Megan & Tyler's Lodi Ballroom Wedding

A big room, dressed to the nines

Megan and Tyler handed us one of the most fun rooms we've worked all year: a sweeping Lodi banquet hall with a high curved ceiling that practically begged to be lit. So we lit it. We washed the whole space in deep ocean blue, scattered green and amber pinspots across the ceiling like confetti, and let an orange gobo pour warm color across the parquet dance floor so the empty floor was already glowing before the first guest sat down.

The decor met us halfway and then some. Black-linen rounds ran the length of the hall, each topped with gold and silver balloon clusters and mirror-ball accents that caught every bit of our lighting and threw it back. A long head table sat against a shimmering beaded backdrop, and the place settings gleamed under the wash. It was glam without trying too hard, exactly the kind of canvas a DJ dreams about.

A room this size is a gift and a challenge at once. All that height and open air can swallow sound if you let it, so we set the system to keep the music tight and present out on the floor, where it counts. Megan walked in to "Yours" by Russell Dickerson, and Tyler teared up before she was halfway down the aisle. The grand entrance brought it back up to "Best Day of My Life," and their first dance, "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran, had them swaying in the glow of all that blue and amber like the rest of us weren't there.

By the time we handed the night over, the whole hall had that charged, ready feeling. We opened the floor with "Shut Up and Dance" and the Lodi crowd was instantly all in. A throwback block ran "Hey Ya!" and "Crazy in Love," a country detour kept Tyler's side moving, and the peak was a sweaty, joyful "Don't Stop Believin'" with the entire room screaming the chorus under the blue light. We closed soft and sweet with "Can't Help Falling in Love."

Megan and Tyler, thank you for letting us turn a grand Lodi ballroom into your own glowing party. It looked as good as it sounded.