Fluorescent lighting may be fine for a shareholders' meeting, but it won't create much ambiance at a wedding reception. That's why some Omaha brides are turning to lighting specialists to add color and special effects to make their reception halls — which are often neutrally decorated — more memorable.

“My job is to transform that room into something elegant and beautiful with lighting,” says Patrick Bressman, lighting designer for Theatrical Media Services Inc. (TMS) in Ralston. The company handles wedding, commercial and concert lighting — working for acts like Dave Matthews, Bob Dylan and Alicia Keys.

The popularity of white-only lighting is dimming, the designer says. “Honestly, people are bored with it.” Instead, brides are choosing to warm up rooms and highlight special features — be it the dance floor or the cake table — with color.

Bressman recently used “intelligent lighting” at a reception held at Omaha's Livestock Exchange Building. He turned the room amber at sunset and then to a dark magenta over the course of the evening. “It's a big trend on the coast right now, and more and more brides in the Midwest are doing it.” The lighting designer worked on just four local weddings in 2008, but boosted that to 20 in 2009. He expects the number to double in 2010.

Fall brides are choosing ambers and magentas; spring brides lean toward greens and golds, and summer brides vary widely in their color choices. There are hundreds of shades to choose from, says Ann Pitschka, an event consultant for AAA Rents & Events Services in Omaha. “I think lighting is becoming a lot more sophisticated.”

Clients are drawn to an acrylic, tiered table that can be lit as a dessert or drink station. When it's lit in red or purple, it provides “a big pop of color,” Pitschka says.

More large venues are being equipped with ceiling rigging points, making installation easier for wedding planners and lighting designers, Pitschka says. No matter what the venue, uplighting is almost always an option. Many of Pitschka's bridal clients light a single reception hall wall, often as a backdrop for the head table or the orchestra or disc jockey.

Other popular lighting effects include gobos — small glass or steel discs used to reflect a particular pattern or monogram. Gobos gained popularity after celebrity couples started using them to cast images on reception dance floors.

Pinspotting is an increasingly popular lighting technique in which the designer highlights a specific area — such as the cake or centerpieces. Pinspots can be color coordinated like uplights, but they are frequently left white.

At Omaha's Magnolia Hotel — which hosted more than 60 wedding receptions in 2009 — brides haven't often chosen to bring in additional lighting for the walls. They do, however, add lighting to the tables, according to LeAnna Foster, catering manager.

“The only options I've seen utilized for tables and centerpieces are battery-operated LED lights in vases filled with water,” she says. “The light is suspended in the water, with the body of the centerpiece resting on top of the vase. Sometimes pinlighting is fastened to a ceiling track and cast on the center of each table or every other table.”

The lighting designer is usually one of the last vendors brought into the wedding reception planning process, Bressman says. He offers free consultations at the reception site, but will invite clients to the TMS studio to show sample lighting.

Bressman's payoff comes when he sees the bridal couple's initial response to the lit hall. “Lighting is usually the final piece of the puzzle, making an otherwise elegant reception spectacular.”

Tina King is a freelance writer living in Omaha.

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