Show Your Venue In the #1 Best Light

Sep 6, 2024

Lighting | Postings | Services

One of the hardest aspects of any business is making the first connection. The other is keeping it. This is especially true for venue based businesses and rental properties. Making your property stand out amongst the many other options can be difficult, and leaving clients satisfied is incredibly important for reviews and referrals. In order to help your venue shine, it needs to be seen in ‘the best light’, no matter what time of day.

What Makes the Best Venue:

The best venue is one that facilitates and elevates the occasion – one that encourages conversation and celebration that stretches on into the night. The best venue makes the guests feel safe, relaxed, and awed by the beauty around them. Sadly, many incredible locations that excel under the light of the sun can seem small, unwelcoming, and in worse cases, treacherous at night.

Simple solutions of motion sensor lights or solar lights along pathways may provide a certain degree of safety, yet they undercut the investments made in the aesthetic of the property. An elegant lighting design, however, can stun the guests, highlight the beauty of the landscape, and leave a lasting impression. Soft downlighting can invoke a moonlit night. Foliage set to glowing offers landmarks and ambiently diffused light around it.

Getting Practical With Your Property:

When considering how to approach a lighting system at your venue, consider addressing three main elements: travel ways, focal points, and surroundings.

Steps, stone pathways, and parking lots are some of the most dangerous places in any venue, and safely light them is a critical element of a venue design. Having well lit travel ways protects an owner from a degree of liability, and protects the guests from injury – as well as looking beautiful. Done properly, lighting can create a subtle river guiding guests to and fro. Done improperly and it can lead to stumbles, misdirection, or lost belongings.

Focal Points – such as patios, pagodas, or stages, etc. – are where the most time will be spent at a venue, or at the very least where the most important times will be spent. These are where memories are most likely to be made, and the venue’s success or failure most likely to be remembered. Each feature is likely to be unique in its space and function and thus require additional diligence in the design to light properly. Avoiding any glare from bare lamps in these areas is especially vital.

The surrounding landscape – the stone walls or trees at the edges of the property, the walls of the structure, garden beds – these set the borders and boundaries of an area, creating either an expansive or cozy sense of space. While the focal points are highly important, the surrounding space sets the tone. Do you light the tall evergreen trees to guide the eye toward the stars, or keep their gaze grounded on the flowers and Japanese maples?

Photographing the Finished Product:

Great photos of your venue are what truly make the sale. Since most shopping is done online, your property’s portfolio is likely going to be what makes the first impression. Additionally, guests frequently want to see examples of the venue from various times of day, or at least from the time of day that is most relevant to their occasion.

Night and evening photography is a different beast, and balancing the different camera settings to capture the true appearance to the human eye can be challenging to those without training or experience. Luckily for you, Carolina Outdoor Lighting has that experience, and frequently photographs properties for our portfolio, allowing your own website or portfolio to benefit as well.

Let Us Shine Our Best Light On You:

To help you visualize these elements better – (and to show off a few of our awesome BnB and venue partners!) explore these links/photos. Reach out via the contact links if you think COL can help your venue expand or excel! CONTACT

Canaan Valley – Wedding Venue/ Luxury Rentals : https://canaanvalleync.com/