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Outdoor lighting

[Deleted User][Deleted User] member
First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
in Outdoor Weddings
The park we're getting married in doesn't have a lot of lighting- lamps are near paths but won't light up our area.  We have one electrical outlet (2 plugs) per section and we have 2 sections right next to each other. 1 plug will be used for sound equipment.
Dinner will be done by the time it gets dark but we don't want people to leave without dancing!
I have 28 picnic tables with 3 votives per 7' table. We have battery operated paper lanterns that we were going to hang over the tables but I can change that, they will probably just provide ambiance and not much light. I can get Christmas lights but how many can I plug together? Are tiki torches safe near the dance area? Do they provide enough light? Should I order flashlights for everyone? Should I use a shop light attached to a distant tree? I'm not as concerned with pretty as I am with being able to see.
Basically, I want to find out how we can light up the area with as few electrical items possible. Can anyone tell me what they did or tell me how to find out how much something will light up an area?
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Re: Outdoor lighting

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    CnSinLOVECnSinLOVE member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    I wouldn't do flashlights for everyone...they're not going to want to carry them around or will set them down and forget where they are. I would go with the Christmas lights, you can buy the longer stands to minimize the number of plugs and they give off a good amount of light. I also would avoid the tiki torches just in case for safety reasons, it's not likely but someone does a few too many spins on the dancefloor and spins right into the torch, I would feel awful! I would also maybe look into lanterns or something you can hang around the area that you could put some LED lights in, they will look really nice and provide some extra light. We are using mason jars hung from trees with LED lights in them for some additional light and ambiance! Good luck and hopefully I've helped!!
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    Belle0720Belle0720 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited March 2013
    You should definitely ask your venue (or parks and rec department?) to see what others usually do for lighting. Without knowing what the space looks like it's hard to give suggestions.

    We're having a reception tent that will have ambient lighting in the liner, a large chandelier in the center and lots of candles on each table. I think the DJ will also have some lights on his set up too. And we're planning to get battery operated strings of lights to wrap around the 2 olive trees that will be under the tent (getting married in the middle of an olive orchard)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    Thank you! We are going to go out to the park some night and see exactly how dark it is and measure some of the key areas for christmas lights. The park isn't a "wedding" park so there is only a public park office guy that is handling deposits, confimations etc. As nice as he is, he can't offer logistical help but duh, I'm going to try my local board and see if anyone has held an event there.
    I would  be the person to lose my flashlight, that was crazed thinking on my part.
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    mrsbobfilsonmrsbobfilson member
    First Comment
    Lanterns using LED lights.
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