Wedding season is here!!!

It's the beginning of May and it is 79 degrees in Cleveland, Ohio.  Wedding. Season. Is. Here!  We were thinking that now is a good time to offer up some links to help brides-to-be with the final details, and also for the not so immediate brides-to-be with where to get started.

Welcome to Solus Lighting LTD's Wedding Resource Blog Post!  Let's dive right in...

Today's Bride has an excellent articles section of their website, that has categories for anything that you forgot to think about, but they did not!  Everything from ideas about decorations, to tips on favors and guest accommodations.  They even have a section titled "Tips & Tricks" with a link to an article about how to remember names - we have read that one a couple of times!  You can find all of their great resource articles here.

Another great wedding resource page is on The Knot website.  The Knot also has a wedding planning section on their website.  Here you can find out about the current wedding color trends of the season, as well as the top bridal beauty dont's.  They also have links for many many other topics such as destination weddings and reception ideas, just to name a few.  You can find their resources here.

We round out this week's blog with Wedding Connections website.  Wedding Connections has an article page on their site where you can find tips, themes, traditions, guides and articles.  You can find tips on planning 24 months from your wedding date all the way up to last minute wedding day details.  You can find their article page here.

We hope that this will be helpful in either getting started for or putting the last finishing touches on your big day!

It's benefit week at Solus Lighting LTD

Solus Lighting LTD is proud to be a part of two excellent benefits this upcoming weekend.  The first will happen on Saturday 04.21.12 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History with the Trout Club Banquet & Auction.  This event will support various conservation and environmental programs related to cold water fisheries.  Registration and more information can found here, on the CMNH website.

The second event is happening on Sunday 04.22.12 at Signature of Solon Country Club.  The event is the Bridal & Beyond Productions Spring Bridal Fair, with those proceeds going to benefit Wish Upon A Wedding.  Wish Upon A Wedding provides weddings and vow renewals to couples facing terminal illness and serious life altering circumstances.  Registration can be found here, on the Signature of Solon website or here, on the Bridal & Beyond Productions website.

Wether you support wildlife or are a bride-to-be or anything in between, come on out this weekend and support two great causes!

Tent season is right around the corner

When spring is in the air, it gets us thinking about what we refer to the late spring/summer/early fall seasons as "tent season".  Having a wedding reception or any kind of party for that matter in a tent is popular this time of year.  Your awesomely talented and creative staff members at Solus Lighting LTD can light a tent like no one else!  Our staff has dozens of years of combined experience in the professional lighting industry and half of that was spent summer after summer perfecting our tent lighting techniques.

We have blogged before about how we can do all of the same things in a tent that we can do in a traditional venue.  This includes, but is not limited to, uplighting, custom pattern projections (gobos), ceiling washes, string lights and paper lanterns.  When choosing a tent for the site of the celebration, there are several options available.  There are clear top tents, solid top tents, false (fabric) ceilings can also be installed in tents.  Fabric ceilings in tents transform the entire space and can be lit in several different ways.  The fabric ceiling can be lit so that ceiling feels high and unobtrusive or they can be lit to bring the space down for a more intimate feel.

Whatever the visions are for the dream tent party, we can turn them into reality!

Rockin "Studio 54" Wedding

Solus Lighting LTD had the distinct honor of providing the lighting for a wedding at the Akron Art Museum.  The wedding and reception featured LED fixtures highlighting the museums amazing architecture, as well as handling the dance floor lighting and illuminating the terrace which featured the bar.  Lead Designer, Maureen Patterson, also chose ETC Source 4 fixtures to project crazy interesting patterns over the lower and upper level of the sprawling Beatrice Knapp McDowell Grand Lobby area.  Patterson also used some small incandescent fixtures to provide up lighting in all of the different colors that were in the bridesmaids dresses.  Finally, the design was rounded out with lighting Robert J Events & Catering food stations.

Check out the brides testimonial here.  The wedding was also featured in the real weddings section of Today's Bride Akron publication, as well as in the Akron Ohio News!

Home page and social media facelift!

Solus Lighting LTD is announcing that our re-vamped home page is ready for your eyeballs...check out our re-designed home page on our website.  Complete with mini slide show, and all new links to our social media sites!

Speaking of some of our social media sites, we have now made our Facebook fan page easier to get to.  SLL can now be reached on Facebook at www.facebook.com/soluslightingltd.

Also, SLL has ventured into the awesome world of Pinterest.  Our Pinterest page will feature some of our own work, as well as some wedding ideas that we find that we think would be a great addition to any wedding reception!  We can be found on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/soluslighting.

Can't go a couple of hours without checking out what tweets are out there on Twitter?  We cant' either!  Not only do we tweet about what we are up to, but we also retweet all kinds of interesting information.  It's not all business on our Twitter account, we also retweet what is going on in and around Cleveland...especially where the local food trucks will be parked for lunch!  SLL tweets can be followed at www.twitter.com/#!/soluslighting.

You Tube can provide endless hours of entertainment.  We know that with what we do, some times a picture just doesn't relay how cool something looked like in person.  So we created our own channel!  Here you can find some videos of special lighting effects we have done.  Stay tuned to this channel for more new and exciting videos.  The Solus Lighting LTD channel can be seen at www.youtube.com/soluslightingltd.


Happy surfing!!!

"I Do" Bridal Soirée, version 2.0

Solus Lighting LTD was once again the exclusive lighting vendor for the "I Do" Bridal Soirée.  Amy Nixon of Amy Nixon Events produced this unique bridal show at the ultra unique 100th Bomb Group Restaurant.  Solus Lighting set up the Jeffrey Room just as we would for a real wedding reception.  You may think that this sounds all too familiar, well then you must have read this blog!

Solus lead designer, Maureen Patterson, really wanted to change up the room this time - which was accomplished ten fold!  The change in design allowed us to show our flexibility and how we have the ability to make the same venue look totally different from event to event.  This time around the design called for LED fixtures for up lighting.  We used a couple of different types of RGB LED fixtures, all changing throughout the night via an Avolites control console.  This design feature gave the brides-to-be an up close and personal look at what the fixtures can do and how they transform the space.

The other big change was how we treated the ginormous circular feature of the ceiling over the dance floor.  Instead of washing the interior of the ceiling circle in color, like the last design, Patterson wanted to go in a totally different direction.  Clear globe string lights where swagged in a wagon wheel type pattern, in the dome of the ceiling over the dance floor.

To see more pictures of this event, head over to our website and Facebook fan page!

JStyle Weddings Bridal Event at The Ritz-Carlton

JStyle Weddings will be hosting a Bridal Event at The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland on Sunday from 2pm until 5pm.  If you want to receive The Ritz-Carlton White Glove Experience including complimentary valet, champagne, dessert and hourly giveaways then this is where you need to be this Sunday!  Solus Lighting LTD, as well as 30 other great vendors, will be on hand to speak with you one on one about how we can make your special day spectacular.  We will be featuring one of our lighting techniques that you will surely want to have incorporated at your reception!  Check out this video preview and visit JStyle Weddings to pre-register for the event.  Use the coupon code "EXHIBIT" and receive your ticket for only $10.  This is one you are not going to want to miss!