18 replies to this topic

[gandelff]

hi everyone,what an intresting forum and website,
as the title says, i am getting married in september in bonnie scotland and my missus has given me the one thing she feels she can trust me with to do with the wedding-the firework display!!!(prpoper man job and yes i am so not pc!!)

i thought at first about black cat one touch box sets but to be honest after a little more in depth research theres more to this than i thought no there not what i want.
so i looked at sites and forums as this and well got totally flumaxed at bthe complexity of fireworks in general.

So heres what i need and my criteria

£500 budget
the venue have got permission/licence(dunno which is there a differance ? they own the land were having the reception on)
they will light the display for us from a pier(concrete not wood)

i like the look of the mortar displays,the star shaped cossack thing really impresses me..

now heres the questions,

i need alot of bang for bucks,but want class rather than crass,
around a 8 minute display with various effects ending in an almighty finish
user friendly in set up and initiation
safe to handle by the end users

is this a realistic scenario so far.now i dont know how expensive this stuff is to make,setup and initiate so please bear with it if i ask mundane questions which have been asked before.

i would get into this as a hobby myself ,however it seems very complex and a tadge on the dangerous side hobby,maybe when the weddings over who knows?

do any of you guys sell your wares on here that could give me some pointers,idea's and suggestions

[Arthur Brown]

Where in Scotland? It's a HUGE place. Pyrotrev is the nearest member that I know of to Scotland.

[gandelff]

loch insh

[gandelff]

sorry loch insh near aviemore north east scotland not far from aberdeen

[Richard H]

Welcome. £500 is generally the lowest budget for a professional display. I would recommend you discuss with a professional display company and perhaps consider increasing your budget. As always, a reputable operator will work with you to tailor the display to your requirements. The majority of venues will insist on public liability insurance, so sticking with a professional company is a better option rather than doing it yourself.

[Mixologist]

Agree with the above!!

Go pro and you will get a much better timed display. The effects cost less than Category 3 items so you do get quite alot of pyro. Any incidents will be covered by thier insurance. You can get items in lancework such as hearts, initials, names, champagne botttles etc which are quite nice for weddings.

If you can stretch to about 650 you will get a fantatsic display for around 8 mins with a big shell finale which is generally what most people want.

For an event like think i would really reccomend the pros. Look online for local display companie and give them all a call and see who can do you the best display for your money.

[gandelff]

thanks richard, i was kind of expecting that reply and hoping otherwise at the same time, don't get me wrong she's the love of my life and i want her day(lets be realistic its never our day) goes off with a bang(pardon the pun guys)
however i dont want to appear stingy either, i was at a friends wedding reception the other month and around 9pm they had a firework display(dare i call it a display 2 half drunk ushers letting off a multi pack of fireworks and its defintaly NOT what i want)however fireworks have a memorable and memorising effect to them which if done right could make her putty in my palms for a job well done....( see i have sense of humour also)

[Mixologist]

Go pro!

You want something special. Go get it. Dont let there be the wondering in your mind that it may be not so good, rely on people who do this for a living.

Get soem Heart shells too, the ladies seem to love those.

Sorted, stand back, enjoy, tell her you designed it, watch her melt.

[gandelff]

i couldnt tell her that! she'd see straight through me

i assume theres a few if not many professionals amonst you on this forum,

my main dilemma is as always when you pay for a company to do stuff you pay the company prices,overheads,manpower etc

I was kinda angling for a solo professional on here to be come up with the goods, either they set them off at a pre determined time or make them so any one with a degree of common sense AND NOT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL could light them in a set sequence

[Mixologist]

With non professional pyro you get small to medium/largeish effects.

With pro you get them and the really big stuff.

As with anything you pay for professionally yes you do pay for the overheads, insurance, in pyro not always for the labour or if you do we dont all get paid that much, i do it for enjoyment and a pint after!

If you are lucky you may find a freelance firer in your area who will do you a display with cat 4 pyro, with the unsurance backing of his/her company. I really want to puch the insurance aspect as it is really important i feel if anything goes worng on such an important day you are covered. After a wedding th elast thing you want to paying out is someones claim for damages...

And you can design the display!! Tell them what you want, they will put it together, designing is just that?!

Is there any freelancers here up this gents way??!

[gandelff]

cat 4 being a bigger bang i take it... well as mixologist has said any takers out there that can come up with a package to suit my needs and with a slight variation on the price increase then i'm all ears and willing to listen to any and all repiles..please pm me with any details
p.s i cant reiterate if any package' s can be done in such a way where i can get one of the senior staff at the venue to set them off than this will greatly help..
#
however please note that i am not an ignoranous and do understand the need for the "firer /maker to be present "and light the fuses so please bear this in with any quotes you may submit, that and it would be in the sticks so travel and accomodation has to be taken into account otherwise its the local pro teams as some of the replies have stated.

[portfire]

Thats right, CAT 4 is the "Big Stuff". As said, go Pro!, you'll have peace of mind knowing everything is taken care of. IMO you don't want to be spending £500+ on Fireworks then some guy, who doesn't really know what he's doing, go's and ruin the one thing you were entrusted with.......

Talk to your local display companies, tell them your budget and what you want. (Maybe even ask for some heart shells in her favourite colour )

Welcome to the forum BTW and congratulations, keep us posted on what you deicide and how it went down.



Oh, it's my 3rd anniversary here today

[David]

£500 budget
the venue have got permission/licence(dunno which is there a differance ? they own the land were having the reception on)
they will light the display for us from a pier(concrete not wood)

(and taking in all you said...)

Welllllllll.... For £500 and 8 minutes I'd say your best bet is Cat 3. Bigger Cat 3 cakes can rival Cat 4 (there lower end of Cat 4) at around £60 a minute you would be talking probably some longer running Single Ignition Boxes to start with, then moving on to the bigger , pacier, louder ones for a finish. You would of course need a firer, but there are now simple to use Cat 3 firing systems, and Cat 3 by its nature is easy enough to set up. A friend who isn't at the wedding could help with that, for example. I've done fireworks at friends weddings.

If you apprached several firework shops, and asked them what kind of deal they could do on £500 worth, I'm sure you would get some good offers and delivery.

[Spyrotechnics]

I would say forget retail fireworks and getting a mate to fire it, go for a pro display - splash out a few hundred quid extra and you wont regret it, DIY can be ok but it wont compare to a decent professional display company.

If it wasn't quite so far north I would offer my services as we were in Scotland only the other weeken, although only about 20 miles over the border

[patrickescotland]

Last weekend I fired a display for a friend-of-a-friend's wedding in Scotland. I recently completed the Cat 4 training course and have been looking for opportinites to get more experience, hence I did not charge for firing this one.

The budget was £600 (below is a video, photo and list of fireworks) all were Category 3, from Fantastic Fireworks. The display lasted approx 10 minutes (at times a few seconds gap between pieces - need to improve that next time!) The best crowd responses included the "wall" of 6 x volcano fountains, staked out in a row approx 3 meters apart. It is hard to see in the video because it was shot from the side. I was originally hoping to do a waterfall but they are a challenge to set up properly (higher the better) and there were no suitable trees nearby.

The mines were also excellent; I would have 20 of them next time, and less cakes. The finale of the silver crosette fan and Chasing Rainbows fan were spectacular (cost around £100 each) although the latter went a bit quick with 400 shots in around 10 seconds! I would steer clear of the "all-in-one cake boxes" as I find them repetative and it would be better value to select 2 or 3 really good cakes. I also decided not to have rockets, although if you can still get the heart shaped bursts they would be nice, and maybe also some Chinese paper lanterns to finish.

Hope this helps with your wedding planning, and by the way this display was a gift from 3 of the couples attending; perhaps you might suggest that instead of wedding gift list, people contribute to the display and you may be able to increase the budget!

http://www.youtube.c...re=channel_page



2 x Dragons Den,
6 x Volcano fountains,
2 x Grandslam,
10 x Magic mines,
1 x The Scream,
4-pack Tropicana candles,
1 x Shockwave,
1 x Glitter Splitter, (silver crosette fan)
1 x Chasing Rainbows.