Lighting makes all the difference!

Lighting can make a huge difference at a wedding. It can create a mood and help showcase everything from your centerpieces to your cake. Recently, our Special Projects Editor, Anthony Luscia, attended an event at Levy Lighting here in New York City. They are a lighting laboratory where clients can experiment with a variety of lighting concepts. Here are some of the tips they shared with us.

9 Lighting Tips

1. Project light designs such as flowers, carpets, monograms, or religious symbols. Designs are produced by the lighting designer according to your specifications. Projections create a unique and mysterious ambiance. Guests will love it.

2. Three months in advance of your wedding, have a wedding lighting expert walk through the ceremony and reception venues. This will help the lighting designer figure out how to camouflage the lighting. With advance preparation, designers can conceal lighting fixtures in the building architecture or décor while achieving exciting effects.

3. Don’t use too many lighting fixtures that throw moving light around the room. You run the risk of having your event look busy or tacky.

4. Don't let the DJ or band provide the lighting for your wedding. It never works because you run the risk of having your event look like a high school dance. You're much better off hiring a lighting designer.

5. If your budget is tight, use uplighting at the perimeter of the room to create a colored glow on the walls; this transforms the space and creates interest and excitement.

6. Use lots of candles on the tables. Candlelight is still one of the best solutions to add drama and beauty to a room.

7. Use pin spots to highlight flowers and centerpieces. Don’t skimp on lighting or else no one will see your gorgeous arrangements and decorations!

8. Consider using wireless LED lighting. Because they don't require an outlet, LED lighting can be placed anywhere—in a banquet hall, on the beach, in the back yard. Wireless lights can even be programmed to change color throughout the evening, creating a serene, interesting setting.

9. Keep in mind that all lighting should be clean and neat so it doesn’t detract from the décor. White fixtures are usually better because they most easily blend in to the decor.

 

Comments

[Eric Hegwer]

AMEN! from a traveling wedding photographer.

[ShopLittleGifts]

great ideas. totally agreeing on spotlighting on beautiful things - like flowers, dessert buffet, a caviar station, wedding cake etc. wireless LED lighting - i have to look into that. sounds really cool.

[Kate Mefford from Juxtapose Photography]

Fabulousness. So glad that you guys are taking the time to educate brides about lighting. It makes or breaks an event!

[Martina Morris]

I agree, lighting is key for ambiance. If your budget is tight, another idea is to decorate with paper lanterns. They give off a warm glow that is somewhat similar to candlelight, in my opinion. And there are so many options of colors, shapes, and sizes! My favorite source for them online is LunaBazaar.com, and here's a link to their paper lanterns page. They also sell good battery operated LED lights for paper lanterns.

[Tunji Sarumi]

Lighting is also good for photography. It creates a mood and ambience environment for the photographer to capture the moment without using camera flash.

[Golden Sounds Entertainment]

I agree lighting pinspotting creates a nice ambiance and provides the "WOW" factor. The uplighting LED color changing fixtures are really fun when using the lighting board. I also like the bride & grooms name in light projected on the dance floor called custom gobo lighting. Wedding Lighting pictures and more event lighting info at www.GoldenSoundsEntertainment.com
Happy Holidays Everyone.