If you’re holding your wedding reception at Sydney’s famous Overseas Passenger Terminal, you’re surely striving for a once-in-a-lifetime spectacular event. Nestled in the heart of Circular Quay, the venue offers breathtaking views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour, and for one lucky couple, Showtime Productions transformed the interior into something just as spectacular.
The wedding of Adem + Matilda featured a bold, immersive design with a lighting concept inspired by the sun itself. Showtime designed and suspended a custom 6m circular truss structure in the heart of the room. This represented a glowing supernova with a warm palette of white and amber light.
George from Reinevoi was the concept designer behind the event. He presented Showtime his design brief which they executed with precision. The feedback received from him was that “Showtime nailed the brief”.
Showtime provided the whole production, including the stunning lighting design featuring Ayrton Diablos, Martin MAC Aura PXL, Martin MAC One and ShowPRO Pluto 350 Spots.
Production Manager Damian Maric chose the fourteen Ayrton Diablos primarily because he needed a profile with shutters to light up the guest tables, allowing him to frame them nicely.
“We also had a low ceiling height to deal with, so I needed something with shutters and a wide beam angle as well,” Damian added. “The Diablos worked in my favour because they’re a small yet highly efficient fixture, so not too intrusive for the space. The Diablo stands out in terms of technical performance, weight and colour accuracy; they ticked all the boxes.”
Six Martin MAC Aura PXL had the critical task of lighting the grand attraction, the 6m circular centrepiece. Again, Damian’s challenge was the low ceiling height as well as the air conditioning in the venue. Thankfully, the MAC Aura PXL offers a compact size and low weight.
“I had such a short distance between where I could hang the MAC Aura PXLs from and the actual scrim of the circle,” he explained. “The MAC Aura PXL were great because they have such a wide beam angle, and I could minimise hot spots as much as possible.”
Whilst Damian did not utilise the MAC Aura PXL’s individual pixel control for main beam pixels and Aura backlight for this production, they were critical in lighting the centrepiece with the exact required colours. The calibrated colour system of the fixture excels on subtle pastels and white tones, making any MAC Aura PXL in the rig match the colour point when they must. According to Damian, they achieved this beautifully.
Lighting the room were sixteen Martin MAC Ones and sixteen ShowPRO Pluto 350 fixtures that Showtime frequently use from their hire inventory for weddings to create ambience and movement.
“So the Pluto 350s and the MAC Ones are usually our go-to lights for weddings,” said Damian. “The MAC One is extremely compact and lightweight, and punches above its size and weight, plus it has a great zoom range. The ShowPRO Pluto 350 spot also has an excellent zoom range, as well as a very quick pan and tilt. Both fixtures are terrific for creating a bit of an atmosphere for guests when they’re entering or while they’re eating. They also add colour and movement for when there’s music and when people are partying.”
The cavernous venue was shrouded in haze thanks to three Look Solutions Unique Hazer 2.1. Control was by an MA Lighting grandMA3 onPC command wing, which Damian says is ideal for events such as weddings.
“It’s small, it’s compact, and it’s great for us because a lot of our regular tech operators are MA3 users,” commented Damian. “It’s a powerful control solution with a small footprint.”
