St. Johns Illuminations is a lighting, draping and rental company in St. Augustine, started by James Rosamond in 2007 and serving Northeast Florida. Alongside the lighting they rent tents, chairs, lounge furniture, dance floors and aisle wrapping, arches and backdrops, tablescapes and dinnerware.
We are on a job with them most weeks. Around St. Augustine their crew and ours keep landing in the same rooms, which is the only reason they are on this page.
How lighting gets priced, and why nobody will quote you over the phone
Lighting is quoted by the footage of the space, not by the item. A big room with a high ceiling costs more to light than a small one, no matter how many strands it ends up being.
That is why their own site says to inquire rather than posting a number, and it is not evasive - it is the only honest way to price it. They will do a site visit for free on a custom or larger job. Take it. A measured quote beats a guessed one every time.
Budget order of operations: ask the venue what lighting is already installed, and get your quote after that. Some rooms come with cafe lights over the patio already up. Paying to hang what is hanging is the easiest money to waste in this category.
The one thing worth the money if you only do one
Ceiling work. Draping and hung lights change a room more than anything else you can rent, because they change what people look at when they walk in.
Chairs, linens and centerpieces are seen from four feet away by the eight people at that table. A lit ceiling is seen by everybody, all night, and it is what the photos come back looking like.
The terms, before you commit
Worth reading twice
- Deposit
- 50%, non-refundable. That is the term to be sure about before you book
- Changes
- Allowed up to 15 days before the event. Cutting the order by more than 30% costs you part of the deposit
- Delivery
- Weekday delivery starts at $200, and there is an order minimum to qualify for it
- Pickup
- Some items can be collected from their warehouse - but not tents, custom lighting, dance floors, draping or specialty furniture. Those must be delivered
- How long you keep it
- Prices are per event, generally covering 1 to 3 days
- Setup
- They set up and break down, arriving early and coming back at the end
The non-refundable half is the line to think hardest about. It is a normal term in this trade, but on a tight budget it means the date needs to be certain before the deposit goes across.
Tell us what they are hanging
Their cafe lights and chandeliers are warm. Our uplighting can be any colour you like, and a cool wash under warm string lights fights itself - looks fine to the eye, looks wrong in every photo.
Send us the lighting plan and we will pick colours that agree with it. Costs nothing and it is the difference between a room that reads as designed and one that reads as two vendors who never spoke.
Also worth a heads up on timing: ceiling work needs ladders and an empty floor, so it should go in before the rest of us load in rather than alongside us.
Their About page calls Coastal Celebrations their sister company - same co-owner, Lindsay Ohlin, since 2015. Coastal is already on our planners page, so that is one call for two of your vendors.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 2007, by James Rosamond
- Based
- 145 Strongway Court, St. Augustine, Florida
- Serves
- Northeast Florida
- Best at
- Custom draping and event lighting
- Contact
- 904-436-5973
- Site
- stauglighting.com
Tell them AE sent you.