What Kind of Lighting Do You Need for a Wedding?

There's no question that lighting is one of the most crucial elements of your wedding production. Just a few carefully placed lights can set the mood, illuminate your venue's noteworthy features, and create an uncompromisingly spectacular event. 

However, with so many event lighting options to choose from, it can be challenging to decide which is best for your special days. With that in mind, let's outline some of the most popular types of wedding lighting and describe how and when they should be used.

Festoon Lighting (Fairy Lighting/String Lighting)

The fixtures, generally speaking, are stringed together by a wire and can give you a bright white light or a soft, warm glow, depending on your wedding decor requirements. These romantic lights can add a fairytale vibe to your ceremony or reception, and they are incredibly cost-effective. 

Popular uses for these lighting include creating a "canopy" of lights that overhang the wedding venue and wrapping them around prominent objects such as trees, wooden beams, and supporting poles. 

Spotlights 

You don't have to be a wedding lighting aficionado to know what a spotlight is. As you are probably aware, these lighting fixtures focus a beam of light on a specific object, such as the happy couple as they take to the dance floor for their first dance as a married couple.  

There are miniature versions of spotlights, known as pin spots, that are very adept at lighting specific features of your wedding production, such as the wedding cake, dessert table, or table centrepieces. 

Colour Washes 

Colour wash lights are relatively self-explanatory. They are coloured lights that wash any given room in any given colour. They are perfect if you have a blank canvas of a wedding venue and want to alter the mood and ambience of the room to better match your overall wedding theme. 

For instance, you might want to take a white-walled room and turn it into a deep purple to match the chic venue dressing style you have opted for. 

Uplighting

Uplights are often a feature at weddings. As the name suggests, they beam light upwards and are usually placed against a wall for maximum impact. In many ways, you can think of them as floor-based colour washes, and they represent a more stylish way to alter the mood and ambience of your wedding event space. 

You can also use them to draw attention to a specific area within your wedding venue. For instance, two banks of LED uplighters on either side of the dance floor can add a real touch of exclusivity and intrigue. Better still, these fixtures are available in wireless options, meaning you won't have to worry about running unsightly cables along the floor of your chosen venue. 

Gobo Lighting

Gobos are stencils that project a personalised image onto the walls, floors, or ceilings (or any other suitable surface). If you've ever attended a wedding with a couple's name beamed onto the dance floor, the chances are they used a gobo. 

Gobos also effectively project patterns onto surfaces, such as leaves or snowflakes, rendering them perfect for wedding decor themes that reflect the seasons. 

Disco Lighting

Wedding receptions are usually one of the biggest parties of the year, which means there will be an inevitable use of disco lights to accompany the live entertainment or DJ. They also make the dance floor a far more enticing prospect.

These days, most disco lighting fixtures are LEDs, and many of them are programmed to move in time to the music. While not lighting fixtures per se, your disco lighting ensemble may also include special effects devices such as laser and smoke machines. 

Your Wedding Lighting Choices Will Depend on Your Preferences

In the end, the lighting fixtures you decide to incorporate into your wedding will come down to you. The above-mentioned lighting options are undoubtedly the most popular choices. However, your celebration is unique to you, meaning you will need to work with your wedding planner and event supplier to create the perfect selection for your special day. 

Whatever wedding lighting lineup you decide upon, be sure to understand that your choices will have a significant impact on the overall look and feel of your venue, so it's important not to rush these decisions.