Lighting for gala dinners: when the light is the decoration

At many of the gala dinners we work on, the decoration is almost entirely light. There are no large sets or fabric everywhere: there are stone walls, vaults, arches and a good event lighting plan in Mallorca that makes the most of them. When the venue is beautiful, lighting changes the room without covering it up.

Every event starts with a lighting study

Before we install anything, we prepare a lighting study for that specific event. In it we separate two kinds of light that have to work together.

Functional lighting is what people need. Speakers have to be clearly visible, without odd shadows on their faces. Cameras need enough light to film. And guests need to be able to see their plate and the person opposite.

Decorative lighting creates the atmosphere: the colour on the walls, the projected patterns, the beams you can see in the air. It is what ends up in the photos, but without the functional light the dinner doesn’t work.

In that study we also apply efficiency and sustainability criteria: which fixtures to use and how many are really needed.

The tools

You don’t need many to change a room.

LED wall washers are fixtures placed on the floor, right against the wall, that bathe it in colour from below. They work very well on stone, because the grazing light brings out the texture of the wall.

A gobo is a stencil placed in front of a light to project a pattern: a logo, a texture, a motif. It lets you put a brand or a design on a wall without printing anything.

Moving heads are motorised fixtures that change direction, colour and shape over the course of the evening. With a little haze in the air, their beams become visible.

All of this is programmed and run from a lighting desk, so the room changes with each moment of the dinner.

Event lighting in stone venues

Son Termes: roses on the arches

At the Winners’ Circle programme dinner for Deutsche Telekom at Son Termes, the lighting did nearly all the work. We projected rose-pattern gobos onto the arches and stone walls in magenta and violet, close to the brand colour. We hung moving heads from a truss above the stage. The banquet tables, dressed in white, sat within the same light.

In the same hall, at the DPDgroup dinners, we washed the arches in magenta and violet from the base and projected gobos onto the vault from a suspended truss structure.

Galdent: a room carved into the rock

The Restaurante Galdent is a space dug into the rock, and there the lighting always starts from the stone.

At the Roche dinner we washed the walls and the vault in blue and violet, kept the windows amber and projected coloured spheres onto the ceiling that looked like planets. With a little haze, the beams showed above the tables while the guests ate.

For PharmaMar’s 10th anniversary celebration we used pink and purple, with gobo textures on the ceiling and walls. On the main wall, on one side of the stage, we placed the 10-year emblem with its laurel wreath, and on the other the PharmaMar logo, both created with projected light.

Projecting a logo with a gobo instead of printing it has a clear advantage in a space like this: nothing touches the wall and the stone stays visible.

Bellver Castle: colour from the galleries

For an Oyster event at Bellver Castle, the setting was the circular courtyard. We placed lights on the floor of the galleries to wash both levels of arches in pink and magenta, so the colour could be seen from anywhere in the courtyard. For the evening’s flamenco show we added front light for the dancer and guitarists, and left the arches behind them in white and pink.

That shows the difference between the two kinds of light clearly: decorative on the arches, functional on the performers.

Details that make a difference

Light on the table

At the New Year’s Eve dinner at the Palma Congress Centre we lit the room in blue and violet, with geometric gobos on the walls and ceiling. Each table had its own point of warm light in the centre, which stood out against the cool background. That contrast means people look good to each other.

The brand colour, used carefully

Bringing the corporate colour into the room works, but a whole room in a single colour gets tiring and flatters no one in photos. It is better kept for walls and architecture, with more neutral light wherever there are faces.

A scene for each moment

A dinner has a reception, the meal, speeches and sometimes dancing. Programming a different scene for each part lets the evening move on without anyone noticing the change.

If you have a dinner in a venue with character

Tell us the venue, the time, whether there are speeches or a performance, and the brand colours. With that we can prepare a lighting proposal. You will find the rest of our equipment under audiovisual technology and audiovisual services in Mallorca. To get started, drop us a line.