film Crews Ran the World...

I've discovered that having a background in show business really comes in handy when your best friends decide to throw a backyard wedding on three weeks' notice.

Compared to the long hours and stress of producing multi-million dollar films and television shows, a wedding is a piece of cake.

I did the lighting, video, and a significant portion of the photography for the event, as well as AD-ing (Assistant Directing, or keeping things on schedule, for those of you not in the biz), and impromptu sound reinforcement, and I must say I'm really proud of the results. It was also helpful having a TV producer on the bride's side of the aisle.

My elaborate spiderweb of rope and wire caused some palpable amount of anxiety for the bride and groom at first, and understandably so. Things aren't always pretty behind the scenes-

But I told them, "Hey, trust me, I'm a professional," with all the inflated self-assuredness I could muster, and a big wink at the end, to instill confidence and calm their fears.

We couldn't put up all the China lanterns until the day-of, for fear of rain (and hurricanes), so we didn't know how it would all look until it finally got dark...

The bar/dance floor, looking toward the garage. The ceremony was under the grape leaves in front of the garage, with a wall of French doors and beautiful silk drapery to set the scene. (I'll have to find pictures of it, as my eye was glued to the video camera for that part.)

Wide shot of the back yard/seating area, and the pool with candles floating in it. Surprisingly none of us drunks fell in, on purpose or by accident...

Roughly 580 watts of China balls... outside was actually brighter than inside. I actually threw out a quick-on plug and replaced it with a real 15-amp plug after realizing the tiny quick-on contacts were kind of a fire hazard... I think in total we pulled a respectable 15 amps... not bad for a bunch of Christmas lights.

The wedding cake(s). Pay no attention to the only dead string of lights behind it. The candlelight is prettier anyway.

The happy couple, and the presiding minister/brand new sister-in-law. I think they approve.

Eat your heart out, Nextel.

Christmas in August

Doing the lighting for my friends' wedding next week... used to having a whole grip truck's worth of rigging hardware at my disposal, but unfortunately that's not in the budget for this one. So back to basics... good ol' Boy Scout knots:

I was inspired primarily by the Big Bambú exhibit at the Met, and my primal yearning to build something using only rope...

The lashing was also inspired by my innate distrust of the structural integrity of zip-ties... they're great for re-attaching body panels to your car (which I've done many a time), but you have to keep in mind that they periodically snap & need to be replaced... which is not really an acceptable solution for rigging lights over 80+ peoples' heads. Even if they're just China lanterns–

This is the end of Day #2, with roughly 25% of the lights are hung. That means 75% more awesomeness next week. And a real camera to actually do it justice...