Bay 7 lighting?

camus8

Hi ladies.  I am having my reception at Bay 7 in May and realized that we need to hire a lighting guy.  My fiance and I are on a pretty tight budget and did not leave room for this - but realize it's necissary for our space. 

So is anyone having their wedding there or has anyone been to a wedding there where a lighting crew was hired?  Any ideas for what the space needs as opposed to what just adds to it?

Thanks for your help!  ~

Jemmessica

What kind of lighting are you wanting to have? We used a space for our reception with really high ceilings and we were able to rig up lights with a pully system.

meredithl618

We're going to use Jeff from Simpsound in Raleigh. He is great and will customize your lighting for you. He can do simple uplighting, gobo monograms, and lots more. I think that his prices are great!  Definitely contact him and hopefully you can squeeze this into your budget. Lighting is DEF worth investing in to greatly impact your event!

camus8

Thanks Meredith! Do you have his email?  I will give him a call but like to email them information as well.

Yea the one we met with was on Bay 7's list, but he just seems a bit pricey for what he's doing.  It's always good to shop around!  So thanks for giving me the heads up! ~

meredithl618

It's: jeff@simpsound.com

He's really nice and was even able to meet us at our venue to show us some lighting ideas that he had. Check my blog to read the post I wrote about it. 

andrea01012009

If the decor for a venue is unsuitable and needs special lighting then why isn't that covered by the venue...

Did they mislead you or misrepresent the place?  Why the change in mind?

Jessica82799

I had my wedding and reception at Bay 7, spent many many hours freaking out about how I could not afford the special lighting, and in the end was incredibly pleased with how it looked WITHOUT spending the extra money for lighting. We did lots of candles, the light was dim, but still bright enough to see. The pictures turned out great - seriously, it was lovely. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I know it looks awesome with the special lights, I just wanted to reassure you that if you can't afford it your wedding will be just as beautiful.

That said, if you do decide you want to spring for lights, Valerie can give you the name of their recommended vendor. He keeps some of his stuff hung up because he works there so often. I think his company is called Get Lit or something like that. Knottie Lusher used them and it looked really cool - basically what he does is add uplighting around the edge of the room and can spotlight the dance floor. I believe the cost is around $1,500. I hope this helps! Page me if you want to know more.

camus8

Phew - thanks Jessica.  You calmed my budget nerves!  It's good to know that we could use some of the lighting guy's (He is the one for Get Lit) suggestions but not all of them - so we can still maintain our budget.

Bay 7 is just so beautiful and my fiance fell in love with it the minute we passed by it - but it's so costly when you consider everything that has to go with it! 

Jessica82799

No problem! Seriously, don't stress. That venue is amazing, but the amount of extra things you have to spend extra money on (tables, chairs, lights, etc.) is INSANE! I am going to try to upload a couple of my reception pics on here to reassure you. The place looked gorgeous and looking back, I would have skipped the stress and still not paid for the lights

camus8

Thanks for posting the pics.  I think we are going to go with just the wall lights with the lighting guy cause I love the way it looks...but that's probably all we'll do.

I checked your wedding website and the pics also look wonderful! Robin is also our officiant - she's a minister at the place my co-worker goes to and he said she's wonderful.  I'm excited to meet her.

Was there anything that Valerie didn't tell you that surprised you about Bay 7?  Did you use her recommended police officer for your wedding day? ~

Jessica82799

Everything about Bay 7 was as they said it would be. I thought V could have been much friendlier and she acted like it was a huge inconvenience very time I asked questions, so don't be surprised if that happens. Your contract specifies that you HAVE to hire the police officer. Just call a month or so in advance - it's no big deal - he just wanders around outside. Tex is your contact for the day of and he is awesome. He is super helpful and can help with any little details you may have forgotten. Good luck! Hope it all goes well! My e-mail is jessandtwedding at gmail if you ever have any other questions.