Indoor lighting during an afternoon reception?

dtronol

We are having an indoor ceremony at noon, and a 1:30-4:00 indoor reception at the same location. I'm worried about how to do lighting - I'm in love with candles, but is it weird to have candles at noon-4? Also, I feel like uplighting wouldn't work for that time of day.

There are floor to ceiling windows in the ballroom, so there will be natural light (as long as it's not overcast, which isn't unual here in upstate NY), but is it weird to have no additional lighting at all?

twilight.rose

I think you should definitely have some other option for lighting than natural light, in case it is cloudy/raining/overcast. If you want candles, use some candles. I don't think anyone would think anything of it.

Talk to your venue to see if the permanent lights in the room have dimmers, which would make it look less harsh if you needed to turn them on. Also, uplighting could work to add some ambience to the room.

jcandjd

Our ceremony is at 1:30, with a 2 to 7 reception, and we are having votives on each of the tables.  I don't think it will look weird even if it is nice and bright, and if it is a cloudy day, it will add some nice ambiance.

DirtyWater

Candles would be fine.  I'd hate for you to lose money on getting uplights when you most likely wont even see them unless its overcast.  A company my friend talked to about her wedding told her it would be pointless for her to have it in her room and he wouldn't feel right doing them.

Her reception was in the summer and the sun doesn't set until 8.  The reception ended at 9 so she would only have them for about an hour looking good.

If the windows have drapes then I say go for it.  If they can be open for dinner and closed for lights and dancing it would change it up a bit.

Another option to save money would be to use flora lights.  I'm not sure what your tables or centerpieces look like but when used and done right they look beautiful.

sklink0486

I agree with StageManager, personally I would just put the money towards something else. Even if you love the look of candles, I doubt they will even show up, even when it's cloudy if you have floor to ceiling windows. I don't think it will be "weird" to have candles at all, that's fine if you want to spend the money and most likely have the light from them be drowned out by the windows. The only thing is, if it's not floor to ceiling windows in the whole room- then I would agree that candles would add some good lighting to the "darker" areas of the room.

dtronol

Thanks for all the advice. I'm glad candles wouldn't be weird, because I was leaning on the idea of using them instead of centerpeices!