Weddings
Decorative lighting for weddings and celebrations
Lighting is what keeps a country estate that's beautiful by day just as beautiful by night. And it's what decides whether the banquet photos come out warm or yellowish.
- Set-ups
- Uplighting, festoon lights, tables, façade
- Venues
- Haciendas, country estates, halls, courtyards
- Power
- Mains or battery
- Set-up
- Included, coordinated with the venue
- Area
- Seville and province
Why you need it
The venue you chose by day isn't the same at night
Almost all venue visits happen in daylight. Then the banquet starts at sunset and finishes in the early hours, under the venue's fixed lighting, which tends to be sparse and cold.
That gap is what decorative lighting fixes. It's not about adding more light but about placing it with intention: warm and low on the tables, a little brighter at the bar and the buffet, picking out the beautiful features (an arch, a stone wall, an olive tree, the façade) and functional wherever people move around. What you get is a space that looks welcoming to the naked eye and photographs well without needing flash in every shot.
The four moments of a wedding each need different lighting
- Ceremony: in the afternoon, natural light does the work and only needs a little support. Once night falls, the couple and the officiant have to be lit without dazzling anyone or cutting through the scene with a harsh spotlight.
- Drinks reception: the most social part of the day, usually outdoors. Festoon lights, lanterns and warm accents that define the space without overpowering it.
- Dinner: a comfortable level for eating and seeing the face of the person opposite, with the walls washed in colour and the general lighting turned down.
- Dancing: a complete change. The decorative lighting goes off, the party lights come on and the dance floor becomes a different place. This is where it makes sense to add LED bars or a moving head or two.
01
Wall uplighting
Floor-standing fixtures washing walls, arches and columns in a single warm tone. It is the set-up that transforms a venue the most.
02
Festoon lights
Strung across the drinks area or the courtyard. They give that low, amber glow everyone has in mind.
03
Table lighting
Discreet warm accents that light the centrepiece and the food without casting shadows on faces.
04
Façade and exterior lighting
The hacienda façade, an olive tree or a stone wall lit up so the backdrop is still there after dark.
05
Dance floor
The change of atmosphere once the tables are cleared: colour, movement and, where appropriate, light haze.
06
Pathways and safety
Steps, gravel paths and the way to the toilets with enough light. Not glamorous, but absolutely essential.
How to choose
Colour temperature: the detail hardly anyone asks about
The difference between a wedding that looks elegant and one that looks cold is rarely the number of lights. It is the shade of white.
White light has a temperature: warm white leans towards amber, like an old filament bulb or a candle; cool white leans towards blue, like an office fluorescent tube. At a wedding, all decorative lighting should be warm. A venue lit in cool white looks like a sports hall, however beautifully the tables are laid.
The usual problem is mixing: the estate has warm wall lights, someone adds a glaring white work light for the bar, and the photographer ends up with two colour temperatures in the same shot. The fix is to unify: we match our fixtures to the venue's tone or, if the fixed lighting is cool and can be switched off, we replace it with ours. A five-minute conversation with the photographer and the venue saves a lot of retouching later.
Choosing the uplighting colour
The colours that work best in Sevillian haciendas are amber, soft gold and warm white, because they suit the lime-washed walls, the stone and the albero (golden sand). Saturated colours (fuchsia, electric blue) work on the dance floor, not at dinner. And one rule that never fails: one single colour per space. If you want contrast, change it from one area to another, not from one light to the next.
Common mistakes
What everyone forgets
- Booking the lighting last. Once the décor and catering are settled, there are few free sockets left and no time slot for set-up. Lighting should be discussed at the same technical visit as the wedding sound.
- Not asking about the power supply. Many estates have just enough capacity for the kitchen and air conditioning. You need to know which circuits are free before allocating anything.
- Leaving cables across walkways. With heels and gravel, that is a real hazard. Battery-powered fixtures and cable protectors solve it, but it has to be planned.
- Lighting only the pretty bits. If the path to the car park is dark, the wedding ends with guests using their phone torches.
- Copying a photo without looking at the space. That set-up you saw works in an enclosed courtyard with white walls; in an open garden the same light simply disappears into the dark.
- Forgetting the take-down. Someone has to pack up in the small hours, and many estates require everything to be cleared that same night. It is included, but the venue should know about it.
The service
How we approach a wedding
We talk about the space, not the catalogue
Photos of the venue, the flow of the day and approximate times for each moment. With that, we already know what needs lighting.
Technical visit when needed
At venues we don't know, we check sockets, distances, guest flow and what time set-up can start.
Proposal by area
Ceremony, drinks reception, dinner and dancing, each with its own set-up. That way you can see what to drop if the budget needs adjusting.
Set-up coordinated with the venue
We go in when the caterers give us a window and have everything tested before the first guest arrives.
During the celebration
We handle the change of atmosphere between dinner and dancing ourselves, so nobody has to go looking for a light switch.
Take-down at the end
We pack up in the early hours and leave the space as we found it.
For the whole wedding
Lighting is one part of the set-up
Most couples book sound and lighting with us together. It works out better on price and, above all, it stops two suppliers fighting over the same socket.
A typical wedding set-up includes microphones for the ceremony, music for the drinks reception and dinner, a sound system for the dancing and lighting for all of the above. If there is also an LED dance floor or a projector for the couple's video, it is better for it all to come on the same truck with the same crew.
When should I book the wedding lighting?
As early as possible, but above all before you agree the set-up schedule with the venue. Dates in May, June, September and October in Seville fill up quickly, and the issue is rarely the equipment: it is having a crew available on that particular Saturday.
Can you light the hacienda without touching its walls?
Yes, and in listed buildings that is standard practice. We use floor-standing fixtures, tripods and freestanding structures. Festoon lights are strung between existing anchor points or between our own towers, with no drilling.
What happens if it rains?
Our outdoor equipment is weatherproof, but a downpour means moving the event indoors. The sensible thing is to agree a plan B with the venue from the start; we adapt the set-up, but we need to know what that plan is.
Do I need dance floor lighting if the DJ brings their own lights?
Many DJs bring a couple of effects for the booth, and that lights the booth, not the dance floor. If you want the dance area to have a real party atmosphere, it is set up separately. Talk to the DJ and to us so the equipment isn't duplicated.
Can you light just the façade or just the drinks reception?
Yes. You can book by area. In fact, when the budget needs trimming, the usual approach is to prioritise dinner and dancing and leave the façade to the end of the list.
Who switches the lights on and off during the wedding?
We do, unless it is a simple set-up that stays fixed all night. The changes between dinner and dancing are part of the service: we don't want a relative ending up searching for a fuse box in the dark.
The lighting
What the lighting looks like once it's rigged
Fixtures, truss and effects, hung and focused before anyone walks in.
Send us photos of your venue
With the photos, the date and the number of guests, we will propose a lighting set-up by area.
