A week with Hy-Lite Productions – Destination Wedding in the Bahamas (part 2)

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  ~Chinese Proverb

As the last minute design tweaks were being attended to in the tent, the band was finishing its sound check, and the wait staff was placing the last if its flatware, I decided to escape the noise of the tent and head out to see what nature was cooking up for the evenings light show. As you can see, the guests were about to enjoy a wonderful evening in the Bahamas. The cocktail area was just to the right side of the tent and, thanks to the nice weather, it would be outside and under this wonderful canopy of color!

Oh yeah, just just another little morsel of comedy for ya….

I would have taken a few shots from the cocktail area as we had a pretty cool effect going on, however, about an hour before the guests arrived, we had a window of time to install the 30 or so chinese lanterns on the 12′ bamboo whip poles we had that were designating the space for cocktails. We thought all was under control until the round lanterns started flying off of the poles one by one…..and rolling off like tumbleweeds in a hurricane! I actually chased one and grabbed it seconds before it ended up in the lagoon! We eventually worked out a fix for it, so, like I said….no pics, but a pretty hilarious memory! Good times….

Before we head into the tent and check out the scene there, I thought I would show you a few images I was able to capture of the area….from the sky! I had a cool opportunity to head up to do some aerial photography with Anthony in what was one of the smallest planes I have ever been in. I am always up for a challenge, and a challenge it was! I had visions of these incredible shots of a world-class golf course as seen in an upscale travel magazine. Well, not this time! If there is one thing I love about photography and digital imaging its that there is ALOT to learn. And with that being said, the next time I head up in a little plane like that, I would do a few things differently. The scene was quite comical by the way. I faintly remember rolling about the back area of this tiny air vessel whilst sweating profusely onto the view finder, my glasses, and the camera lens all while slamming my head every so often on the heavily scratched and dirty windows of the plane. Yeah, like I said, a lot to learn….

As you can see below, Michelle’s team created quite an exquisite floral treatment to the space. When darkness finally set in, the handmade tree that stretched itself up the ceiling of the tent seemed to “come to life.” The many color temperatures in the tent at this hour made this processing quite a challenge. I really like how they turned out though. Click on the first to see it a bit larger and in a gallery. Try it, its kinda cool!

A few members of the team!

It’s always kind of sad to leave the location when we are on these kind of events. There is a synergistic energy that you tap into is really hard to describe. The sad part is it all has to come down, get packed up and shipped off, and we all head back to our lives. It takes a little while to come down off that emotional high, but you do eventually, and then its time to get charged up for the next one. With any luck, I will be working with this fantastic team again too!

The Event Design and Production Michelle and Garrett from Michelle Rago
The Wedding Planner Ann and Nicki from David Reinhard Events
The Lighting Hy-Lite Productions, Inc.
The Tenting Anthony with Premier Tenting