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Planning lighting for an event

Work out what has to be lit

Lighting gets easier once you stop thinking about fixtures and start thinking about what the camera and the audience need to see. Faces at the top table, the ceremony, the dance floor, and if there is a band, whatever is happening behind them. Each of those is a different distance, a different height and a different colour, and the answer for one is rarely the answer for all four.

Four kinds of kit, four jobs

• Fixtures for the stage and the dance floor: par cans for an even wash, moving heads for beams that travel.
• Colour for the room: uplighters and festoon, which change a plain wall or a marquee far more than an extra fixture does.
• Atmosphere: haze to make the beams visible, and effect lights for the moments that need something moving.
• Control and structure: a desk or controller to run it, and stands, truss and baseplates to hold it up.

Settle these before choosing

• What the venue allows: haze, floor stands, and whether anything may be hung from the ceiling.
• Whether the evening is being photographed or filmed. Cameras want light on faces, not only colour on the walls.
• Who operates it: dry hire, a show we programme and hand over on one button, or us there for the evening.
• How long there is on site. A truss build between two wind-up stands takes longer than a couple of T-bars.

Common questions

Where should I start with lighting for a wedding?

Light the top table and the dance floor first, then add colour to the walls if the room is plain. Uplighting is often the first thing added, because it changes how the room feels with only a few units.

Can we rig the lighting ourselves?

Yes for stands and a few fixtures, and we will show you how they clamp and what the controller does. Anything flown from a ceiling or built on truss is a different conversation, because the structure has to be rated for it.

Will the venue lighting be enough?

Often not for photographs after dark. Hotel and village hall lighting is designed for eating, not for a first dance. Tell us the room and we will say whether a wash on the floor and the top table is the place to start.