Tag Archives: Galvanized

This is a new series I’ve decided to start to help educate you on all those pretty wedding ideas we’re all pinning over on Pinterest. We know it’s the #1 tool to find inspiration and I want to make sure you get a full understanding of the ideas and what it takes to pull off the weddings you love. The basic premiss of the series is that I’ll find a popular wedding image on Pinterest, I’ll talk about The Romance: Why we all love the idea, The Reality: What it means to pull off the look yourself while giving you some inside industry info, and finally how to Overcome the reality. This is our second post in this series and it’s all about these fabulous galvanized pendant lamps that have, again, been pinned thousands of times.

I couldn’t find an original source on this image so if anyone knows who to give credit too, please comment below. I always give credit where credit is due!

The Romance

What’s not to love about this wedding/event. Fabulous vintage galvanized tubs turned lamps give this tent a rustic and industrial feel. The mixed flower arrangement gives a softness to the industrial. The rope and basket accents(distant background) are the hints that set off the whole look.

Lowes and other local retailers sell these tubs for under $20 and they also happen to carry lamp kits (a light bulb socket attached to a lamp wire & wall socket) and thick rope! All you need to do is drill a hole, attache the lamp kit, and decorate the wire with rope right? Nope.

The Reality

Sure you can find all those materials at a local retailer and yes you can make them into lamps yourself. Two things to consider though.

1. How will they be hung and who will do it? Who: As I mentioned in my last post you and your family need to concentrate all your efforts on being relaxed and having a good time. So you’ll want to have someone you know you can trust and rely on in the que to hang those lamps. How: If you’re renting a tent you need to make sure you or the lighting person knows how the tent is assembled and what can or will need to be done to hang the lights. Depending on whether you’re renting a pole or frame tent will make a difference on how they’ll need to be hung. Also consider what restrictions your tent rental company has on lighting. This is even more challenging when dealing with a venue. When you’re talking hanging lights in a venue you’re dealing with a whole different ball of wax!
2. Electricity? How will you plug the lights in. Let’s say you do have someone to hang the lights & that they know how the tent will be assembled, they’ll still need an electricity plan. Is there an outlet near by? Will you be running a generator? How many outlets will you need in order to avoid overloading a circuit? What are the electrical codes for tents and events in your city/county?

Overcome It

1. Hire a lighting professional. Even if you want to make the lamps yourself, they’ll have all the details you need to make sure the lamps you make will work for the event, they’ll know exactly how to handle hanging them in a tent, they’ll have an electrical plan to avoid circuit overload, and have a knowledge of the electrical codes in your area.

So there you have it The Romance, The Reality, and how to Overcome galvanized wash tub pendant lamps . Have an image you’d like me to cover? Post it on our Facebook page, with a link to the source, and we’ll give you all the goods!