Top Tips For Hiring An Event Lighting Company For Your Wedding

First of all, congratulations on getting married and planning out your day. There are plenty of things that you are going to have to consider and take into account to ensure your special day is everything you are hoping for and more. Outside of the standard things you need for a wedding, have you ever thought of hiring an event lighting company for your wedding? 

While they are not commonly used, having special lighting at your wedding is one way to ensure that everything is as memorable as it possibly can be. Before we look into tips for hiring an event lighting company, we are going to look at why you should hire one and what the benefits are towards using a lighting company. Here is how you can make your wedding all the more memorable and eventful for everyone attending.

 

Where Can You Get The Event Lighting?

Just because you haven't heard all that much about event lighting does not mean it is difficult to find. No matter where you are in the world, whether it be London or New York City, you are going to be able to find a company that can help you get the lighting that you need for your wedding. If you are looking for a Wedding Lighting Hire Company in London you can easily find one and have them cater to your wishes. Before you hire a company there are a few things that you need to consider which will be addressed later in the article.

 

Why Event Lighting?

The first and most important question you might be asking is why do I need event lighting for my wedding? Simply put, they can bring much more emphasis and excitement to every single area in your wedding. Do you want everything to be monotonous and boring, or do you want changes that your guests can get excited and thrilled about? Let’s look at some areas and how they can take it to the next level.

 

The Ceremony Itself

If you are getting married in a church, you won’t be able to take advantage of event lighting and a company, however, if you are getting married in a public space, they can easily set it up to make it that much better. Event lighting doesn’t have to be a big dramatic event for your wedding and it can be small things such as brighter lights on the bride and groom, or small little light patterns and designs on the wall. The ceremony can be made to look that much more incredible if you take the time to add some lights to it.

Make sure that you don’t go over the top in the ceremony however as there is something nice about simplicity. Having a few accents here and there with the lighting is a great way to make things stand out without deviating too much from the normal. It is for this reason that event lighting can help you with the ceremony.

 

At Dinner

Depending on when the reception is, you might be looking at some options to make the lighting a little better. While you don’t want people to be eating in complete darkness, you might want to dim the lights just a little as people don’t want to be stared at as they are eating. A good event lighting company will be able to dim the lights ever so slightly in a way that takes away some of that bright light from the tables but still makes it easy for people to converse with one another.

 

Afterhours

This is where a real event lighting company shines. Once dinner is done and the speeches are over, it’s time to hit the dance floor and get the party started. Once again, people don’t want to be dancing in full light as it can make things look a little awkward. If people start to sweat and get a little hot, this also will be easily seen in heavy amounts of light.

This is where you want your event lighting company to dim the lights and set the mood. That does not mean just making things dark and keeping all of the lights static for the rest of the night, however. There should be dynamic lighting with spotlights on the main areas of the dance floor along with lights turning on and off. Think of it as creating a club vibe at a wedding. While you don’t want a perfect recreation, you do want something that is going to dazzle and excite people. The right wedding lighting can really make your party that much better.

 

The End of the Night

Finally, guests should have an idea of when the night is starting to wrap up and when they should start getting ready to leave. The last thing you want is to have your lighting go from atmospheric and dim to extremely bright. When the night starts to wind down, a good lighting company will very slowly begin raising the lights in the area for about an hour or so. This sends the message to guests that things are starting to come to a close, but they still have time to grab a drink and keep the party going.

You don’t want to be that wedding that all of a sudden ends everything leaving guests confused and wanting to party a little more. Lighting is extremely important for setting the tone of the night and if it is handled incorrectly, can leave guests with a bad taste in their mouth.

Now that we’ve talked about areas in which you can use lighting to make your wedding that much better, let’s now talk about what you should look for in a company and how to know you are making the right decision. At the end of the day, all of this means nothing if you hire an incompetent company to handle your lighting.

 

Budget Vs. Experience

The first thing you are going to want to look for in a lighting company is the price. Weddings can be extremely expensive and therefore, you have to ensure that you are sticking to your budget and making smart decisions. While it might be tempting to hire the cheapest lighting company that you find, you are only going to run into problems if you do so.

Have you heard the saying, “You get what you pay for”? This is entirely true when it comes to any service and therefore you have a tough decision to make when it comes to how much money you are willing to pay. Try to find a nice middle ground when looking at companies as you will want one that you know is going to do a great job and help you out, but at the same time won’t break the bank.

One of the things you can do to help you out as well is use competition to your advantage. If you get quotes from multiple companies, you can try to negotiate lower prices and see who is willing to undercut the other to get your services. Some companies will not like you doing this but others might be willing to go just a little bit cheaper.

If you go with a more expensive lighting company, you are definitely going to have more options at your wedding and the reception. Not only are they more experienced in these areas, but they also will have more access to expensive lights and displays, meaning things will be a lot more elaborate at the wedding.

Take some time to go over your budget and consider how much you are willing to spend on your lighting. From there, you can decide on what lighting company is going to best for your wedding and how it is going to take things to the next level.

 

Look For a Company That Communicates

We cannot stress this enough with any service that you are planning on hiring, especially one for your wedding. If you have a hard time talking with the company you are planning to hire and they are not receptive to communication, you should be taking your services elsewhere. Why is this important when it comes to event lighting and weddings?

Weddings are a type of event where there are going to be plenty of changes throughout the entirety of its planning. Things never go smoothly with a wedding and you can expect a lot of plans to either change completely or just not work out the way you want them to. What happens if you are stuck with a lighting company that is not reading your emails or responding to things?

If that is the case, your wedding is going to become that much more of a nightmare as now you have to deal with a lighting company that is not responding to you either. When hiring a company, let them know that it is for a wedding and that you are going to need a constant stream of communication with them to ensure that everything is going well. If they are hesitant to do so, you are better off spending your money elsewhere as you are going to be getting a better service. If a company is not speaking with you, you need to reconsider your choices.

 

Trial Runs and Lighting Demonstrations

With lighting, seeing is believing. A company can hype up their light shows and their abilities to successfully create an atmosphere, but until you see it for yourself, you won’t know how good they are. A lighting company should have a portfolio of previous events similar to yours that you can look at. This will give you a good idea of what you can expect come your wedding day from the lighting team.

Once you have chosen a company, they should also be willing to talk with you about how things are going to look on your special day. A good event lighting company will go to the event location weeks in advance with you and show a few displays and ideas of what they have in mind. From there, you can spend some time critiquing the lighting and adjusting things to make it just the way you want. This is important as it ensures that you know exactly what you are getting come your wedding day and it will be one less thing for you to worry about. You might think this is silly, but you have your musicians practice beforehand and have a whole practice ceremony with your wedding party, why not have the lighting team practice and show you what they have in mind?

 

A Variety Of Equipment

Finally, a good event lighting company will have a variety of different lights and equipment that they can use to ensure that the atmosphere is perfectly created. This means spotlights and string lights for the dance floor, and floodlights or overhead lighting for the dinner areas. You want to make sure that every area of your wedding is covered in lights just the way that you want it to be. Improper lighting can completely kill the atmosphere of your wedding and can sometimes have it remembered for all the wrong reasons.

These are all things that you are going to want to consider and look for when hiring and choosing an event lighting company. It is not as simple as it sounds and there are plenty of different things that go into creating a good atmosphere and vibe for a wedding. Don’t break the bank choosing a company, but don’t skimp out either and get the bare minimum. 

 

The most important thing to do during all of this is to have a stable line of communication as well. Talk with your significant other and see what is important for both of you to ensure the wedding is something that is going to be remembered for a long time. You’d be surprised what some good lighting can do and it will make the night that much better. Let’s not forget talking to your lighting company as well as your significant other to make sure that both of your interests are heard and represented within the wedding itself. How do you plan on organizing the lighting for your wedding?

 

 

 

 

are you a bride or groom-to-be?

We'd love to plan with you on weddingday-online.com. Let's get started!

 
are you a wedding extraordinaire?

Join WeddingDay Magazine in inspiring brides by partnering with us! See how here.