PRACTICAL MAGIC 102: Tips on Lighting Your Own Events from Expert Bentley Meeker

Low-key lighting and lanterns enhance the feel of a Tuscan farmhouse at Billy Joel & Katie Lee's wedding.


I sometimes think it's my mission in life to go around dimming lights, a habit I (thankfully) inherited from my mother.  As it turns out, my mom and lighting expert Bentley Meeker have a lot in common.  As you'll see in Meeker's tips for lighting your own events (the conclusion to our series on lighting), dimmers are a girl's--and an event's--best friend.





Dimmers+candlelight= magic at a party for P. Diddy.


STYLE MANIAC:  When you and your company produce a lighting design for an event, what is the single most important thing you want to achieve?
BENTLEY MEEKER: The greatest compliment I've had in a long time was when the esteemed event designer Susan Holland walked into a space we lit and said, "It 'feels' amazing in here ...." That's what I try to achieve every time.

What is the most important thing to keep in mind when lighting an event?
Dimming. Hands down, bar none, dimming.

What's the most flattering light for an event and how can we achieve it with a limited budget?
Candles, incandescent light and dimming. Change out switches to dimmers (should cost about $100 +/- per switch - and every venue would want that done if it isn't already) and use candles.

What is the biggest mistake people make when lighting an event?
They make it too bright, or use LED's to create bold colors but then throw unflattering light into rooms.





Imagine how different this room at the University Club in New York City would look with bright lights.


Can you give Style Maniac readers your three top tips to improve the lighting at any event without spending a lot of money?


1. As evidenced by my book launch, I love candlelight. It still is the most beautiful...
2. Color existing lights by changing bulbs or gelling high hats.
3. Dim everything just a little darker than you initially think it should be. The eye adjusts and that becomes the "sweet spot" for ambiance.

Many thanks to Bentley for graciously sharing his secrets with all of us. For more on his work, visit Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging Inc. (Photos above via his website, except top photo from Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting.)


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PRACTICAL MAGIC 101: Tips on Lighting Your Home from Expert Bentley Meeker

Bentley Meeker (Photo: Jacob Getz)

At the launch party for Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting, I got to meet the lighting magician himself, Bentley Meeker.  I asked him if he'd share some of his secrets, and tell Style Maniac readers how to create magical lighting in our own homes and at our own events.  He readily agreed. 

Here, his advice on lighting your home.

STYLE MANIAC:  Lighting is such a critical part of how we feel, look, interact with people and yet it's not something most people give much thought to.  Why do you think that is?
BENTLEY MEEKER: I think it's somewhat technical in its design and application and as such people default to a simplified relationship to light which is one of visibility. It is a subtle and often ephemeral medium to create in and to be used effectively requires a little bit more attention than many of us are used to giving to things.

What can we do to change our focus, become more aware of it, and integrate good lighting into our daily lives?
Awareness, as in so many things, is a presence to things. We notice objects but not the intangibles around them.

We'll paint a wall to give a room a certain vibe, but we can light that wall and give that room a completely different vibe. And possibly even a better one.

The integration will invariably ensue after the initial awareness has been created.





Three weddings at New York's Plaza Hotel show how light -- not paint -- can dramatically change the look of a space. At left, Melissa River's fairytale wedding in the Terrace Room.  At right, the Grand Ballroom in completely different wardrobes of red and gold. (Photos: from author's archives, David Hechler and Roger Dong; all from Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker.  Available from Glitterati.)


What is the most important thing to keep in mind when lighting a home?
I think it begins with how do you want to feel in your home. Would a chandelier do it? A floor lamp? Uplights in the corners throwing light up the walls and softly bouncing on the ceilings? Each creates a different feeling so go to the store and experiment wildly. It's not expensive and may change your life.

What are the biggest mistakes you find in residential lighting?
Compact fluorescents. CFL's are now potentially being mandated by federal law. That would be a simple mistake put on megasteroids.

What's the most flattering light and how can we get it in our homes?
Daylight. Freeing windows from heavy treatments and dark curtains makes a huge difference in how, and how much, daylight enters the home. If you're building, put lots of skylights in. They're gorgeous!

Does the approach of layering light levels in a room--overhead, task, accent--still apply or do you have a better way of lighting a room?
It applies, but the effect of light is cumulative. So every bit of light brought into a scenario has to be counter balanced by the dimming of the others. Differing qualities of light is wonderful for contrast. You invariably get nice shadowing. Putting the different elements on dimmers and experimenting with them for 10 minutes will get you a vibe you will love in this type of circumstance.





Yes, you can try this at home.  At this wedding in New York's Gotham Hall, traditional residential lighting layers--overhead, task, spot are used to great effect.  Chandeliers and uplights add drama while votive candles and table lamps create intimacy and warmth.  (Photo by Terry Gruber from Light X Design.)


The array of home lighting can be confusing.  What are the pros/cons and types of light given off by incandescent / fluorescent /LED?  And are there other options for the home we might not know about?
I use LED's in areas that are not living areas. I have them in my hallways on a timer and in my basement, as well as one in the light on the front of my house. In my kitchen I use halogens and in my house, low voltage halogens or incandescents.

For me, all the new technology hasn't addressed the simplest but most important element that lighting for the home needs: beauty. We can save electricity, but if we feel worse, how do we spend the money saved ...?

Can you give Style Maniac readers your top three easy and effective at-home lighting tips?


1. Put everything you can on dimmers.
2. Use incandescent or halogen lighting (far more beautiful than compact fluorescent or LED) on those dimmers.
3. Experiment with color. Soft ambers or pinks in select places can bring a lot of happiness to a home.

Up next: The final story in our lighting series, Practical Magic 102: Bentley Meeker's Tips on Lighting Your Own Events.


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MAGIC IN MOTION: The Launch Party for Light X Design

Before the party: Gotham Hall, almost naked. 
(photo by Roger Dong  from the book Light X Design)

And so I arrived at Gotham Hall, a stunning former bank building on Broadway in New York City, for the launch of Bentley Meeker's new book Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting.  What did I expect from a party orchestrated by Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging, the firm that has created the lighting design of countless celebrity weddings, charity concerts and luxury brand events?  I expected to walk into extravagant fireworks, an over-the-top light show that would knock me out.

Instead, I stepped into the glow of candlelight.  Soft rings of fire encircled the room, hundreds of candles and candelabras flickered amber.  At the far end of the space, lines of votives twinkling in a Plexiglas box seemed to lead down an endless path, drawing you into the center of the room, where, oh, maybe 350 people had gathered beneath a soaring dome 100 feet high. And yet, because of those candles the effect was one of an intimate dinner party.  You instantly felt the workday melt away and relaxed easily into cocktails and conversation.





Entering the party: The glow of hundreds and hundreds of candles. These pics taken with my simple camera, don't even begin to capture the soothing, sexy ambiance. (Collage and photos:  Doreen Creede)


And then, about an hour into the party Meeker flipped the switch and transformed the space into the cover of the book.  Magenta, gold and cerulean washed the walls with dappled light; and from that point on the light was like some living thing, changing color, moving, but so subtly that it didn't distract or make you feel you were at a Planetarium light show.  Instead it just made you feel ... amazing.





Midway through the party, the space transforms into the cover of the book.  Other fantastic elements included bonsai sushi stands and floating buffets. (Collage and photos by Doreen Creede except book cover, top right, by Roger Dong)


The delights continued: fantastic elements like floating buffets of exquisite hors d'ouevres, some served in edible pressed corn wonton soup spoons; a never-ending supply of hand rolled sushi arrayed on sprawling bonsai tree stands; a top-shelf bar; a hot deejay. 
 
Had I stayed a bit longer I might have bumped into Sylvia Weinstock (Queen of Wedding Cakes), Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City author) and Patricia Fields (Sex & The City's costume designer), and maybe had a chance to chat about food, fiction and fashion.  As it was, I departed with memories of light dancing in my head, and a promise from Bentley to share some of his secrets with you, dear Style Maniac Readers, so you can create some of this magic yourselves.


p.s.  Here are 8 other ways Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging have transformed Gotham Hall:





Eight other ways Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging has transformed Gotham Hall.  (Photos by Roger Dong, David Hechler and Paul Witte from the book, Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting,  from Glitterati.)


UP NEXT: Practical Magic, Bentley Meeker's easy, inexpensive tips for lighting your home and parties. Source URL: https://thesoap-box.blogspot.com/search/label/bentley%20meeker
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LIGHT X DESIGN: The Magic of Bentley Meeker

From the moment I glimpsed an advance cover of Bentley Meeker’s Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting I not only wanted to review the book, but to develop a series of stories around it.  Light has such a profound effect on our surroundings, our moods, our memories-- our lives.  And yet it's so often an afterthought, or not thought of at all.  But for decades it has been thought about, played with, produced by Bentley Meeker.  He and his firm, Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging Inc., have created the ambiances for celebrity weddings (Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones, Billy Joel & Katie Lee), luxury brand launches (Christian Dior's J’Adore perfume, Blackberry Bold), superstar charity fundraisers (with Elton John at the piano), extravagant bar mitzvahs (one recreated the Las Vegas strip), and much more.

When my review copy of Light X Design arrived, it delivered, at first glance, just what I expected: page after oversized page of lavish photos, a kaleidoscope of eye candy.  At second glance, I noticed that someone had wisely arranged the book not by event type or chronology but by venue.  And so you realize that the electric blue fairy tale forest of Melissa Rivers’ wedding existed in the same Terrace Room of the Plaza Hotel as a wedding that seems to float on clouds of soft candlelight.  Or that a dizzying two-page spread features 36 shots of the exact same space lit 36 completely different ways.  And yet despite the technical complexity that must go into these projects, according to Meeker the heart of every design--no matter what the occasion, the budget, the client—is to achieve one goal: Make the space and the people in it look and feel incredible.

Frankly, I had not expected to find such straight talk in a coffee table book.  And so I decided to head to New York City for the Light X Design book launch and see for myself just how this mix of simplicity and spectacle worked in real life.  And perhaps see if  Bentley would have a chat. How fabulous would it be to glimpse into the mind of this star lighting designer and translate some of his magic for our everyday lives?

Turns out, pretty fabulous.  

(to be continued ...)

Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker.  Published by Glitterati Incorporated.   Cover photo of a Cynthia Rowley fashion show by Roger Dong.Source URL: https://thesoap-box.blogspot.com/search/label/bentley%20meeker
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