Lighting for ambiance - cheap?
September 11, 2014 6:08 AM Subscribe
Looking for lighting for a wedding reception. What light kit should I buy and other questions ..
We are getting married and our venue doesn't provide lights for ambiance. I have no experience with these lights so I'm looking to pick your brain - anyone have any experience purchasing a few of these lights to shine onto the walls/ceiling? The venue is small enough where I am thinking it could be cheaper to buy than rent. Anyone have an online store they recommend?
We are getting married and our venue doesn't provide lights for ambiance. I have no experience with these lights so I'm looking to pick your brain - anyone have any experience purchasing a few of these lights to shine onto the walls/ceiling? The venue is small enough where I am thinking it could be cheaper to buy than rent. Anyone have an online store they recommend?
I was going to suggest string lights too. They look really pretty in an overhead grid or hung like swags over head and the light they give off is very nice for photos if you have cameras that do well with low light.
posted by goggie at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2014
posted by goggie at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2014
(Disclaimer of sorts, I guess - I work for a company that provides/rents sound, lighting and staging equipment for various events, weddings included.)
It kinda depends on what kind of effect you're looking for from your ambient lighting; any way you could describe and/or link some pics that are similar to what you want?
Rope/string lights are certainly something I've seen used to nice effect at weddings, and for those buying is probably the way to go, although honestly I kind of doubt you'll find significantly cheaper prices online as compared to going to a local "dollar store" or "closeout store" or even a big box retailer like Home Depot or Lowes or WalMart or whatever. Shipping costs for stuff like this often basically "cancels out" whatever supposed discount you get by purchasing online.
If you're looking for something more like this, that's done more with "theatrical" lighting (more on that in a minute), and then I think it may be more cost-effective to rent, or you may be in sort of a gray area where the cost is about the same (and if you buy, then you have added problem of what to do with the lights after the wedding.)
So, those beams of light shooting up the walls/columns in the pic I linked are done with either "par cans" that use incandescent bulbs, or a more modern variation that uses LEDs. If my links work correctly, you'll see that the incandescent par cans can be bought for about $15 to $25 each, although they may not include bulbs and will definitely not include gels (sheets of plastic that allow the light to be colored something other than white.) The LED versions can range in price from about $50 to 3 or 4 hundred dollars. My company (in the Midwest) would tend to rent the incandescent cans for (ballpark) $5 to $ 10 each (gels included if you were OK using the colors we have in stock, we would have to charge you extra if we had to special order specific colors), and the LEDs for $25 to $30 each, especially if you came and picked them up (no labor/transportation costs for us.) Throw in another $15-$30 for more than enough extension cords to plug everything in.
So you can see how it kind of depends on what you're looking for. If you only need a few lights you could just buy them for $100-ish cash outlay, or if you want something more extensive you could probably rent hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of lights for a couple hundred dollars cost to you.
As far as where to buy, honestly, you might as well go with Amazon. Even as pros, we don't really pay significantly less than various Amazon prices, and we only get discounts because we either are dealers for the product line or have accounts with other companies who are dealers. Or possibly a local company that could rent you the lights might be willing to sell you gently used or maybe even new stuff for less than you could get the lights for on Amazon.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2014
It kinda depends on what kind of effect you're looking for from your ambient lighting; any way you could describe and/or link some pics that are similar to what you want?
Rope/string lights are certainly something I've seen used to nice effect at weddings, and for those buying is probably the way to go, although honestly I kind of doubt you'll find significantly cheaper prices online as compared to going to a local "dollar store" or "closeout store" or even a big box retailer like Home Depot or Lowes or WalMart or whatever. Shipping costs for stuff like this often basically "cancels out" whatever supposed discount you get by purchasing online.
If you're looking for something more like this, that's done more with "theatrical" lighting (more on that in a minute), and then I think it may be more cost-effective to rent, or you may be in sort of a gray area where the cost is about the same (and if you buy, then you have added problem of what to do with the lights after the wedding.)
So, those beams of light shooting up the walls/columns in the pic I linked are done with either "par cans" that use incandescent bulbs, or a more modern variation that uses LEDs. If my links work correctly, you'll see that the incandescent par cans can be bought for about $15 to $25 each, although they may not include bulbs and will definitely not include gels (sheets of plastic that allow the light to be colored something other than white.) The LED versions can range in price from about $50 to 3 or 4 hundred dollars. My company (in the Midwest) would tend to rent the incandescent cans for (ballpark) $5 to $ 10 each (gels included if you were OK using the colors we have in stock, we would have to charge you extra if we had to special order specific colors), and the LEDs for $25 to $30 each, especially if you came and picked them up (no labor/transportation costs for us.) Throw in another $15-$30 for more than enough extension cords to plug everything in.
So you can see how it kind of depends on what you're looking for. If you only need a few lights you could just buy them for $100-ish cash outlay, or if you want something more extensive you could probably rent hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of lights for a couple hundred dollars cost to you.
As far as where to buy, honestly, you might as well go with Amazon. Even as pros, we don't really pay significantly less than various Amazon prices, and we only get discounts because we either are dealers for the product line or have accounts with other companies who are dealers. Or possibly a local company that could rent you the lights might be willing to sell you gently used or maybe even new stuff for less than you could get the lights for on Amazon.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:38 AM on September 11, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
Or, you can go for the classic string/christmas lights. You have them scrunched up in bowls.
Candles can also be nice, but depending on your guests/venue, this may not be appropriate.
posted by troytroy at 6:46 AM on September 11, 2014