Shades of Soho in New Jersey Offers Stylish and Unique Decor Ideas for Your Wedding

By: Tara Diamond-Kule & Bryan Kule of Shades of Soho

When you think of wedding décor, your mind doesn’t immediately jump to lampshades. But we do think about lighting in terms of mood and atmosphere everywhere, from our home to restaurants we eat in. The lighting adds to the ambiance of any dining or party experience. Lucky for us, usually that’s created by someone else and we just get to enjoy it, probably without even thinking about it. When you go to a restaurant, a bar or a dining/party event, there are reasons you don’t eat & socialize under glaring fluorescent lighting. We don’t do it because it doesn’t look good. It doesn’t make people or food look as appetizing as it could. It’s not “sexy” or romantic. It doesn’t create a relaxed mood. Shades of Soho understands that and it started with our own wedding.

My husband and I got engaged in 2005. I was obsessively on theknot.com and planning for the wedding. I knew I wanted something really different. We were having the wedding in a typical hotel ballroom but I wanted it to look more like a Moroccan Lounge. We wanted it to look cooler and more intimate than your average wedding reception.

We’re in the business of lampshades. Ever since I’d gone into the business all I noticed was the atrocious lampshades everywhere. In every hotel, chain restaurant & reception hall, the shades would be plastic, crooked, ill fitting, etc. Since I know how well a great lampshade can transform the look of the room, I thought we should start with the wedding. We’re Jewish so we were definitely having a chuppah but I didn’t like the idea of just a boring four poled thing with flowers. That’s how our six foot lampshade chuppah came to be. It was stunning. Burgundy, trimmed in long crystals, with burgundy, orange, & yellow flowers all around made it a piece that’s still talked about today. I’ve never seen anything like it. Once we made that we had bought 24 crystal lamps to place around the room with a mix of burgundy and orange shades on them with crystal trim and crystal finials. The hotel used those lamps in the cocktail hour on the food tables and in different spots around the room for both the cocktail hour and the reception and dessert tables.

 

There were also giant drum lampshades as the centerpieces for the reception tables. Those shades were set over tall glass vases that had flowers in them. Those were also done in a shade of burgundy with long crystal trim. Usually you just see plain flowers as centerpieces but these made the room really pop.

Since our wedding we’ve done other weddings where they couple wanted more of a lounge effect. Most recently we made 24 shades for a wedding that is going to be at the Brownstone in August. These also came out great. They’re on white pedestals with crystals hanging under the shades. In the past we did gold drum shades with green crystals hanging from them. We can really make a bride & groom’s décor dreams come true with a unique take on lighting and ambiance. There are so many fabric and trims to choose from, it’s easy to come up with something that really reflects a couple’s personal style. We make everything ourselves so you can also feel good about buying quality goods made in the USA. < >