Are you planning a DIY wedding? Reception lighting can make for amazing pictures if you plan right. Lighting also influences the mood for the rest of the event. Below, are some aspects to think about before deciding what type of lighting you want to have at your reception.
Traditional vs. Unique
Having a theme in mind for your wedding should make this part of planning a little easier. For a classic style wedding, lighting like chandeliers, candlesticks, and string lights could follow your theme.
If you are having a DIY-inspired wedding with lots of personal touches, you could make your own designs for the light fixtures. Keep in mind, you can also use lights to create a theme contrast. For example, the theme of your wedding could involve lots of DIY with hints of traditional aspects, or a classic wedding with splashes of individual flavor.
Outdoor vs. Indoor
You can certainly use the location of the reception to your advantage to create amazing focal points when it comes to lighting. Outdoor receptions can utilize tree branches to drape lights to create a hanging canopy. A safer alternative could be wrapping lights around tree trunks to create more centralized light sources.
An indoor reception can still involve canopies and wrapping lights around pillars. Indoor receptions are ideal when you’re looking to include heavier statement pieces, like chandeliers.
Alternatively, outdoor receptions favor delicate lighting styles where less is more.
Time of Day
It’s good to know whether natural lighting is available to your reception space, so you know how much light you need to create on your own.
Daytime receptions that are outdoors shouldn’t need much lighting, unless the reception spans into the evening. Daytime receptions that are indoors might use a bit more lighting depending on the venue’s windows.
Night time receptions, whether indoors or outdoors are where you can get more playful with lighting and the potential for whimsy is seemingly endless. Naturally darker spaces bid the opportunity to really benefit aesthetically with luminaries, light waterfalls, and paper lanterns.
Candles vs. Bulbs
Candles can create a warmer type of lighting compared to bulbs. So, when it comes to candles, you first should decide between real candles and flameless candles.
Going with real candles can be slightly cheaper; but be mindful that scented candles could trigger migraines and headaches with your guests.
On the other hand, for those who may have lots of children at the reception or safety concerns, flameless candles create similar accent lighting to the real thing.
In addition, blubs offer some wiggle room to play around with incorporating your lights into floral arrangements and extravagant centerpieces.
