Pamela and Mark

Back in September I had the pleasure of working at The Merion. We work there a lot and Cliff and the crew always do a fabulous job. The food is great, the attention to detail is always spot on and the little touches they add to eachevent always make it memorable.





This wedding was for Pam and Mark and I met them last year at our new office, which if you haven’t seen you have to come stop by, and we clicked right away.





In our office you are not only able to relax and get a chance to meet us, but you are able to see all of our lighting options, as well as see how we mix. Our new DreamSpace is even bigger now, over 1000 square feet! During the meeting I was really able to get to know them and they were able to get to know me, which is the most important. Feeling comfortable with your DJ is key!





It was good that they were able to see the lighting too because Pam had always wanted to have pin spotting. We were able to show her that, as well as the up lighting. She had been to a few other places that offered up lighting, but was very impressed by the way we brought more fixtures and were able to make it look more like a wash and not a column like effect.





The day of the event was busy. We had four guys there to get the show up and with the tight turn around time we had, it took all of us the whole time to get it up and set. The result was awesomeness! The room looked great.





Our dance floor was full too! Like most of the couples that hire Synergetic, Pam and Mark allowed me to program most of the night myself. I was able to mix in older songs like "Run Around Sue," and "I Want You Back," as well as new songs like "Give Me Everything" and "Raise Your Glass." I was shocked on one song though, they loved ""Shake Shake Senora! There is always one song that just does it at a wedding.





We worked with Jennifer Childress on this wedding and she got some great shots. Working with her is so much fun and makes for a great night. When we work with friends and people we know well the end result is always that much better.





If you are looking for a DJ, I would love the chance to sit down and talk to you. Just call Kelly in the office and she'll get the process started.



-Kurt

Awesome Mendenhall Inn Event

I love it when we get clients that want to drape out the dance floor! I love it even more when they want to use the drape for a reveal later on in the night. And that is exactly what we did at Stacie’s wedding.

In September, Stacie needed a way to block off the ballroom section of Mendenhall Inn for her ceremony so the guests wouldn’t see the rest of the room. She wanted them to come into a room that looked like a ceremony space, as well as have a nice backdrop for the photographer, Jennifer Childress.

We accomplished just that and more. In talking to Stacie, we told her that she should just leave the drape up around the dance floor. We can pull it back and create a cabana style effect to surround the dance floor in.

It was a great idea. You can see from the pictures that it looked really different! The guests loved it, the staff had never seen anything like it and even the DJ was snapping pictures of it left and right.

Let us help you in creating something a little different that can add a unique design to the wedding. All it takes is a simple phone call, 215.633.122, and some brainstorming. We are waiting to listen to your ideas!

The color of 2012

The color of 2012
In 2010 it was turquoise, 2011 was honeysuckle and what will next year be? The Pantone Color Institute has named “Tangerine Tango,” a blend of red and orange, as the “it” color for 2012.

I am a huge fan! The orange tone makes this such a fun, bright color that can easily bring out all the energy of an event, yet keep it feeling warm and cozy with the red like tones. It is a color that you can easily see in the longer, sun filled days of the summer, but still make a room feel comfortable through the shorter days of winter. Many people have to opt out of the darker colors in the summer because the sun’s rays last longer, but this hue will definitely allow guests to see it more easily, earlier in the event.

I am hoping to see a lot of this color in the floral! Lighting beautiful centerpieces just makes for an incredible room and shows the time and attention to detail that the client wants to portray to their guests. I am also interested to see what the florist’s pair with this color to make it pop even more.

Our friend Leigh at La Petite Fluer says that she is encouraged by this color selection. “We love it because it’s a color that can be interpreted for many styles and seasons. For Spring- tangerine, yellow and gray would be amazing. For Summer, we like a citrus blend- tangerine, yellow and lime. And for Fall, grape, tangerine and mocha is rich and sophisticated.”

When it comes to lighting, this would be a great color for up lighting, break up patterns for walls or ceilings, but not so much for a dance floor wash. While this color is in the skin tone family, I think this would most likely end up being too orange and make people look a bit strange, especially in photographs and video. Sticking to a lighter amber or lighter pink is still best for the dance floor.

The ladies over at Proud to Plan also like this selection. Owner Erin Proud said, “It is time for this vibrant and fun color to take center stage! The reddish-orange shade makes it a great choice for bridesmaid attire because it beautifully compliments most skin tones. Try combining textured tangerine linens, with lush ivory floral, lots of gold candles, all washed in gorgeous amber lighting and you'll create a warm and inviting setting your guests won’t soon forget!”

And our friend Tanya Gersh, of Tanya Gersh Wedding Design, based in Montana, said, "Tangerine is the new pink. It is bold, edgy and sexy. The perfect description of today's modern, confident bride!" I think Tanya is spot on!

I am really excited about seeing this color and hope our designer friends come up with creative ways to show it off!

For information on this color and the Pantone Color Institute, go here.

The color of 2010

The color of 2011

-Jason

Lighthing Before & After

We thought we would take some time and show you, as well as explain to you, how and why lighting can make a difference. Most people can easily “see” how lighting changes a room, but they don’t necessarily know why. So let me help you with that.

We will start with up lighting. The most popular option and the basic foundation of most lighting designs for weddings/event. I want to show you how just adding something as simple as up lighting, can make not only your eye, but the camera see a totally different room. For example, in the picture below, there is no up lighting behind the pin spotted centerpiece.

In looking at this picture, it is hard to tell the depth of the room. The background looks flat, the picture is very black and white and the room just doesn’t jump out at you. While many may think the up lighting's only purpose is to simply put color on a wall, its other purpose is to create the depth and add light to dark areas. While your guests notice the color and “oooh and ah”, the photographer and videographer will love the light in the background for better pictures and video, as well as that field depth.

As you can see in the above picture, adding a simple amber up lighting package makes a big difference.

Camera lenses aren’t built like our eyes. They need as much light as they can get. So the more light they can use in the background, the better your pictures will look, as in the picture above.

The above picture shows you how no lighting at all just makes for a typical room. It is hard to see or tell any of the features of the room,the floral’s, or each other.

When we add the up lighting, the room gets that first layer of depth. You can clearly see the depth of the room, what the walls look like, the simple details become more visible.

The only hard part to see are the flower arrangements, the dance floor, the tablescapes or anything inside the room. Up lighting shuts down our iris to take in the extra lighting in the room. So anything in front of the up lighting tends to look dark or hard to see. So now we have to bring the pin spotting in to get some more direct light in the areas we need. For this instance, it would be the flowers.

As you can see, the light for the flowers doesn’t just brighten up the flower arrangements, but it also lights up the table and some of the area around it. This adds the next level of depth, allows our eyes to focus on different parts of the room and most importantly really makes your guests go “wow.”

Lighting is important. Whether it is the natural room lighting or professional lighting, the need for lighting can be for much more than just to see. If you can’t afford to hire a professional lighting company like ours, just make sure you keep control over the natural room lighting. Simple fades throughout the night can evoke emotion and give the other professionals the perfect light they need.

And if you do hire a professional lighting company, remember that we are looking at the room, taking into consideration the other professionals, the physics of the lighting, etc., our number one goal is to evoke emotion and make the room come alive! We hope these pictures helped to show you what a difference lighting makes.

-Jason

Blossom Productions - guest post

My love of working with couples on TLC’s A Wedding Story is how Blossom Productions came to be. Allowing a couple to share their story with me as their producer, truly allowed me to see that every couple is unique. Preserving their story for generations was and still is, truly an honor.

What I think truly sets us apart from other wedding filmmakers is our ability to get to know our couples, understand their story, the details of their wedding, while seamlessly incorporating our artistry, style and high production standards into a highly personalized wedding film.

Since every couple is unique, every one of our films is unlike any other that we produce.

The best compliment we can receive at the end of the wedding day is, “We didn’t even know you were here.” It’s true-we can document everything from the first dance to the sweetest of nuances in an unobtrusive, “stealth-like” manner.

When we hear we are working with a company like Synergetic, we absolutely know two things: 1) the venue is going to look beautiful 2) Our film will look even better because we are able to capture the lighting, the ambience and overall feel that the couple had wanted for their event having incorporated lighting into the day.

As a result, we’re able to film the wedding without having to use on-camera lights. It’s one more reason we’re able to blend in and get the job done well while incognito!

-Gabe and Alicia Nathanson, Owners of Blossom Productions

{Lighting} Maria and Steve

With New Years Eve fast approaching, I thought I would share some images from one of our events last NYE.

Maria and Steve had a beautiful Wedding at the Loews Hotel complete with a midnight balloon drop :).

Thanks so much to Craig of Single Exposure for the images!

{Testimonial} Kate and Drew

We recieved this wonderful email from Kate and Drew after their beautiful Glen Foerd wedding.

"Hey Matt,
I apologize I'm just emailing you now, but we wanted to thank you so very much for all your hard work that you and your team put into making our wedding so great. The lighting was awesome and the music was fantastic!!! You did such an amazing job with the music we couldn't have asked for anything better. Everything turned out perfectly !!! We would highly recommend you to anyone. Thanks again for everything!!!

Sincerely,
Drew and Kate McKenna"

Thank you so much for your kind words! We're so glad you were pleased and we could be a part of your special day! We wish you all the best!

Gretchen and Michael

It's always an honor when a fellow industry professional hires us for their personal event. We've known Gretchen for a long time and had the pleasure of DJing and lighting her wedding this past Spring. Here's more about the big day straight from Gretchen!

"My husband and I are both really creative and love music, and wanted to have a lot of personal touches throughout our wedding celebration. It was a great collaboration, and we each got to show off our style to create a day that was truly unique and truly us. Being in the wedding industry myself, I was fortunate enough to be able to get to work with vendors I’d worked with multiple times for other people’s events to create my own special day. There was no stress involved with the vendor portion of things. I knew I could rely on them to execute the vision the husband and I had created for our wedding day. My husband designed the print work … save the date, invites programs, menus, and our wedding logo. I designed jewelry for myself, 7 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, and mother of the bride and mother of the groom. Music is hugely important to us. My husband is also a DJ, and he designed playlists for the pre-ceremony, cocktail hour and dinner hour. Together we curated the ceremony music (and surprised our DJ Jason Weldon with a full set of ceremony songs he’d never seen used before in a ceremony!) and our guest take home gift, which was a mix cd. Seeing everything come together, the beautiful lighting, flowers, our logo in lights, and all of our friends and family was what made the day truly special for us!

Vendors: Invites/Print-the groom http://www.argodesign.net/
Jewelry-the bride http://www.studio320jewelry.com/
Floral décor-Campbell Studios http://www.campbellstudios.us/
Photography- http://www.chriskendigphotography.com/
DJ/Lighting http://www.synergeticsounds.com/"


Congratulations Gretchen and Michael! Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your special day!

{Video} A Carinwood Wedding with Lighting

Michelle and Sam

It took six workers and almost six hours of labor, but when our team was done setting up for Michelle and Sam’s wedding, we knew we had created something extraordinary.

They had their ceremony and reception at the Loews Hotel at 12^th and Market Street. The Loews is quite an impressive venue and it’s perfect for weddings of 300+ guests like Michelle and Sam’s. Located in the oldest skyscraper in Philadelphia (the PSFS building), the Loews links history and modern elegance as its immaculate renovations deliver a very sleek and contemporary feel. Michelle and Sam came to Synergetic to enhance this beautiful venue with added lighting, draping, A/V upgrades, and of course, good music.

The production crew and I arrived at the Loews at 11:30am. We had a lot of work to do before the ceremony at 6:00pm. We first got to work on the lighting in the Millennium Ballroom where the reception was held. Michelle and Sam added up-lighting in amber, a dance floor wash, and pin-spotting to highlight their 27 centerpieces. We also set up a projector screen directly over the DJ booth that allowed guests to view slideshows of Michelle and Sam throughout the night. Their guests really got a kick out of that!

We also contributed to the ceremony by setting up 40 feet of drape with amber up-lighting.This created a beautiful backdrop that made for some wonderful pictures of Michelle and Sam exchanging their vows.

During the cocktail hour in the Millennium Foyer, I brought Sam into the ballroom to make sure he was satisfied with all the work we had done. He was speechless! The room itself accompanied by the city-scape that surrounds the ballroom made for an amazing sight. After all that work, the party was just getting started.

Michelle and Sam had a lot they wanted to do throughout the reception. They had parent dances, bouquet and garter toss, a traditional tea ceremony, and several slide shows that we projected on our screen. It was important that I kept strong communication between myself and the staff at the Loews to make sure we stayed on schedule. When there is a lack of organization among vendors, a wedding will tend to drag, usually resulting in less dance time at the end of the evening. Dance time is my favorite part of the night! So, before every wedding, I always review the timeline with photographers, videographers, day of coordinators, maître Ds, and any other professional involved in the reception.

On this night, I was able to get a solid two and a half hours of dance time. This is the point where the DJ can make or break your reception. I was recently at a wedding where the DJ was very professional: well-dressed, well-spoken, and handled formalities well. But at the end of the night when he had to show his true DJ skills, he was exposed. If you have guests at your wedding, like Michelle and Sam’s, who are expecting to dance, you need a DJ who can deliver in this spot. It’s these last two to three hours that separates me from your average wedding DJ. So what do I do to keep your guests on the floor?

Before anything, I come to the wedding prepared. Michelle, Sam, and I talked about songs and genres that they thought would work really well with their guests. We also discussed other factors that would contribute to my song selection: the length of the reception, demographic breakdown of guests, and their overall vision of what they wanted from me as a DJ. This information allows me to make a mental blueprint for where I should take the night weeks before the event.

When I’m spinning my music, I try to put myself in the position of the guests on the dance floor. If I was out there with them, what would I want the DJ to do? When mixing song to song, I am constantly aware of tempo, dynamics, and rhythm. By managing these factors, I make seamless transitions and can continuously build the energy in the room without any awkward breaks in the music. This the part of the night your guests will remember the most, so make sure you have a DJ that can keep the dance floor alive.

Michelle and Sam’s wedding was one that I will always remember. It was certainly quite a production! I was very pleased that the Synergetic team and I were able to meet and exceed their expectations with our lighting design and my service as a DJ. Best of luck to them in the future!

For more information on Synergetic, or to set up an appointment, contact Kelly at our office: 215-633-1200.

-Kyle

Thanks so much to Jea Lee Photography for the images.