The dress. The venue. The cake. The honeymoon destination. When it comes to wedding planning, there are so many elements that immediately come to mind. But this means that other details can be overlooked, no matter how important they are to the look and feel of your big day.
This is especially true when it comes to wedding lighting. The mere presence — or absence — of light can completely change the look and feel of everything you’ve planned. Want to get more specific? Here are four of the many ways your wedding lights are just important as every other detail you consider.
Light Focuses Your Guests
The right lighting setup will ensure that everyone at the wedding is focused on what’s important at the right moments. This is especially true during your reception, when it’s all about the vows you exchange with your spouse-to-be: too much light on the rest of the room could be distracting and take away from the intimate moment you’re sharing.
So, in order to keep all eyes on you, make sure your aisle and altar are alight, with the rest of the ceremony space dimmer if possible. While indoor reception venues have lighting rigged up for this specific purpose, you might have to get creative with outdoor wedding lighting: candles lining the aisle or twinkle lights dangling from an altar arch, for example, will draw eyes right to you.
The same thing goes for your reception, when it’s time for the first dance, bouquet toss, and other events during which you’re the center of attention. While the rest of the room is dark, a spotlight on the dance floor will draw eyes; plus, it’ll make for better wedding photos and video if you’re well lit during these moments.
Fixtures Play into a Wedding’s Theme
As you plan your wedding, you probably have placed the tablecloths beneath the sample centerpieces to make sure they go with the overall theme of your big day, whatever it may be. You’ve added light fixtures into the mix, too — they may even be part of the venue — but you haven’t done as much to make sure they fit with the look of your wedding.
It’s easy to make indoor lights pop, whether they’re your own purchases or the ones dangling from the ballroom you’ve rented. In terms of the former, a coat of paint can transform run-of-the-mill lamps or shades into a design feature as eye-catching as your flowers. As for chandeliers, ask your florist for inexpensive greens to fashion into a light-fixture garland.
Low Lighting Creates Intimacy
We’ve already touched on the importance of bright lighting to focus your guests’ attention when necessary. The opposite can be said about low lighting, whether cast from candles, twinkle lights, or dimmed overhead bulbs. Rather than create a sense of excitement or entertainment, low lights foster conversation and create a feeling of intimacy amongst you and your guests.
For many weddings, a combination of bright and low lighting sets the perfect scene. Lanterns hung from trees create an intimate setting for a ceremony, but brighter light on the bride and groom puts them in focus. At the reception, tables covered in candles inspire your guests to talk amongst themselves over dinner, while a spotlight indicates it’s time to pay attention to the bride and groom.
Don’t Forget Natural Light
An outdoor wedding revolves around the presence — or absence — of sunlight. As you plan your big day and begin to factor lighting into your plans, don’t forget how magical the glow of the sun can make your wedding look and feel. The sun’s natural brightness and warmth already bestows us with a wealth of benefits, including mood boosters that’ll do nothing but enhance the feel-good vibe on your big day. Beyond that, though, nothing makes pictures more gorgeous than a backdrop naturally lit by the sun. If you’re hoping to bring sunlight into your ceremony, though, make sure to consider the time of day and the area’s natural climate: you don’t want it so bright that you’re hot and uncomfortable; you also don’t want rain on your big day.
In a similar vein, the shift from daytime to night can mark the transition from ceremony to reception, for example — your plans may already use this to your advantage, whether or not you took the importance of wedding lighting into consideration. While the warmth of an afternoon sun puts guests in a romantic, lovey mood, the dark sky, moon, and stars will get everyone ready to party until they see the sun once again.
Choose the Right Light
These are just four of the many examples of just how important lighting can be throughout your wedding ceremony and reception, so don’t leave it up to chance. Instead, plan it just as you have the rest of your wedding details so that, on the big day, every moment shines like you undoubtedly will, too.
Written by: Kacey Mya
Kacey is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing, and inspiring posts.
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