One of the more affordable ways to dramatically transform a room is with lighting (and also maybe draping! but that’s another post for another time). There are several key types of lighting we would recommend for any space.
Firstly, pin-spots. These are small lights placed on the edges or ceiling of the room that wash the center of the tables in warm light, highlighting your centerpieces, providing mingling light for your guests but otherwise not impacting or brightening the rest of the room.
The second comes with a caveat, up-lights. Many venues and DJs will try to sell you very hard on up-lights and they do serve a great purpose. But it’s not for every venue. Up-lights draw your eye to the outer edge of the room and light up the walls. Which is good if the venue is a smaller space and you want to make the room look bigger or if the venue has gorgeous walls with detailed molding. Generally, if you’re in a massive warehouse space, the last thing you want is up-lights because you eye is drawn to how big the room is, whereas skipping them would make the walls fade away and make the room seem cozier. Additionally, if the walls are not the space’s strongest suit (putting it nicely), why would we draw attention to them? And then the color of the up-lights is also very important, certain occasions call for fun colored light but generally for a classic affair, you’d want to stick to a light amber or soft off-white.
Lastly, why aren’t lamps used more in table design or wedding venues? Lamps make for creating great intimate lighting for your lounge areas, would be so great as part of your centerpieces or even just added to the bar or the stage?
And then, game-changer lighting includes projecting beautiful patterns (think vines or florals or tiny stars) onto the walls which make a BIG statement with little to no effort, clean-up and for much less than covering everything in real flowers.
This all becomes particularly important when you’re planning an outdoor tented affair, as you’ll need to bring in all your lighting.
I hope this post has been helpful! Have you considered the lighting needs for your wedding or event?
