Events lighting case study

Pinterest and online wedding inspiration galleries mean that couples now have an infinite source of ideas for lighting schemes for their big day.  Making these ambitious dreams come true can be a challenge for event management companies, especially when the chosen venue presents practical restrictions.

About the company

Based in East Anglia, UK-based events company Dreamwave Events are a full-scale events management company, offering the hire of DJs, decor and, of course, lighting. Here, Dave Drane, co-director of Dreamwave Events, sheds light on how they manage couples’ expectations and successfully achieve spectacular lighting schemes with the help of computer aided design (CAD) and a long-standing relationship with Festive Lights.

What Dreamwave had to say

The company’s co-director, Dave, says, “Couples come to us anywhere between six to 18 months before their wedding day and often bring mood boards and Pinterest images to show us the look they want.  Whilst it’s great that their imagination has free rein, often the venue has issues with power supply and fixing points – this is where CAD comes in. We recently had to create visuals of a lighting installation at a venue that was still in the process of being built, as you can imagine that was quite a challenge!

“Festive Lights has a huge range which enables us to be as creative and adaptable as we need to be.  From installing fairy light canopies in huge barn locations, to zig-zagging festoons from trees, the products enable us to create a big impact.  We have over 3km of fairy lights in stock, which means that venue size is no problem for us.  Our festoon lighting packages are built on request too, with connectable belts meaning that we can create outstanding installations with no limitations on length – indoors or outdoors, whether they are attached to buildings or suspended on free-standing support poles.”

Dave concludes, “Our crew always goes the extra mile to create magical lighting schemes. From painstakingly suspending individual mason jars filled with fairy lights to scaling trees to place festoon bulbs at the right height, we always try to action every request.  Lighting is such an important element of the wedding day and the planning has to be spot on from the start.  It’s a privilege to help couples to plan their dream wedding and working with Festive Lights means that we can easily create the looks that are popular on Pinterest right now.”

Teamwork and the importance of customer feedback

Dreamwave Events has been a Festive Lights customer for over six years and has been instrumental in giving feedback, which has been fed into the product development process. Back in 2016, we approached the company for feedback on a pioneering new product – dimmable festoon bulbs.  Designed to offer the same aesthetic appeal as traditional filament bulbs, but with reduced energy consumption, the LED light bulbs, featuring 4W and 320 lumen output, had to be put to the test in real world  settings prior to launch.

The opportunity to collaborate was welcomed by Dreamwave Events, as the product would offer a multitude of benefits, from cost-saving to the versatility of lighting effects they could create. The new concept was an exciting proposition for the firm, giving them the chance to adjust light levels at the hundreds of events they organise each year. Dreamwave Events said, “Festive Lights has taken its forward-thinking approach to customer feedback to the next level.  By including our input during the product development phase, we knew that the end result would not only meet our needs as a supplier, but could help make our customers’ dreams come true in terms of the variety of atmospheres we could create at each venue.