Summer weddings, full of smiling friends and family enjoying the sunshine and coming together for your special day. Whether you celebrate your marriage in a striking venue or in an open field, your wedding decorations are used to set the theme or tone and will often be coloured according to your preference.
The lights you use for your wedding are also a good way to set the mood and atmosphere, from twinkling fairy lights to using candles to romantically light pathways. With a choice of multicoloured lights, solid colour lights or classic warm whites, it can be a tricky decision to make.
We look at some wedding lighting ideas to bring your special day together.
Candles
Candles can be displayed in a number of beautiful ways, from centrepieces for lighting tables, to outlining the wedding cake table. You could float candles in individual glasses with flower petals or hang candles from floral arrangements.
A great aspect of using candles is their colour availability, you can acquire candles in shades across the entire colour spectrum to suit any theme. There are even candles available in duo colours, where the dripping wax is a contrasting colour to the outside, creating an interesting effect. Alongside beautiful wine glasses, such as the ones that are available from https://www.idealforever.co.uk/wine-glass-lsa/, this would make for a beautiful setup.
If you’re worried about creating a fire-hazard, electric and battery-operated candles are available and effective, they even have the optional flickering effect.
Fairy Lights
Fairy lights are a versatile light that can be wrapped around trees and columns for a spectacular effect or hung between wooden ceiling beams and set to the twinkle, to create a stunning starry ceiling. Use curtains of fairy lights as backdrops behind the dance floor or wedding table, between tables or even across windows. Fairy lights are another great choice for their wide variety of available colours and relatively low cost.
Bistro/Festoon Lights
Similar to fairy lights, bistro or festoon lights are larger string lights that are perfect for lighting up large indoor or outdoor areas and look great strung between posts or supports. The bright bulbs offer great light coverage and are handy for marking out usable areas. Festoon/Bistro lights also come in multicoloured or clear variations depending on your theme and usually are available in much larger lengths than typical fairy lights.
Lanterns
Lanterns are great for lighting individual areas, as centrepieces on tables or hung from fixtures around your room or outside area. They can be used with candles or electronic lights and come available in a wide selection of styles. From modern solar lanterns to large classic, cast-iron lanterns. You can also create your own lanterns using tea lights and coloured jars – perfect for creating a warming glow for lighting pathways.
Novelty Lights
If you have a themed wedding and you want to add a touch more interest to your lighting set-up, consider incorporating some novelty lights. You could use light-up flowers, where the petals glow softly or some pre-let topiaries, fake plants with twinkling lights that glitter throughout the leaves. These work great for adding a touch of greenery to the room, without impeding on your existing lights.
Uplighters
Uplighters or “par can” lights are used to create large washes of colour up walls, across plants or exterior walls. They can be extremely effective at changing the atmosphere of a room via lights and a series of lights can be rigged up to a control desk for greater control. Uplighters are the most basic form of lights usually used in party or reception rooms and modern versions can be set to entire spectrums of colour.
Whether you choose to romantically light your room with lanterns or candles or choose to fully incorporate the party theme with fairy lights and uplighters. Lighting the room for your special day can make all the difference and shouldn’t be overlooked.