Published by Sights and Sounds Productions - January Blog

The last few events we have done, I have noticed something which I would like to address. I am talking about lighting. Now, this is not just the lighting your entertainment provider will be providing, but also your venues lighting. It is important to keep how your reception area will be lit when looking at venues. (I will touch on provided lighting in a minute).

When looking for a venue, keep in mind these things in regards to lighting:

  • What time of day will your reception be? Afternoon and early evening receptions can pose a challenge when trying to soften the light in a room. There is a venue here in my area which is absolutely gorgeous, with a nice dance area, hardwood floors and excellent staff. But is has about 30 foot, floor to ceiling windows all around the room. At night, this is spectacular. When the sun is out….eh…not so much. There is absolutely no way to darken the room.
  • How accessible at the dimmers for the lights? Many venues will not allow you to have access to the dimming controls of the lighting in the room. Which can cause an issue if you are ready to do your dance, and no one can be found to turn the lights down. Along these lines, also check to see….
  • How easy the lights are to dim. We recently worked a room where you have to turn the lights down at 7 different places throughout the room to get the entire room dimmed. This would not have been an issue had we not had to have them down for the introductions, up for dinner, then back down for the dancing.

Wedding Ideas Now, you may be asking yourself, why is this so important to the success of my wedding reception? The answer is amazingly simply…..people are less inhibited and more likely to dance when the room is dimly lit or the lights are totally off. Think about it one time. Have you ever been somewhere what a light of people are dancing and the room is brightly lit? It is extremely rare this happens.

The solution to these issues is to make sure your entertainment provider is going to be able to provide the proper lighting you want for your reception. Any professional entertainment company should be able to tailor their lighting to your needs. Be is simple and elegant to a full on dance party, ask your entertainer what they plan on using. There are three basic lighting options when it comes to receptions:

  • Accent lighting (also known as uplight). This is a popular trend in recent years. It involves placing small led programmable lights all around your room to shine up onto the walls of your venue to provide a soft, intimate feel for your dinner and reception. The lights can be made to match the colors of your wedding, and provide a nice feel to your dinner space without having to have the bright, overhead lights of the venue on (at some point in 2013, Sights and Sounds will begin offering accent lighting). Most companies price these lights out on a per light base, and the cost is normally base on how large your reception room is.
  • Wash lighting. At the bare minimum, your entertainer should be providing you with some sort of dance area wash system. This is simply a lighting package which will provide a soft, background wash to your dance floor area. These should be turned on when your dancing begins, and then it is turned on, all overhead lighting in the room should be turned off. Keeping overhead lighting on in the room will cause the entertainer’s lighting to be much less effective.
  • Dance Floor Lighting. This is a general term, but essentially, it is some type of moving effect to be use to create a high energy atmosphere in the room. There are hundreds of lighting out there which would be included in this, but the main point of them all would be to provide some type of patterned light source, normally programmed to be in time with the music. If your entertainer is using a dance lighting system, it is a MUST that all lighting provided by the venue in your room be turned off. A dance lighting system is completely wasted if half the lights in the venue are still on, and it will cause an odd effect in any pictures and video that is taken.

Now keep in mind, these are just the basics of lighting. There are many options entertainment companies offer for your special day, including special monograms, spotlighting, lasers, and other unique ways to make your room pop. The key is to know what you want, and then just ask how the company you hire can make their lighting fit into your vision.