DJ Lighting

lac1252

My fiancé and I are selecting our DJ package this week. Through his packages he offers no lighting, intelligent lighting or uplighting. Uplighting is a bit outside our DJ budget but if we end up finding some extra money closer to the wedding in May we would consider adding this. My question is did you have lighting at your reception? I'm a little concerned the intelligent lighting will make it look more like a club scene. And while we are looking to have a fun party, we still want to keep the look a bit on the classy side. Any other suggestions on what we could do?

ElcaB

Uplighting is always nice, but if it's not in the budget, it can be skipped. Consider purchasing spotlights that sit on the floor and point upwards, which offer the same effect, and placing them yourselves. 

emilyb213

Honestly, I couldn't tell you if we had lighting or not at our reception. I know our DJ said it was included in his rate if we wanted it, but I have no idea if I told him to go ahead with it during our final consult, because that was the least of my concerns the week of the wedding. I would have to look back at my pictures to see if we had it, and my wedding was only 6 weeks ago...which shows you how much it mattered. If it's outside of your budget, or you would have to scrimp to afford it, I wouldn't worry about it. If you do decide to go with it, I think uplighting is a lot classier than the intelligent lighting. Also, what your DJ plays is going to have more impact on a "fun party" than any fancy lighting would.

southernbelle0915

We had a very nice wedding, but opted not to have special lighting on the dance floor. We had the venue dim the lights for the first dances and then left them that way for the rest of the night. No one cares about special lighting. Feed them good food. Give them good drinks. Play good music. That's all people need for a good time. IMHO lighting is a waste of money.

Kate McCay

Our DJ also offered uplighting but it was out of our price range. We were able to find the exact same lights that he used that you could rent for $20.  We would be able to do the same lighting for a third of the cost but we would have to set them up ourselves.

We felt it would be awkward if we told the DJ no and he showed up and saw we had uplighting so we let him know what we were thinking about doing and told him we could either buy those or have him do it and at least make some money off of it.  He decided to do it himself and a discounted rate which was super nice.

I'm not saying your DJ will do this but if it is important to you can research renting your own, they aren't hard to set up, you just plug it in and point it at the wall

melb2013

No uplighting here.  I'm not a fan- I don't think it's elegant to have bright colors splashed on the walls.  We had the entire room lined in candles, candles on the tables, candles on the bar, candles on the fireplace mantles. That combined with the venue's soft lighting made the entire room have a lovely, soft glow.  The DJ did bring some little disco ball thingy, which was fine for when the dancing got really amped up.

I agree that if you end up with some extra money closer to the wedding, I'd spend it on something that will matter to your guests more, like extra food.