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The first time I saw my wedding venue it was during the day, and while it was gorgeous, it was nearly impossible for me to envision what my dream wedding reception would look like in there. I wanted it to look like a scene from a romantic fairytale, lit entirely by candles yet bright enough for guests to read their escort cards and dinner menus. I also had no idea how to make that a reality. Would I have to bring in thousands of candles to make this happen? The venue manager looked at me and said, “Oh, that’s easy. Uplighting!”
Uplighting? This is totally one of those words you’re pretty much guaranteed to never hear BEFORE you start planning a wedding, but then once you do it kind of changes your whole world. I had no idea what it actually was when I first heard about it, and even after my wedding planner explained it to me I still had little faith that it could do what I wanted it to. But as soon as I saw our reception space on the day of our wedding, my jaw totally hit the ground. Uplighting. Was. Amazing.
While event companies and some wedding venues themselves will offer uplighting packages, they often come at a premium. And even DJs, who many times will offer uplighting as part of a bundle, can have pricing that takes a big chunk out of our budget. I’ve seen uplighting packages with service and fees ranging from $1,000 on the low end to over $3,000 for 20-30 lights. Depending on the size of the room you need to light, $50-$100 per light can really add up.
A smart option for brides looking to keep their budget down is to do it yourself. DIY Uplighting –which offers a flat rate cost of $17/per light with free shipping both ways –is one of the highest-rated companies in the space and makes the process SUPER easy with detailed instructions on how to set them up included in each package as well as helpful videos online showing you exactly what to do. Here’s how it works:
Reserve Your Lighting:
Availability is limited, so you’ll want to reserve yours as early as possible with a $25 deposit. To submit your reservation, get started by checking availability and completing the rental agreement.
Lighting Ships Free:
Lights are guaranteed to arrive at least two days before your event. So if your wedding is on a Saturday, you’re guaranteed to get them by Thursday.
Pick Your Color:
C1: Red
C2: Green
C3: Blue
C4: Cyan
C5: Magenta
C6: Yellow
C7: White
Note: You can set all your lights to the same color, or choose something different for each one. You can even customize the colors to get the perfect shade to match your wedding theme (Here’s a cheatsheet on how to do that here.). Lights also have the ability to slowly fade from one color to the next, or change to the beat of the music.Â
Set the Color:
1. Plug light in. Wait 1-2 seconds for it to light up.
2. Press the Menu button a few times until you see “C”.
3. Press the “up” or “down” keys to change through the color choices.
4. Press “enter” to set your color.
Party:
This is self-explanatory. 🙂
Return:
At the end of the event, you just pack them up in the boxes they came in and use the pre-paid shipping label and return the next available business day.
Uplighting is truly one of the easiest ways to transform any ceremony or reception place into a magazine-worthy wedding location, and if you do it yourself using a company like DIY Uplighting it won’t break your budget. That’s definitely a light-bulb moment!
Talk to us, Women Getting Married! Are you planning on using uplighting at your ceremony or reception?
We’re super proud to have DIY Uplighting be part of the Woman Getting Married Guest List! Our Guest List is part of a paid sponsorship program that only features vendors we love.
Love it such a powerful color.
Gorgeous! Uplighting does make a big difference!