Jessica Burke
- Apr 1, 2020
- 2 min read

That lighting tho.

I don't just photograph fabulous weddings (shocking, I know). Sometimes I photograph fabulous dinner parties too. Like this one for Boisset Collection Ambassadors that took place last fall at The Cannery in New Orleans.

My friend Kellie Levy, Director of Sales and Event Manager at The Cannery and Toulouse Gourmet, brought together this fabulous group of Ambassadors and Jean-Charles Boisset himself for this epic evening!

About the Event Design

Inspired by Jean-Charles Boisset's book "The Alchemy of the Senses", event designer Rena Sweeney of Alchemy Events composed the event to engage all five senses.

With taste and scent accounted for by the evening's featured Boisset Collection wines (expertly paired with a 5-course dinner menu by Toulouse Gourmet), Rena set out to engage guests' remaining three senses: sight, touch and sound.

Rena choreographed lighting and soundtrack transformations to complement each course. The setting was pure luxury with sequin linen, gold flatware, and modern ghost chairs at each place setting. You can read more about Rena's inspiration and process (and find out what was on the playlist!) on her blog here.

That Lighting Tho...

As a photographer, I love when an event design includes beautiful lighting. It sets the mood and the photos are just stunning. Rena consulted with me when choosing the lighting palette (pro tip: always consult with your photographer when choosing your lighting as some lighting photographs better than others). For the 3rd course, she wanted to do a deep, dramatic red color for the room. Red can be a tricky for photography - it can easily become very flat in photographs. To counter balance this and make sure that the images were stunning, I suggested heavy use of candlelight for contrast on the tables. Candlelight looks fantastic with pretty much every color palette imaginable - there's no such thing as too many candles in my book!

I photographed each course of the meal with the accompanying wine as the evening progressed in a little make-shift studio. So feast your eyes on the photos below showing the dinner setting with each lighting change.