Archive

Ryan and Claire

Wedding Fireworks to Music near Grantham, Lincolnshire

The brief: Alchemy Fireworks was asked to produce a spectacular wedding firework display choreographed to music.
The location: The event was held at Harlaxton Manor, near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The display: Our show included a mix of mid level and aerial fireworks reaching a maximum height of 600 feet. The display was perfectly choreographed to a selection of the bride and groom’s favourite music, including the Top Gun theme because of the groom’s work with the RAF. Our FireOne digital firing system and state of the art Bose sound systems make it easy to produce wedding firework displays that are perfectly synchronized to music, whether it’s Madonna or Mozart. Many wedding couples like Ryan and Claire choose a selection of their favourite tunes and ask us to produce a mix, so you have your own personalized soundtrack and your own personalized spectacular wedding firework display!
The feedback: “We loved the display – it surpassed our expectations 1000 times over.”

Emma and Mark

Wedding Fireworks to Music, near Bath, Avon

The brief: Alchemy Fireworks was asked to produce a spectacular wedding firework display choreographed to music, with the restriction that the fireworks must be quiet.
The location: The event was held at Priston Mill, near Bath, Avon.
The display: Our show included a mix of low and mid level fireworks reaching a maximum height of 200 feet and using only quiet and soft-breaking effects such as comets, mines, willows and falling leaves. The display was perfectly choreographed to a selection of the bride and groom’s favourite music. Our FireOne digital firing system and state of the art Bose sound systems make it easy to produce wedding firework displays that are perfectly synchronized to music, whether it’s Madonna or Mozart. Many wedding couples like Emma and Mark choose a selection of their favourite tunes and ask us to produce a mix, so you have your own personalized soundtrack and your own personalized spectacular wedding firework display!
The feedback: “Massive thanks to you and your team for a truly fabulous fireworks display at our wedding.”

BBC Radio 2 Radcliffe & Maconie Show

Radcliffe and Maconie – Alchemy Fireworks live on BBC Radio 2

And just to think they said it could never be done. Or should be done. Fireworks on the radio? It’ll never work. Even if it is the most listened to station in the UK – BBC Radio 2 – and the show is that one-and-only Radcliffe & Maconie show.
Having been long-time listeners to the programme we got in touch in August on the back of a throw-away comment by Stuart that they should have fireworks for the end of their Jurassic Coast walk from Dorset into Devon. We spoke to the show’s production team, liaised with the local council and the Pavillions in Exmouth and before we knew it we had the green light to go ahead. It was all going so swimmingly, but we were then asked if we would like to have a chat with “the lads” on air as part of the show, amidst such hallowed guests as the Fishermen’s Friends and Edwyn Collins. Of course we couldn’t say no, but for a month the question was whether we would be able to say anything at all or would we just clam up under the pressure of a live audience, a live broadcast to a 7-figure number of listeners, and being interviewed by 2 of the most respected music broadcasters of our times. There were some sleepless nights. But it was alright. In fact, given the self-imposed pressure and the total lack of interview preparation, it was pretty good. The show was special too, fired in a gale on a near-deserted Exmouth beach. Sadly we can’t post the audio here, so if you didn’t hear it at the time you’ll just have to take our word for it. No matter how many years and how many spectacular displays we produce this will always remain a highlight and a treasured memory. Fireworks on the Radio? One of the best ideas we’ve ever had, and the show’s production team agreed – “the feedback has been amazing.”

Pyro & FX Case Studies

Wedding Firework Display Case Studies

Andy and Anna

Andy and Anna
Wedding Fireworks to Music in Bedfordshire

Just last night, Mark Radcliffe was on the radio waxing lyrical about Pulp’s headlining performance on the Main Stage in Glastonbury in 1995. Even now, nearly 15 years after the event, his comments were so effusive – something along the lines that he has never seen one man hold an audience of so many in the palm of his hand – that there’s no wonder it’s widely held to be the defining moment (and peak )of Britpop, with Common People as the jewel in the crown of a sparkling set. It must have been some performance.

What does that have to do with fireworks? Not much, directly. (Ok, probably nothing at all, directly). But I personally think that fireworks displays have so much more value when they have a human story, like Andy and Anna’s wedding fireworks display. Like many wedding couples considering a fireworks display for their special day, Andy and Anna got in touch via email. We mentioned the option of a custom musical display and they decide to go away and think about music that means something to them, but that would also work well with fireworks. The tentative suggestion came back: how about Common People by Pulp? Would that work with fireworks? The reason was, that Andy and Anna had witnessed that incredible Pulp performance somewhere, somewhere in a field in Somerset (alright!), and the experience had given that track a special place in their hearts, and in their relationship. On the happiness-ometer it’s a pretty special combination: a great anthemic track, with memories of a great shared experience, choreographed to dazzling display of fireworks. And it’s your wedding day. Tell the folk at Cadbury’s that Phil Collins and the drumming gorilla have competition: Andy, Anna and Alchemy are here, with Jarvis turned up to 11, a sky full of fireworks and an ecstatic wedding party!

“Sorry it’s taken so long to write this but Anna and I both wanted to give you our thanks for the most amazing show you put on at the wedding. It exceeded all my expectations and we’re very happy we chose Alchemy to design and fire the show. We’ve seen a few other wedding firework displays and they didn’t come close to what you delivered, especially being fired to common people! Our guests and most of the village are still talking about it. I have to admit that I was always a little nervous about the cost as it’s difficult to envisage what you’re getting for your money but I think you provide a very high value for money service and would be happy to recommend you.” Andy and Anna

Kal and Sarah

Kal and Sarah
Wedding Fireworks in Leicestershire

Many work-related conversations this year have, somewhat inevitably, tended to lapse into talk of the recession. On occasion it develops into a “conversation within a conversation”, something like “someone told me that such-and-such are busier than ever, but that’s just rubbish. It’s bleak out there and you’ve got to fight for every bit of business…” Well, leaving the he-said-she-said stuff to one side, the firework industry is always ultra-competitive but we’re also conscious that wedding fireworks displays are very much a product in the Marmite mould… Maximum excitement! Total waste of money! Suffice to say, you can’t convince somebody to have a wedding firework display if they don’t want one, and by the same token you can’t talk a real fireworks fan out of having a display at their wedding, recession or no recession: they either love it, or hate it. (And according to my anecdotal, unscientific research which of those groups you belong to is much more likely to be determined by a good/bad childhood experience of fireworks than any other factor, like gender.)

At this point can I introduce Kal. Our champion. Kal would According to Kal, his wedding firework display was non-negotiable. A cast-iron, inked-in, must-have part of the entertainment for his and Sarah’s wedding at Kilworth House. It doesn’t take much of a brain, (thankfully, for me) to realise that we like people like Kal. The brief for Kal and Sarah’s wedding fireworks display was simple: produce a spectacular show! Music? No. Preferred colours or effects? No. Personal likes and dislikes? Big is good. Noisy is good. (For those of you who may be thinking that Kal and I communicated like some sort of basic Neanderthals with grunts and single syllable words, I’d just like to point out that I have taken some degree of creative license with that summary of our conversation…)

The fireworks lover and the fireworks hater will never see things from the other’s point of view, and the best we can hope to do is amaze the enthusiasts, impress some floating voters to join our ranks, and move a few naysayers to reconsider. We knew Kal and Sarah would love their wedding fireworks display (which they both started with a simultaneous button push) but here’s what they had to say about it anyway.

“That was an outstanding job! From the time you took to come and survey the setting, to arranging for access with the farmer, and sorting a starter button so Sarah and I could get the show on the road. The display was truly amazing, with a great balance of effects and colours; the finale was really memorable and will remain etched on our memories forever! Thanks again!” Kal

Alchemy Fireworks useful links: Kilworth House website

Karen and Julian

Karen and Julian
Wedding Fireworks to Music in London

It’s great to be back at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Having fired the Millennium display there (as several others in the early noughties) it will always have a special place in my heart. It’s also a great opportunity for a traditional Greenwich whitebait supper in the Trafalgar Tavern at the site visit!

Like many other sensitive venues, we keep the noise down for displays at the National Maritime Museum in order to minimize inconvenience to the local community, while still allowing wedding parties to celebrate with a firework or two…

On this occasion the happy couple were Karen and Julian, and it was another custom soundtrack for the Alchemy collection, featuring some serious trance anthems, which took me back to my days of neon body paint, white gloves and whistles. Despite the snow, which was bonnet deep on the road leading to our unit, we dug ourselves out and gingerly set off through icy lanes, before finally reaching some more major roads that had been gritted. After that it was plain sailing. A cold day for a fireworks display in London, and plenty of huddling in the van to keep warm, but the cold disappears after the adrenaline of the display and the cheer of the audience!

“Fireworks were fantastic! Thanks!” Karen & Julian

Alchemy Fireworks useful links: History Queens House

Karl and Jo

Karl and Jo – Wedding Fireworks to Music in Somerset

For Karl and Jo’s Wedding Fireworks in Somerset, the music featured an eclectic mix of artists including Pavarotti, Evanescence, Bryan Adams and Take That – all chosen by the bride and groom and mixed in-house at the Alchemy Lab. Karl is a fireworks fan and interested in the show design side of things, so we programmed a digital preview of the display to help him visualise the firework display that we were planning to produce for his wedding. This process really helps cut through the jargon and allows us to present the proposed show in terms that everyone can understand – which is perfect if you don’t know your artillery cannonade from your midnight snow, but you want to know what your wedding firework display will look like. The preview also helped Karl understand the level of noise restrictions at the venue, and see exactly what was possible within the parameters of a quiet wedding firework display, and see just how high impact they could be (without cracking windows or bursting eardrums).

That said, the ability to see a show several times beforehand does take away some of the element of the surprise (!) and magic of a fireworks display, so a visual preview isn’t something that everyone likes idea of.

“One final quick thank you to Rob and his team from Alchemy fireworks – They were absolutely fantastic and made a special day a very special day!” Karl & Jo