Wedding lighting: why should you make the most how of it?

Here it is; your wedding is ready to go! The flowers are ordered, your dress is perfect… Oh wait! You forgot something… the lighting. It may seem useless but the lighting is very important to sustain the atmosphere you want to convey at your wedding. Here are few points you might want to consider:

The importance of wedding lighting in 5 points

Of course, we all wish for a beautiful, romantic and charming wedding and nobody wants to be dazzled by a bright light coming from nowhere or to have a hot spot ruining our makeup. Furthermore, unless you’re going for an “Onoir” experiment, remember that you might want to be able to see what’s in your plates while eating… It seems so obvious that we often think the lighting will be perfect… just as we’ve imagined. Let there be light! And pouf!

Disco ball in Ibiza house dance. Crédits: edwardolive

On a more serious note, the choice of the perfect lighting is what makes the difference between a nightclub and a fairy tale setting or a warm rustic set up and a formal 7 course dinner at the Windsor Palace. I wouldn’t have a 14 karats gold candelabras at a 70’s disco club nor a multicolor spinning disco ball at a formal dinner. Hence, the choice of your lighting will help you carry out your style and design vision.

Thus the right lighting reinforces your décor style.

Next, your style vision comes with what you imagine your celebration to be. A) Do you want to set the mood to party, twerk and drink all night? Or B) would you rather have an intimate fun night with kids running around and friends chatting at the table while enjoying their meal? If you answered A) you probably imagine your venue in the dark with colored LED projected on the walls  and heavy smoke while a romantic dim incandescent light would be more appropriate for a family friendly setting.

That is how the right lighting creates ambiance.

The illumination not only sets the mood for your event but it also accentuate important aspects of your décor such as your centerpieces or other focal point. The idea here is to bring your guest to gaze at the main show of your wedding. Pin spot is just the right kind of light to showcase specific elements with a focused beam of light that shines directly onto the desired object. Moreover, your lighting may completely ruin your décor if you don’t set the proper light “temperature” as it might just change the colors of your fabrics. Think of white fabric under a warm white incandescent bulb versus the same fabric under a white cold neon light: same fabric, different output.

Hence, the right lighting puts emphasis on the night’s show stopper while enhancing your overall décor.

Showcasing the cake table with tea light candles reflecting on gold mirror. Credits: À la folie! Events

Even today, it isn’t possible to replace good lighting when taking pictures or videos. Hence, planning for good lighting is planning for great souvenirs.

The right lighting provides better quality pictures.

Newly married couple dancing on their wedding party with heavy smoke, multicolored lights and fireworks on the background. Credits: asphoto777

Unfortunately, we often assume that the venue will provide the lighting that matches our vision… until the last minute when we go back the third or fourth time during the evening or at someone else’s event. Thankfully, at this point it’s not too late to fix it, but it sure makes a difference in the budget if it wasn’t planned ahead. Which brings us to the next point:

The right lighting helps with management of your wedding budget

Planning ahead for your wedding’s illumination will allow you to spend less on the rest of the décor by creating ambiance, putting emphasis on elements of your wedding that are important to you such as the flowers, the sweet table, the dance floor, or the head table and by focusing on the wedding style you really envision. Perhaps you wanted to have a Gatsby’s wedding theme with all the glitz that comes with it but your budget doesn’t allow you to spend $ 500 for 15 glamorous centrepieces. Instead, you could invest $ 1000 on vintage light fixtures that would be showcased at your head table. Add candles or votives to a small flower arrangement and voilà! You just saved $ 5 000 on your décor. Find other ideas on how to plan a wedding on a tight budget here.

6 kinds of lighting you should know about

Wedding dance floor with gobos projecting on the floor. Credits: Brizuela Geliebter

The main point is to have your lighting fit your wedding theme: either rustic, romantic, old school, modern… You need to find the lighting that will fit your décor as well as the tone of your event. For example if you chose to have a romantic wedding, candles might be appropriate but fluorescent light sticks might not be.

If the venue itself is too dark, you can add your own lighting such as tinsels, candles, etc.

The coordinator of the venue might be able to point out the alternatives they may provide for the lighting such as turning on only half of the lights or adding lights in your centerpieces.

As for the dancing part, you can turn off the lights and have a disco ball or colorful spotlights and tinsels.

More specifications on different kind of installation:

-LED: led are poor in electricity consumption and don’t get too hot. They can be wireless and of different colors.

-Spot: a focused beam of light that can be aimed at a specific table or ornaments

-Color wash: different lights designed to create an atmosphere (for the ballroom)

-Gobos: stencil that project a design on the wall through the light. You can have both of your names floating on the top roof of the ball room.

-Candles and chandeliers: be careful where you leave them, but candles are very romantic and create a nice and warm atmosphere. You can buy fake candles that work with batteries.

-Tinsels: such as Christmas lighting, tinsels can really make a dull room into something magical.

Source : The knot

Where do you need to have good lighting?

Night wedding ceremony with a lot of candles and vintage lamps on big tree. Credit: olegbreslavtsev

Inside and outside! Depending on the weather, you might find a lot of people chatting outside, smoking or just taking a break from the music and the dancing. How about you give them some nice lighted area to enjoy your wedding? The decoration outside the venue is also a big part of making this day memorable. Add your touch by asking the venue coordinator if you can install tinsels in the trees. Don’t forget to visit the venue after dark and see how it all looks like without extra illumination.

Where to get help and ideas for your wedding lighting?

• Hire a professional who will guide you and install the lighting according to your wishes.

• Get inspired on Pinterest or look for images on the Internet and then try to find the same items at your local shops or on the Web.

• Hire a wedding designer who will take care of everything, including planning for the lighting!

Your light installation can really change your wedding for better or for worst. Have some spare bulbs around, visit the venue at night time, get inspired on the Web, and let your imagination do the work!