Uplighting For Your Wedding

Posted : April 9, 2013

Uplighting is a key element to adding ambiance to your reception and when done correctly uplighting can bring the WOW factor to even the plainest boxed shaped banquet halls.

Here are six secrets to help make your wedding night shine.

Secret 1: Only use LED fixtures. LEDs do not produce heat and are safe to the touch. Some companies use 100 watt or greater spotlights with colored gels, these get very hot and can easily burn skin. Many venues only permit LEDs for safety and power consumption reasons. Venues have and are limited to their power requirements; one conventional fixture is equivalent to between three to six LED fixtures.

Secret 2: Every wedding venue has different colored walls and different lighting. When you shine a blue light on a cream-colored wall, the beam will be a shade of blue. Only DMX controlled LED uplighting can match the colors you want and choose. Conventional lighting uses colored plastic filters, ‘gels’, and do not take wall color into account.

Secret 3:  How to avoid the “Circus Tent” effect.  Many wedding photos are ruined by poor uplighting choices.  If you have the room entirely pink, all of your wedding photos will have a pink tint to them. Imagine how it would look if all of the lights are green.  I suggest adding a second neutral color, white works best in most settings.  The photo shows how we alternate colors for a balanced look.

 

Secret 4:  Static Lighting verses Dynamic Lighting; (Some definitions are needed here: Static lighting is lighting that does not change color throughout the night. For example if all the fixtures are set to blue; it is blue all night. Dynamic Lighting is fixtures that can change colors on demand. Dynamic Lighting is what you see at concerts and nightclubs)   Let’s say you start your wedding reception with alternating pink and white lights.  Your wedding song is “Sea of Love”; wouldn’t it be cool to change the lighting to blue and green in a split second.  It does not have to stop there. Your uplighting now becomes dance floor lighting; changing to the beat and mood of the music, as much or as little as you choose.

 

 

 

Secret 5:  Where and how many fixtures do you need?  Uplighting can be placed behind the cake, bar, cookie tables, and bridal table to draw attention to these key locations.  Also, be sure to uplight the corners, columns, doorways, and other architectural features of the room.  There is no set number of fixtures needed for any venue.  The key is to uplight the right aspects of a room while avoiding the ‘circus tent’ effect.

Secret 6:  Adding one or two small spot lights– ‘pin spotting’ can bring attention and the WOW factor to your cake or centerpieces.  This needs to be done carefully to prevent the spotlights from irritating your guests by hitting them with bright light

Secret 7:  Walls are not the only canvas for lighting; columns, window frames, and unused doorways can be extraordinary choices.  My favorite unconventional canvas is the ceiling.  One type of our LED fixtures produces round colored balls that resemble Christmas ornaments.

COST:  Many vendors bill per light fixture cost range from $20 to $50 per fixture.  There are several area hotels that use static uplighting and charge over $800.00 (over $50.00 per fixture).  Our cost for static LED lighting begins at $300.00.  Our company heavily discounts ‘Dynamic Changing LED Uplighting’ for events were we also provide entertainment services.