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How to Use Wedding Decor Lighting to Elevate Your Big Day
You want everything to be perfect on your wedding day, creating a memorable and charming atmosphere. While decor plays a key role, wedding decor lighting is just as crucial in setting the mood and directing your guests’ attention. The right lighting enhances your venue, highlights key details, and ensures stunning wedding photos. As part of our wedding decor planning tips, here are a few tips for using lighting to elevate your wedding decor.
The Importance of Wedding Decor Lighting
Photo from Getty images on Unsplash.com
As it always seems with weddings, there are things you don’t consider important until someone mentions them to you, and the impact of lighting on how a wedding both looks and feels cannot be overstated. Lighting can help create the right atmosphere, enhance your decor, impact the outcome of your wedding photos, and even impact the guest experience. This is why it is such an important consideration and why couples need to be strategic when it comes to planning their wedding decor lighting. For example, The Knot Magazine has some awesome tips on how to light up your reception.
Over the years, I’ve covered hundreds of weddings where couples transformed their venues simply with lighting. One of the most striking was a couple in the Cotswolds who used amber-hued uplighting to warm up their rustic barn venue, making it feel both intimate and grand. Another favorite was a beachfront wedding in Ibiza, where soft blue lighting reflected off the waves, making the entire setting feel surreal and dreamlike.
Incorporating LED Candles for a Romantic Glow
It is hard to beat candles in terms of decor, atmosphere, and romance. Of course, there are drawbacks to using candles, and many venues have flame restrictions. This is why LED candles are a brilliant alternative that allows you to create a warm and romantic atmosphere while being a safe and versatile alternative. LED candles could be used for centerpieces, aisles, and even outdoor settings. You can also place candles within the decor to elevate it, which you cannot do with an open flame. On top of all this, you can take the candles home with you after, as a reminder of your special day.
One of my favorite uses of LED candles was at a winter wedding in the Lake District. The couple lined their entire ceremony aisle with them, creating the most enchanting, flickering pathway. Another couple, who had a whimsical forest wedding, placed LED candles inside vintage lanterns and scattered them throughout the trees—it was pure magic as the sun set.
Creating a Starry Night with String Lights
Dainty string lights can mimic a starry night sky, which can help to create a magical and whimsical atmosphere at your wedding and enhance both indoor and outdoor settings – they can also look fantastic in photos too! There are many possible applications of these lights, including draping them across ceilings, intertwining them with greenery, or wrapping them around pillars.
Check out this reel for some inspiration:
I once attended a Tuscan vineyard wedding where the couple used cascading string lights over their al fresco dining tables—when the sun set, it felt as if they were dining under a sky full of stars. Another unforgettable setup was a boho-chic wedding in Cornwall where the couple wrapped fairy lights around trees, making the whole woodland glow with a soft, romantic aura.
Elevating Spaces with Chandeliers & Pendant Lights
Elevate your space with Chandeliers. Photo by
Jennifer Kalenberg on Unsplash.com
Statement light fixtures like chandeliers and pendant lights can add a touch of elegance and sophistication to reception areas. Of course, you want to make sure that the lighting fixtures complement your wedding theme, such as a crystal chandelier, if you are looking for an elegant and timeless look. Uplighting can also be used to accentuate venue character, add depth, and create a dynamic interior. Check out this Pinterest page for some inspo.
I remember a glamorous London ballroom wedding where the couple rented opulent crystal chandeliers to hang over the dance floor—every twirl and dip caught the light beautifully. On the other hand, a couple with a rustic barn wedding in Scotland used large Edison bulb pendants, creating a warm and inviting ambiance that felt both vintage and modern.
Enhancing Outdoor Areas with Lanterns
Lanterns can be used to define pathways, accentuate entrances, or create cosy lounge areas in outdoor settings. There are both hanging lanterns and ground-placed designs that can be used, allowing you to pick the best option for each application. LED candles could also work perfectly here for certain areas of your wedding, you don’t have to worry about the weather blowing out any candles.
Check out this reel for some ideas:
At a lakeside wedding in the Peak District, the couple lined the dock with glowing lanterns, giving their guests a breathtakingly romantic walkway. Another couple created an intimate, Moroccan-inspired lounge area at their garden reception, using a mix of gold and glass lanterns to create a dreamy, exotic glow.
Combining Drapery with Lighting for a Soft, Elegant Look
Finally, the combination of fabric draping and lighting can be used to soften spaces and add a touch of elegance. For example, you could use a soft fabric draping with fairy lights to create a stunning canopy or as a backdrop.
One couple I worked with turned a simple barn venue into a luxurious dream by draping sheer white fabric from the ceiling and weaving in soft, golden fairy lights—it transformed the entire space. Another used a similar concept for their sweetheart table backdrop, layering blush pink chiffon with twinkling lights, making their head table glow in the most ethereal way.
Watch this reel for some inspiration:
To Conclude…
This post should give you a few ideas for ways to use wedding decor lighting to enhance your wedding aesthetic and create a cosy, romantic, and magical feel.
