One of the most popular trends in event decor for the last decade has been "up lighting."  Up lighting is the use of lighting fixtures to add highlighted splashes of color through out an event space or wedding venue.  These fixtures can create almost any color in the visible spectrum and can be calibrated to match the colors of your wedding reception theme.  With the introduction of LED (light emitting diode) fixtures in the early 2000's, up lighting became a popular trend and also a popular add on service for many wedding venues, wedding DJs, and wedding photographers.  Why? Because it looks great! It will make your wedding photos stand out and pop! Be aware however that not all uplighting is created equal. Let's take a look at what up lighting is, how much of it you need for your event, and how to tell the good from the bad.

Remix weddings uses 100% wireless fixtures for our up lighting packages. Our fixtures are powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery which can provide up to 20 hours of continuous operation.  This means no unsightly cords or wires taped down to the floor or the walls of your venue.  The fixtures can placed anywhere at your wedding venue and don't have to be within a certain distance of an outlet like conventional wired fixtures.  No matter where you want to place the lights, we can make that happen.  Most high end wedding venues will require wireless up lighting fixtures, as they do not want cords being taped to the floor, and they want to avoid trip hazards.  Most importantly, they want the lighting to look good, and wires are ugly and detract from the beauty of a space.  Make sure your up lighting provider is providing wireless lights!

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Before advances in LED technology, event accent lighting was done using PAR cans (Parabolic Aluminum Reflectors).  These are the same lighting fixtures that has been used in live theater applications for 70+ years. These fixture emit white light that is then tinted or colored using special translucent cellophane filters creating one single color. These old fixtures were wired, and used really high intensity discharge bulbs, so they produced a lot of heat.  You were limited to the single color produced by the selected gel placed over the light and they also had to be placed near an outlet.

LED lighting fixtures have fixed the challenges presented by conventional PAR cans.  LED fixtures are cool to the touch which mean you don't have to worry about small children burning themselves by touching the fixture.  Trust us,  little kids always want to touch lighting fixtures because they are on the floor and look really cool!  LED fixture also produce a lot of light and use very little energy to do it which is why they can operate for a very long time on battery power.  LED fixtures use color mixing of multi colored LEDs to create different colors, so you are not limited to just one color for your event, you can change the whole aesthetic of your event space with the touch of a button if your LED fixtures are networked properly, but we will talk more about that in a minute!

DMX (Digital Multiplex 512) is a standardized control language for digital lighting that allows for the programming of individual lighting fixtures to create scenes and shows.  DMX is commonly used in theaters and event venues to control lighting fixtures.  Using DMX allows a designer to change the look of a room instantaneously.  You are probably wondering why I am telling you this?

Well, most venues that provided up lighting, and the lighting provided by other DJs, is often" static lighting," meaning the fixtures will be the same color all night.  Remix Weddings however deploys DMX control over our up lighting which allows us to change the whole look of a venue with the push of a button.  After dinner, when the dancing starts, we can bring the room alive by changing the color and intensity of the uplighting.  You would be surprised how a subtle change in lighting can help reenergize your guests after a big delicious meal.  The other upside of DMX control is that we can sync the up lighting with the rest of the dance floor lighting to help pump up the energy on the dance floor and the whole room.  Controlling lights via DMX allows us to coordinate the lighting to create a cohesive aesthetic. 

Now be warned: Watch out for DJs who tell you they will put their up lighting in "Party Mode" once the dance party starts.  If they aren't using DMX control what they are going to do is walk around to each of their lights and switch them to "Sound Active Mode."  Basically each light has little microphone inside and the light will react to the level of sound it detects and will do it's own thing in response to that sound.  That could mean the light will change color, strobe, or fade up and down. While that sounds cool enough, what you are actually going to get is 16 (or however many lights they provide) individual up lights doing their own thing to the music. Each light will  be changing color to the beat of the music, but it will not be coordinated with the other lights and every light will be doing its own thing.  This is not what you want, as it is a little overwhelming and visually nauseating to see 16 up lights each doing their own thing without any synchronization or coordination.  With our DMX controlled lighting, once we start the dance party, the lights will all be synced up so they are cohesively working together to create a visually stunning light show.