If you’re planning a wedding, you are probably feeling slightly overwhelmed with the heaps of inspiration around you. You love that relaxed feel characterised by rustic natural textures, but you’re also ogling over lots of glass and dense clusters of candles. You want your wedding to be unique and personal to who you are as a couple and what you’re struggling with is how to settle on your ‘one big thing’. Regardless of your style and location, lighting is the one thing that can have the biggest impact on the overall look and feel of your wedding. We’ve asked Kim of Crystal & Vine to share some insight into the world of lighting at weddings – the whats, the hows and the how much.
“If you’re looking to create a moody enchantment at your ceremony or reception, lighting is one of the simplest and most magical ways to transform a space.” – The Lane
Over to Kim…
Lighting does more than just light up a room, it sets the tone and ambience for the most special, celebratory aspects of your wedding day. Many venues provide incredible blank canvases for you to create the exact look that you want for your wedding, but sometimes it’s feels as though it’s a daunting space to fill. Soft strategic lighting not only creates an intimate atmosphere for your guests but it can also highlight the aspects of your wedding that are important to you like your beautiful table decor and first dance.
Where do I even start?
Candles are still and always will be the most versatile and romantic way to light up a space. Create a charming allure by using them in varying sizes or in clusters, on your tables, lining your aisle, or in lanterns scattered in your drinks area.
Another fun way to light up your reception space is with string lights or bistro lights. These work beautifully outdoors when you need to define and light up your space and can create a canopy of lights twinkling above your guests. This is an affordable DIY option for your wedding.
We all love the romantic allure of fairy lights especially when used en masse covering entire walls or wrapped around tree’s in an outdoor space. If you are Durban based, Magic Lighting are your ‘go to’ in this area.
We are also seeing a plethora of custom lighting applications at weddings. Naked bulbs are a firm favourite with the the variety of shapes and styles on offer and the gorgeous soft light that they provide. Use them in long rows or suspended in clusters off unusual structures in amongst terrariums, foliage and flowers. For some beautiful naked bulb inspiration, check out Baie Goeters, a Cape Town based lighting specialist.
“These larger, more industrial style bulbs have a beautiful antique sentiment and create a warm, white glow. They are infinitely more polished and grown up than rows of fairy lights” – The Lane
Larger light fittings such as metal pendants or more rustic looking woven baskets make a bold statement and form an integral part of your decor.
Everyone loves to get down on the dance floor, and there is nothing worse than being beneath the “ugly lights” in the final hours of the day. Make sure your dance floor is softly lit and make sure that your DJ has some fun, festive lighting to get the mood going. This also makes for great pictures when your guests are at their best!
Tips & Tricks
Tall dinner candles create a romantic and elegant look, but bear in mind that these can burn down quite quickly as the flame is very exposed. Pillar candles provide a bit more protection for the flame and burn for hours on end, providing a gorgeous bold glow on the tables. Sparklers are a fun quirky addition to your first dance or departure, make sure they are extra length to last as long as possible for your special moment. Battery operated candles are also becoming more and more popular for those hard to reach places. They glow (and move!) just like real candles and they are placed either far enough away, or overhead so that no one can see that they aren’t in fact real. Perfect if your dream is to have large lanterns hanging overhead.
If you are looking at incorporating electrical lighting installed vs candles, there will be a couple of things determined by the venue you have chosen. Have a look at what is there already and which lights can be turned on and off as well as which can be dimmed. Many venues do not allow you to screw anything into walls and the type of ceiling will also dictate what sort of structures can be hung from those ceilings. Rafters are ideal structures to use when it comes to hanging lighting as they allow you to do this at any location in the room and also hide the cables that run from the fittings to the power points. Depending on the height of the ceiling, your supplier may need to bring in additional equipment such as scaffolding or special ladders which could come in at an extra cost. It is important that you chat to your supplier about getting in touch with your venue directly to find out about the electrical capabilities of the venue and whether they are able to handle the electrical load of the lighting installation you want to do. If there are any risks around a lack of power supply, you may also want to think about bringing in a generator, but placing it strategically out of earshot. The last thing you want is the lights tripping in the middle of the first dance! Make sure that your supplier can provide dimmers for the lighting so that you are able to set it at just the right level of brightness at different times in the day. Once all of these details are in place, also be sure to allows extra setup time the week before your wedding, especially if your lighting specialist needs to install the lighting before any of the tables and decor are in place.
How much does it all cost?
The cost of candles can come as a bit of a surprise when looking for the first time. If you’re on a budget, consider doing clusters of candles for a more impactful look rather than trying to cover every surface. If you are in the Durban area you can even hire candles from Classy Candles or chat to your decor supplier about the option of using second hand candles as well.
If you are looking at feature lighting for your wedding, consider your budget carefully and what you would like to spend. Installing lighting at a venue generally involves quite a bit of time and attention to detail to make it look as though it is a permanent fixture in the space. If you would like the lighting to be the main feature, think about simplifying your table decor and the other elements of the wedding and focus the attention on one main lighting feature. Look at ways of clustering your lighting into groups, rather than attempting to fill the entire space, for maximum impact.
As photographers, we agree with everything that Kim has said about lighting – and we cannot stress enough what an impact it will have on your images. How beautiful are these glowing orange circles in the background of the image above? This could not have been achieved without fairy lights – OH, and a bit of rain which Christy managed to capture via the use of a flash.
So friends, when your wedding coordinator asks you if you would like more lighting, what are we going to say? “HECK, YES!”
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