Wedding Venue Lighting | Wedding Lighting

Lighting Your Wedding

Lighting your wedding should be as carefully thought out as any other part of the day. You have chosen your dress, your shoes, the table decorations, the reception venue and every last detail to make your wedding as unique and personalised as you can. In other words, you have controlled the environment to make it as good as possible for your guests. But who is controlling the light?

When your guests walk in to your reception and see the tables for the first time you want them to experience the ‘Wow’ factor. One of the best ways to create this ambience is through using a professional lighting designer. Lighting the venue can make all the difference but it must be done correctly and ‘fairy’ lights hanging from the ceiling and wrapped around pillars are out. DJ’s do their best to add a touch of light by using the coloured bulbs they have available but using disco lights to sculpt a wedding is not the best option.

The lighting should be designed in such a way that it compliments your wedding colours, your dress, the bridesmaid’s dresses, the tables, the napkins and the flowers. It should take in to account not only the decorations but also your skin tone so that when you’re sitting at the top table you are properly sculptured. These methods are used in theatrical lighting and by using a professional lighting designer, who will create a bespoke design for you, you can be sure of stunning results. Lighting weddings is still a new concept away from celebrity functions, but if you want something innovative, stylish and with plenty of ‘Wow’, consider professional lighting.

So what are the lighting options available? To answer this simply, the options are numerous and if you use a theatrical lighting design company you can be sure that they have experience in lighting ingenuity and will create a design that is both interesting and appropriate.

What to watch out for? There are very few companies specialising in wedding lighting but when choosing company you need to make sure that they have certain credentials in place that protect you and your money. Firstly, it would be advantageous if they are a member of The Association of Lighting Designers. This is a professional body that represents lighting designers and has a standard code of practice. The next most important thing is to ensure that the person or company you use has full public liability insurance of at least two million pounds (although five million is preferable) for what they are doing. Lighting can be very heavy and if not properly rigged, could fall, causing a serious injury. The next thing to look at is to see that the equipment they are using is PAT tested. This is a portable appliance test carried out yearly and certificated, a legal requirement for all portable electrical items. The certificate should be available to you to view if you request it.

Checking these details doesn’t take long but can ensure that you are hiring a professional lighting designer rather than somebody who is ‘having a go’ at lighting.

What will it cost? This is where the sky is the limit, if you have hired a professional lighting designer who will design, supply, install and remove the lighting for you, then you may be looking at a considerable outlay. Prices are dependent on the size of the venue and how many lighting units are used. As a rough guide you may be looking at around £800 for a small venue, anything up to £3000 for a large venue of 500-700 people. This is only a rough guide and you will need to et a quote to ensure you know exactly how much everything is prior to signing any contract. I should point out at this point that in lighting you get what you pay for!

Is it all worth it? Absolutely, the difference lighting makes to the mood of your guests, the richness of the venue and the guarantee that your wedding will be unique, is astounding. Your guests will be talking about your wedding for years to come.

© 2007 Written by Nigel Lewis Ealing Lighting Design Limited

Light My Wedding
The Company dedicated to lighting your wedding. Whether it be the ceremony or the reception, a grand venue or an elegant garden reception in your own home, Light My Wedding provides you with a first class service from the consultation stage right through to the end of the function.
Light My Wedding is part of Ealing Lighting Design Limited, a company specialising in lighting.

Colour My Wedding
At Colour My Wedding we offer a bespoke service to our clients to ensure that their wedding reception venue has that all important ‘WOW Factor’. Our LED Venue Lighting service can be used in both marquees and traditional wedding venues such as hotels, halls and barns etc.
You can choose the exact colour(s) that you would like the room to appear during the wedding breakfast - we can match your colour scheme from a range of hundreds of different shades.