Sunday, November 25, 2007

Let there be Light!: Part II

Let there be Light: Part I
So, I went to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, super excited to meet with the fourth and last lighting company for reasons explained in Part I.
I have already received quotes from three other Cleveland-area companies--two who had actually visited my venue and one who , without seeing the location, gave me a 'rough quote.'
So fiance, toddler and I woke up early Friday morning in some very frigid and blustery and typically Cleveland weather to meet John from RCS Corp. at Starbucks in the BP Tower. (The BP Tower houses several businesses and on the first floor has about a dozen storefronts and small shops).
We headed up to the third floor so John could check out our space and tell us all of the amazing ways he could transform it with fabulous lighting.
But as he scoped the venue, he looked perplexed...
"I would love to take your money," he said. "But this is going to be a very difficult space to do much with."
Why, I asked?
The answer: Power.
There was not enough power--as in power outlets--in the venue to accomodate any significant lighting set-up.
He said he even remembered working in the space once before for a high school gala and having the same issues.
Further, he explained, with an August wedding and the sun not setting until around 9 p.m., natural light would be a huge obstacle to lighting.
One reason we love our venue is because one whole side of the room is open and overlooks an atrium. The building it's housed in is, on the front side, made entirely of windows. And although our space is set back from those windows, I was assured that natural light would clash with any man-made lighting--and we may only have two hours where lighting would even be noticeable...
I can't say I hadn't heard this before. Two of the other lighting companies told me it would be a "difficult room to transform."
I guess I was just waiting to meet with that company that would tell me they had some fabulous idea on how to get past the obstacles!
So, I'm sad. The very reasons why we chose our venue--the windows and the view--are working against my plans!
A few good things from our meeting with RCS:
1) John had a GREAT idea for our ceremony space!
2) John talked to us about a new designer RCS recently hired who is young and really good at thinking outside of the box on how to use lighting; he plans to send him to our venue next week to see what he comes up with...
To be continued!

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