{Video} Lighting at Holly Hedge Estate

Heather and Michael

Tucked away in the rolling hills of New Hope is a great venue that very few people know about. Ten minutes north of the shopping district and secluded off the road in natures beauty is a venue by the name of Holly Hedge Estates. Leaving all the hustle and bustle behind, the location, the staff and of course the food at Holly Hedge is just awesome. One of the really cool things about this venue is the old upper “barn” that they have. In this barn, you have your cocktail hour and, if you want, your ceremony. This is exactly what Heather and Michael did.

Heather and Michael were much like most of the couples I work with. They trusted me with the music selections. They had met me, they had asked all of their questions the and they let me do what I do best, spin a rocking wedding. Like many couples, they had a few requests, but for the most part, they let me do my job and they danced.

As I said before the ceremony and cocktail hour were held about 1000 feet away from the main ballroom in an old, vintage style barn. I actually wouldn’t mind using that for a small, intimate reception, that is how cool it is! The ballroom is a completely different story with vaulted 20 foot ceilings, huge dance floor and spacious bar.

Heather and Michael also wanted us to design and light the ballroom, which of course we did. An amber dance floor wash and amber up lighting is what we designed for them and boy did it make the room look amazing. Something so simple (as long as it is done right), really makes the room come alive. And I say “done right” for a few reasons. You see, even though there isn’t technically a lot going on, it is all in the details. Let me explain. This room was white, all white. Anything other than a white fixture would have stood out tremendously. Amber is a tough color to get with the new “LED” lighting. So we needed to use an older style of fixture and strategically place them in order to make the room look the best. With the LED fixtures on the market today, it would be hard to achieve the look we were going for. So, please don’t be fooled by companies telling you how great LED lighting is. Each event needs to be designed based on what that specific event calls for. You can’t just assume that one type of fixture is the end all be all. We were really happy Heather and Michael allowed us to professionally light the room.

This wedding was rocking too. I’m not going to lie, I put together some really serious sets and had fun taking my dance floor on quite a journey. I mixed a pretty good dinner set that included MJ’s “Rock With You,” into “Everything,” by Michael Bubble into “Proud Mary,” by CCR. And after dinner, I was even more creative. I threw in a little Black Eyed Peas “Dirty Bit,” some Ceelo “Forget You,” and of course “Don’t stop believing,” by Journey. And in case you weren’t sure, everything we mix at Synergetic (well almost everything) is beat-mixed. It goes from one song to another song without stopping. If you are not sure what we mean, check out this blog post, and stay tuned as we will be sharing with you what that sounds like.

And best of all, all of this was documented by one of my favorite photographers, Rebecca Barger! Awesome personality, awesome work ethic and of course awesome photographs. We had a blast working with her. When we work with other professionals we know and like, it makes for such a good night.

Thank you to Michael and Heather for choosing me to spin. I hope you both have some great memories!

-Jason

Thanks to Rebecca Barger Photography for the images!

Lighting at Holly Hedge - Video

Holly Hedge is one room that we love to light! Come to think about it, we love to light every room, but Holly Hedge is a lot of fun to light. Located up in Bucks County in New Hope, it is the perfect place to have a wedding reception and feel like you are a million miles away.

For this wedding, we up lit the room, did a dance floor wash and pin spotted the centerpieces. We also did our video montage package for the couple who had pictures they wanted to play back throughout the night. Enjoy!

Courtney and Pat

Courtney and Pat were married earlier this month at Holly Hedge. This was an incredibly fun reception (as you'll see below). Chris and Carlos kept the dancefloor busy and had a great time - Pat and Courtney left the song choices up to them and they didn't disappoint.

It is always a pleasure when other industry professionals choose us to DJ their wedding reception. If you haven't already, check out Pat Taggart Video.

Courtney and Pat, congratulations! Thank you so much for choosing us for your special day. We wish you all the best.

Thanks so much to Stephanie of Lasting M Pressions for the photos!


-Becky

Working for other industry professionals

One of the things that makes us feel really good is when other industry professionals hire us for their own personal events. As you can imagine, as professionals in the event industry, they have seen a number of DJ and lighting companies over the years - but they trusted us with their special event. That means a lot to us.

When Ashley Rhine, a sales associate for the Mendenhall Inn, was planning her wedding, she knew she wanted to hire us to do the lighting from the very beginning. She loved the way we lit the ballrooms at the Mendenhall and that is what she wanted for her wedding at Appleford.

When Liz Stout, sales associate at Holly Hedge Estate, was discussing DJs with her daughter for her upcoming wedding, she told her daughter that she just had to meet with us. How many DJs has she seen over the years? Hundreds. But we stood out!

When Denise DiSilvestro got engaged she knew she had to hire us. We worked with her a number of times during her years at Celebrations and now at The Merion - she has probably heard hundreds of DJs, but she wanted us for her reception.

Or how about almost everyone at Knowlton Mansion! We have done so many private events for the sales team, event day servers and bartenders. We have a wonderful relationship with the staff at Knowlton and love working with them - on client events and their own.

And how about one more. Natalie of Go Festive was married this past January and she knew she wanted to enhance the look and feel of the room with some lighting. We were the first company she called. Her company does about 5 weddings a weekend, so you can imagine how honored we were when she called us to up light the ballroom, provide a dance floor wash and pin spot her centerpieces. Click here to see more from her wedding.

All of these professional friends made us feel so good - it is a huge compliment to be hired to work on an event for another industry professional, especially with so many companies to choose from. So, thank you. Thank you for trusting us with your event. And thank you to the other professionals that we didn’t mention - this would be quite a long post if we mentioned everyone.

-Jason

Alison and Troy

Alison and Troy were married last month at Holly Hedge. They had a beautiful ceremony and reception - Jason DJ'd both and we provided the plasmas and did the up lighting. We recently received a lovely letter from Alison's father, Steve, that I'd like to share.

"This note is overdue. We wanted to thank you again for the fantastic work you and your assistant did with the wedding and reception. Your performance as master of ceremonies was just as we had hoped it would be when we started planning the event.

The red up lighting absolutely made the room. We can’t imagine what it would have looked like if we hadn’t done it. It was so dramatic and it created such warmth in the room. The still pictures look beautiful with the lighting in the background. We can’t wait to see what it did for the video.

Speaking of video, the clip during the father/daughter dance came out perfect. It was the hit of the evening. We got so many compliments and many of the men commented that they had gotten 'misty' eyed. Thank you for your kind words after it was over. It was the moment we had planned for so long and it clearly exceeded our expectations.

Overall, every one of the people involved in the making this wedding either met or exceeded our expectations. But we really believe you and Albie were the keys to it. You two work so well together.

Once more, thank you for doing such a wonderful job and making the only major event of our lives such a success. We will never forget it.

With warm regards,
Ellie and Steve"

Ellie and Steve, we're so glad you were pleased with our services. It was a beautiful wedding and we're so glad we could be a part of such an important time in your lives. We wish you, Alison and Troy all the best!

Here is a video clip of the father/daughter dance that Steve mentioned in his letter. While Alison and Steve were dancing, playing on the plasmas was video of the two of them dancing together at an event when she was 7. Thanks so much to Steve Newbert at All Occasion Video for the clip!

Wedding MBA

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Wedding Merchant Business Academy in Las Vegas. I went out with my good friend Albert Snyder (Alby) from Holly Hedge. Boy was it worth it!

We not only met a ton of great people from all across the country, but we attended a number of lectures and heard some great speakers - all of whom had insight into new things happening in our industry. Presenters included Bernadette Baillie, Vice President of The Knot, Timothy Chi, CEO of Wedding Wire and Tammy Elliot of The Perfect Wedding Guide. We came back totally energized to get back to work and incorporate everything we picked up.

One of the best things about the conference was getting new ideas from people based in different parts of the country. Although the North East has some of the most elaborate weddings, it can be the little things that make the biggest difference. Ultimately, our customers will reap the benefits of what I learned in Vegas, as we continue to make ourselves better in every way and implement new ideas.

Alby and I also ran into a few of our colleagues from the Philadelphia area while we were out there - Elizabeth from Michael's Photography and Lou and Nick from Artistic Imagery.

Alby and I had a great time and can't wait to go back next year!

-Jason

Kelly and Chris

Kelly and Chris had a beautiful ceremony and reception at Holly Hedge Estate. We are at Holly Hedge fairly regularly and really enjoy working with Alby and the rest of the staff over there. Kelly and Chris's wedding was no exception. They're such a great couple and we're so glad we could be a part of their special day!

Mark and Chris DJ'd their ceremony and reception and we also did the lighting for them in the ballroom. We uplit the room in pink and put the couples monogram on the dance floor. Kelly and Chris made a point to tell Mark how much they loved the lighting and how it made the room pop!

Kelly and Chris, we're so glad you were happy with everything and we wish you all the best!

Thanks so much to our friend Joyce at Casual Candids for the images!


-Becky

A few recent events

I got some images from a few photographers this week and wanted to share some of them.

Mike of Mike Troisi Photography sent us a few images of Bernadette and Peter's wedding. They had a beautiful wedding at the Curtis Center last month. We DJ'd and did the up lighting for them.



We DJ'd and did the lighting for John and David's wedding last October at Holly Hedge. John and David had a great fall theme and chose to place foliage break ups on the dance floor and ceiling in red and orange, which gave the room a warm feel. Here are a few images of their special day, thanks to Tracey of Tracey Williams Photography.


We DJ'd Casey and Tim's reception at the Mendenhall Inn. We've been there quite a bit recently and really enjoy working with Dottie and the rest of the staff there. Thanks so much to Jen of Jen Cleary Photography for these images.

Love the packed dance floor!

-Becky