Terri, from Get Lit Event Lighting, chats about lights and more!

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!

Today I am kicking off my Bona Fide Buddies blog series highlighting some fantastic folks in our event industry to talk about their businesses and to get an idea of what makes them tick!

I am very excited to introduce Terri Watson of Get Lit Event Lighting! Full disclosure, in our professional life, Terri and I have a past! We sat side-by-side for seven years as event planners at The Catering Company of Chapel Hill. Trust me, we were a very close-knit group, and the two of us supported each other daily!

Although we went our separate ways, we both stayed in the event industry and continued to collaborate. Terri and her husband, Dave Watson, opened Get Lit Event Lighting in 2007 and have been lighting up the Triangle and beyond ever since! I would say that Terri is the brains and Dave the brawn but, not only would that be sexist, but also very untrue. They are both extremely bright and crafty. And, Dave & Terri, along with their Get Lit team, are some of the hardest workers I know!

So, let's get this show on the road and have a chat with Terri Watson of Get Lit Event Lighting!

First of all, thank you for being my first Bona Fide Buddy! Can you share with our readers a bit about what Get Lit Event Lighting is all about?

Oh, you're welcome! From the very beginning, Dave has said, "We do romance, not rock shows," and I think that's still true today, though we occasionally like to rock it out. When we started, event lighting was pretty limited to wash lighting and spotlighting flowers and cakes. There were only a very few chandeliers even available in the local market. As soon as we started asking clients and planners what they wanted, it was very clear that we needed to invest in chandeliers! I think we've always been very responsive to what clients are looking for. We grow our inventory every year based on their requests. Dave really enjoys drawing out and then fabricating fixtures. He literally gets his hands dirty. Welding is very dirty work! But we do buy many of our fixtures too. I like managing logistics, but also get to be creative, especially when meeting with clients and thinking through all of the possibilities. The whole process is very collaborative, it's a back and forth. My favorite installations are when we've come up with something neither the client nor I had in mind exactly when we walked in the door to meet, but something even better. We're always growing and changing.

Where does Get Lit work?

The majority of our work is in the Triangle area of North Carolina, especially the venues in Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. We work out of town too. We've been to River Forest Manor in Belhaven, Biltmore in Asheville, Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, and private residences too. We like to keep the total number of events limited so that Dave or I can be there for each installation. We are so fortunate to work in many local venues on the regular: The Cloth Mill, The Rickhouse, Graham Mill and Forest Hall, Doris Duke Center, Merrimon Wynne House, Angus Barn both The Pavilion in Raleigh and Bay 7 in Durham, Barn of Chapel Hill, oh, I'm sure I'm forgetting other really great venues. These venues tend to have clients that book fairly early so that limits our work at the more distant spots since we only confirm out of town events when we're not already working locally.

Do you have a lighting color or colors that you tend to recommend? Especially to wedding clients? What, in your opinion, sets the tone the best?

OK, so, anyone who's been in a meeting with me knows that I like to describe the best lighting as "candlelight on steroids" or "candlelight turned up to 11". That's something most of us can relate to and what most wedding clients are looking for. We like to create a golden glow that you can turn up with a rheostat. Or, if you turn it way down, then it's more amber. That's actually how we came up with our company branding colors, amber for the lighting, and navy for the night sky just before it turns black.

I know that Dave loves to fabricate lighting fixtures, but Get Lit also makes decor elements. Tell us more about the decor options that you have available.

Just like with our lighting this has been driven by what the clients and planners are asking for. Usually we get requests for things that can't be found in the area so we have some really unique things like gear shaped tables that actually turn, live edge tables lit from below, and large metal arches that crisscross for floral installations. We've made some unique walls and stage surrounds that are really cool. I love the rustic wood stage surround, and the rustic wood wall with the fireplace and large beam mantle. It's so cozy for a winter party. Boxwood walls have been quite popular. We have VERY sturdy boxwood walls, like you can hang heavy mirrors on them, and our boxwood stage surround has twinkle lights inside it which is pretty magical.

Since I am a planner, I am excited to ask this question! Do you enjoy collaborating with event planners?

Get Lit was raised on collaborations and Wedding Planners were a big part of that. They're often involved in the design process and bring us the best ideas! Then we, and by we, I mean Dave has to figure out how, technically, to make it happen. The other area where we're really tight with a planner is figuring out what happens when. The big day goes more smoothly when there's one person who figures out how all the vendors flow together to create a party, and then take it apart again. Adding lighting and decor to an event is more than just picking out pretty objects, and wedding planners understand that. We so appreciate you for that!

Do you often work with florists to incorporate flowers or greenery into the decor?

Yes, this is super popular right now, and we've actually made rings and grids that we hang specifically for this. We spot light these so they're a bright focal point in a darkened space. Most of our lighting fixtures work well with added flowers and greenery, and florists have created amazing installations on our boxwood walls and white wood walls. This has been very popular over the past year and we continue to get requests for fixtures that work with flowers. I even started a Pinterest board specifically for this type of installation.

How quickly do you book up during the peak months in North Carolina?

I'm sorry to say that there is no perfect answer to this question, but we are asked this often. The weekends in April, May, June, September and October are typically fully booked about 4 months ahead of time. However, just one large event may use all of our resources for a weekend so as soon as that one event confirms, which may be 12 months ahead of time, that weekend is closed to all other events.

You have both a beautiful website and an amazing Pinterest page that folks can check out. What would you recommend is the best way to get started with Get Lit Event Lighting?

Oh, thank you so much! Sometimes people ask if they can come to our warehouse to see our fixtures, but that's just a big space filled with boxes. The best way to see the fixtures is to look at photos of the events. This way you can see one chandelier installed in many different ways. We love the web site, it's a nice snapshot of our company and a great way to reach out to us. There's a contact form there and of course our email address for a direct message. Pinterest and Instagram are where you'll see our most recent work and newest fixtures. Pinterest especially gives you the opportunity to drill down on different looks at a single venue, or tons of photos of just twinkle light installs. There are multiple boards based on lighting style and individual venue boards, as in, Get Lit at The Rickhouse. You can start there, or you can just contact me directly. We like to start the process by learning the location, date and general sense of what you have in mind for your event and then match this with our availability. From there we can meet at the venue, or talk by phone or even communicate by email with photos, diagrams and a proposal.