Lighting a Wedding

[JChenault]

I have been asked to light a wedding.

A couple of actors at our theatre are getting married in the theatre, and have asked me to light it for them. They are going to have fun with it ( the script currently calls for a sword fight to break out just before the vows are complete ).

I'm looking for any thoughts as to how to approach this blend of silliness, fun, and 'specialness' that is this ceremony.

For those of you who have lit weddings in a theatre - or have ever wanted to - or ever got married in a theatre and lit it ( Mr and Mrs Footer, I am talking to you) what words of wisdom do you have for me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mschauer11]

Sounds like an interesting opportunity for you. Creative and fun though so I'm sure anything you come up will work and please all parties.

As I sit here and think about it, if your truly in a theatre space where the wedding is taking place, not worrying about sunlight and such, but right before the vows are completed I would plunge the whole place into a black out. Then kinda saw a Top lit pinspot just on the couple breaking out into the sword fight in slow motion, just start it. Then maybe apply some interchanging side light or high angles to mix hits between the couple. A few deeply saturated colors from the high sides along with the breaking light of a No color I think would help the audience relate really well with the sword clashes.

But that's my opinion. Kinda of that Undergrad college perspective but that's my two cents. I hope everything works out really well for you. Really not to sure how much or far your willing to put into it.

Enjoy and goodluck!

-matt

 

[briancon7]

I think you should do some bold colors on the cyc, and some top light irised down to being around each of the people getting married, and one for the person preforming the ceremony.

 

[bdkdesigns]

My wedding was done in the theatre. There happened to be a dance show going on at the time (which I conveniently designed) and the stage booms worked out great. Not only did it make the wedding pics look great, but there were some great shots of the entrances and exits with the lavs that I put in. Since we are both lighting people, it was pretty cool to see the stage lights in those pics. Otherwise, the ceremony itself was pretty basic with just a solid colored cyc.

We had the most fun in the Blackbox which is where our reception was held. We draped and lit a ton of fabric in there along with the walls themselves. Then again, our ceremony was pretty short, about 10 minutes long in total. So that is why we focused mainly on the blackbox. We had a blast, it looked elegant, and we spent under 600 total for the evening.

 

[Footer]

Mrs. Footer and I did get married in a theatre. All of our wedding party were theatre people with the exception of my brother and Mrs Footer's brother.

We chose to keep our ceremony as un-theatrical as possible. We were getting married in a theatre, not to a theatre. I built a center isle over the center section of seats, we hung some tule and side lit it along with backlighting the cyc.

One issue we had was what to do with the audience area. The theatre we were in was a 620 seater. We expected about 150 or so guests. Instead of just turning the houselights on, we decided to light each audience section on each side of the isle and leave the rest of the house dark. I thought it really helped and is something to think about. No one wants to walk into their wedding day and see 500 empty seats. It happens in churches all the time but you can help a bit in this situation.

We also chose to do no internal cues. With the lighting and the stageing we tried to set a mood. We did not want light cues to take over the ceremony. There were no spinning gobos, moving lights, or anything else like that. The wedding is not about what you can do. You should not be taking attention away from the bride and groom. Its about them. Its the one day in your life to be extremely selfish and say that this day is ALL about them. Don't try to upstage them.

The other reason I highly suggest you don't go nuts... the photographer. Weddings are all about the pictures. We spend some very serious cash on our photographer. Next to the meal at the reception, it was the most expensive thing. At every step of the way, we kept our photographer in the loop as to what to expect. He showed up the day before when we were setting up to make sure light levels were good and and he deal with what we had. If you start firing internal cues or changing things during the ceremony, you run the risk of messing up the photographer. The last thing you want to do is prevent the photographer from getting the first kiss picture or the ring exchange picture.

Here is the entire album... Wedding Pictures - Kyle Van Sandt's Photos

 

[sk8rsdad]

We have had a handful of weddings at the theatre, some making good use of the venue, others not so much. The last wedding had an "A Middsummer Nights Dream" theme since that was the production where the couple met, he playing Bottom, she playing Peasblossom. Some of the original cast reprised their roles in the wedding, which was scripted as a sequel to the Shakespeare production.

We lit the auditorium and stage with leaf breakup and added lights for the aisle that was used for the entrance of the bride. Selective use of specials and general wash allowed the attention to be focused on the couple during the ceremony, signing of the register and stuff like that. The set was a pergola where Titania and her court resided, and where the wedding party hung out during the ceremony. The stage was used for the reception and dance afterward so mounting the the pergola on AirPux made for a quick strike.

 

[ToddH]

Great advice and photos! The best part about lighting weddings is they are generally very well scripted. The best part of doing it in a theatre is you have lots of toys and places to put them! I just treat it like any other show. There is a theme and a direction. The wedding planner should have the script. As long as the bride and groom look good (mainly the bride), it is hard to screw it up. I'm sure what ever you do will look great.

Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

 

[DuckJordan]

I agree with footer on this one, it shouldn't be too much about the theatrics (otherwise it seems kind of like a joke) its about there special day, let them control it.

other than those few words I agree with footer.

 

[JChenault]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I had not thought enough about lighting the audience. Thanks for making me consider it.

I think that this one wants to be more 'Theatrical'. The couple has a script with scenes and readings and acting. They are planning to have a sword fight just for fun. Most importantly, they have requested some cues and looks. I don't want to go overboard - but I do want to give them what they want.

Footer - looking at your album, I am seeing some light cues. Were these just for the photographer and not for the ceremony?

Thanks to all
John

 

[Footer]

Footer - looking at your album, I am seeing some light cues. Were these just for the photographer and not for the ceremony?

There were zero cues. When we showed up in the morning, the look was brought up and left there the entire day. When we took photographs nothing was moved, touched, or adjusted. Some of the shots happened behind the cyc, thats where the "blue" shot came from. We had a photographer that was really into what we were doing. If you are in the St. Louis area and need a photographer, look no further: Faller Photography Group.