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Bright Ideas for Lighting Your Wedding Reception |
By Jason Hennessey
 The wedding day plans are all in place and all you are thinking is that perfect evening reception that will leave your guests feeling that it was a real special day for you. But what about the lighting? This is a very important aspect in an evening indoors or outdoors reception. Therefore it means from the very outset when looking for the venue of the ceremony and/or reception, the lighting of the place should be taken into account. You should establish beforehand the position of your lamp stands vis--vis the reception and adjacent areas. There are so many ways in which you can spice up the general outlook of the place by just playing around with the lighting.
If you are not well conversant with lighting effects, you could enlist the services of a professional light expert. They will help you with the appropriate placement of different lights and by chance you might catch a word or two used by those in the professional lighting world. For example they might tell you on how you can use a pin spot. This is the kind
of light used to highlight a certain aspect of the wedding because its light is focused on a specific object. The object could be the cake or a centerpiece.
Another lighting theme you could use is the use of gobos. These are circular stencils placed over a light to project a message, a date or just a beautiful design. They could be of stainless steel or glass and the effect is, well, magnificent. Or you could go for the more general color wash. This is a source of light that sweeps the whole place whether indoors or outdoors. You enhance the beauty of a color wash by adding a tinge of a favorite color like blue to bring out that effect of a cool evening.
Also make use of LED lights as much as possible. Light Emitting Diodes use much less energy and the ability to have various color shades and their vibrancy makes them a good choice. Whats more, they dont get hot like conventional light bulbs. LED lights can also be used to direct people on exits, washrooms, signaling the end of an event phase and the start of another, etc.
The trick in lighting lies in the right use of light. Know color variations that go with a certain phase of the event. For example, during dinner, all other lights can be off and then use candles strategically placed all over the reception room. And if your wedding reception is outdoors, hanging tree-lights will create a very beautiful wonderland feeling for your guests as well as you and your spouse, who are in any case the two most important people of the evening.
If you have in the itinerary during the reception a time for hitting the dance-floor, the rotating or muted disco lights will enliven that part of the ceremony. But by all means know which color combinations work best for you to avoid a color clash, or lighting to dim or too bright. A well-lit first day of marriage is a good recipe for a transparent warmth-lit marriage.
Jason Hennessey is the President of 1weddingsource.com, todays leading wedding social networking planning site. He also founded an online store that host a collection of wedding favors and wedding gifts to make that Big Day an event to be cherished for a lifetime.
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