What Exactly is Uplighting? Why Do I Need it?
If you’re asking yourself “What is uplighting?” you’re in the right place. This lighting option is a popular design effect created by strategically placing lighting fixtures on the floor and pointing them up. Thus creating the effect of ‘up lighting’. It is a very effective way to dramatically improve the ambience of an wedding or event space.
Accent walls with color, highlight special areas, or cast a welcoming and festive glow through your event venue with up lighting. Fantastic way to spruce up a drab venue!
This brilliant effect is perfect for weddings, corporate events, concerts, school dances, birthday parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, anniversary parties, or any party you’re hosting. You can use uplighting in any size event venue, or even just a small home.
Are you curious about uplighting? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Uplighting involves strategically placing lighting fixtures on the ground and directing them upwards to create a striking design effect. This technique is highly effective for enhancing the atmosphere of a wedding or event space. Whether it’s adding color to accent walls, highlighting specific areas, or casting a warm and inviting glow throughout your venue, uplighting can transform a dull space into something extraordinary. This versatile effect is suitable for various occasions such as weddings, corporate events, concerts, school dances, birthday parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, anniversary parties, and more. Regardless of the size of your venue, or even if you’re hosting an event at home, uplighting can be used to great effect.
What Exactly is Up Lighting?
What is Uplighting? “Uplighting is ambient lights usually supplied by your Disc Jockey or Wedding Venue that are placed around your venue space to create depth and atmosphere in order to create a more unique experience for your celebration.” says Eve Frank, Wedding Planner at Erie Wedding & Event Services.
Eve goes on to explain: “By placing Uplighting on the floor around your venue you can accent the walls and ceiling in your venue to create depth and feeling in the color of your choice. It’s also useful to accent architectural features of your venue such as wall fixtures or pillars that you are fond of. In fact, the uplighting provided by our Disc Jockey Division, Erie DJ Entertainment is programmable to transition from one color to another with a remote control allowing you to signal to your guests a move from cocktail and dinner hours to dancing. Up lights placed along the dance floor can even beat in time to the music to add energy. It’s an amazing service for any wedding or event.”
What Kinds of Up Lighting Are There?
But, what IS uplighting? There are 2 main types of Up Lighting that Professional Wedding & Event Vendors offer and from there….well…there’s a lot to explain. We’ll keep it as easy as we can. The two main types of these accent lights are Wired and Wireless.
Wired Uplighting
The majority of Wedding Venues and some Disc Jockey and Lighting Companies offer Wired Lighting. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Wired Lighting requires use of an electric outlet to keep it on so it’s not very flexible in terms of where you can place it. In order to use it in areas further from the electrical outlets you must run additional extension cords. We don’t recommend this lighting option as it poses a tripping hazard for your guests OR locks you into a lighting design the hall picked based on where their electrical outlets are located. This becomes even more burdensome in older venues that haven’t had the electrical updated as the energy the lighting pulls can interrupt service to your caterer, DJ, or Photographer who also need to connect to electrical in order to serve your Wedding or Event. In addition, most wired lights only come in 6-10 pre-programmed colors and need to be manually switched on the light itself.
Wireless Uplighting
Wireless Uplighting is the type we’ve chosen to offer our clients due to the versatility in both lighting design AND the amount of control we have over colors. The possibilities are endless with this light.
Unlike the traditional Wired Lighting, Wireless contain a battery pack that are charged ahead of time and last up to 12 hours long. Our Disc Jockey team is careful to ensure this item is charging at least 24 hours before each event. Because they use a battery pack and are not limited by a cord, we are able to place these lights in areas not usually accented by color such as the Cake Cutting Table and along inner pillars and features.
In addition, our Wireless Uplighting comes with remote control access. That means we can stand across the room and with the touch of a button we can adjust the color of the lights. These brilliant little fixtures are programmed with 64 popular colors. However, our DJ’s have a Program App right on an I-pad that allows them to use a color wheel and adjust each light individually or all together to perfectly match any color you wish.
Incandescent Versus LED Uplighting
It’s essential to understand the difference between incandescent light bulbs and LEDs as well when shopping for Wedding Uplighting. The first uplighting used was par-cans. Par-cans are wired lighting fixtures that contain a white incandescent bulb. A thin sheet of cellophane is placed over the light bulb to change the color of the par-can. Also, the bulbs burn hot, making them a danger to anyone who may bump into the fixture, making them a safety risk. Another downfall of the par-can was the need to be plugged in close to an outlet or an extension cord. These lights were a double risk with being a burning and tripping hazard. No one wants to run the risk of a friend or family member being injured by the decor at their event. Most Wedding Venues and some DJ’s still use Incandescent Lights.
LED lighting is the way of the future. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. They are low energy lights that don’t get hot to the touch, which reduces the risk of accidental injury. LED lights are also far more brilliant than a regular incandescent bulb. Our state-of-the-art Wireless LED lights can wash a 3 story barn ceiling in gorgeous color. I know, we’ve seen it at several popular venues we’ve served at. LED uplights to last much longer than other bulbs, making them ideal for multiple uses over the years. If your DJ is offering you uplighting with LED, you can be assured the lighting will work well for your event. There are no unpleasant surprises with burned out bulbs.
Erie Wedding & Event Services understands how important high-quality service is to you. That’s why we proudly offer Wireless, LED Uplighting Rentals for your special occasions.
What Color Uplighting Should I Use?
The question we get asked most often after “What is Uplighting” is: “What Color Should I Use at my Wedding?”. That’s why we’ve written a blog to help you decide which color is right for your Wedding. The answers may surprise you if you’re expecting to use a design that includes your Wedding Colors. You can find out more in this helpful blog:
Our most frequently asked question following What is Uplighting is: Which color should I choose for my wedding? This has prompted us to create a blog post to assist you in determining the most suitable color for your special day. You may be surprised by the answers if you were planning to incorporate your wedding colors into the design. For further details, refer to our informative blog post.
