You’re not just a wedding planner; you’re a juggler! While the bride and groom likely have some ideas of their own when it comes to their big day—you know, simple things like a dove release or a skydiving grand entrance—you’re often in charge of the run of show, along with securing the venue, photographer and videographer, band or DJ, and catering company.
Of course, because weddings and receptions are a one-shot affair, and there’s no second chance to get things right, every detail matters. One such detail is the perfect marriage of audio and visual. The right wedding audiovisual presentation can create an atmosphere of elegance fit for the Royal Family, or bring the house down like a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. Here are some wedding audiovisual ideas that can take any NY nuptials to the next level.
Seven Ways To Wow With Wedding Audio Visual
1. Creative Lighting
To make a wedding an affair to remember, a variety of lighting can be employed throughout the event. For example, spotlights may be used during the nuptials, with LED uplighting along the walls to make the space seem larger and add ambiance. At the reception, pin-spot lighting can be used to highlight place cards, the guestbook, or cake. In addition, high-lit tables can create a mood and make the seating arrangement more appealing (lighted centerpieces top-off the look). Of course, most guests will be headed to the bar for some liquid courage before hitting the dancefloor, so give it the attention it deserves with illuminated beverages. Speaking of dance floors, there’s nothing sadder than an empty one. So, get guests moving by employing kinetic lights, gobos, or lasers. You can read more about these lighting ideas and a dozen more in our comprehensive lighting guide.
2. LED Video Wall
LED video walls used to be reserved for concerts and sporting events, but more recently they’ve become more practical and cost-effective for smaller-scale events, making them perfect for a wedding. An LED video wall, which consists of individual LED video wall panels stacked and connected together, creates a seamless, composite image or video of your choice. Their large stature ensures that everyone gets a front-row seat! For weddings, they have many uses:
- A backdrop behind the wedding party’s table, projecting any image, from a sunset to a skyline
- Displaying a timeline of the newlywed’s relationship leading up to their wedding
- Displaying photographs of the newlyweds through the years
- Highlighting aspects of the run of show (grand entrance, toasts, first dance, cake cutting, bouquet and garter toss, etc.)
- Displaying social media feeds that highlights tweets, instant messages, and event selfies (Everwall is a great example of a company that can bring this to life on your LED video wall rental). Worried about tipsy guests or angry exes getting inappropriate? Posts can even be monitored and edited by a moderator with a simple posting delay in place.
Learn more in our blog, The WOW Factor: Everything You Need To Know About LED Video Walls.
3. Quality Sound
For all that money the happy couple is going to drop on a DJ, singer, or band, you want them to be happy with the sound quality. Audio for weddings is not “one size fits all,” and needs to take into consideration the size of the NYC wedding venue, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, and more. For example, different musical instruments require different types of musical microphones to perfectly capture their sound. Microphones are also a consideration. Whether you choose a lavalier or a handheld, you want to be sure vows and toasts are crystal clear. Check out The Basic Elements of a Sound System for more.
4. Gamification
Most brides and grooms want their wedding to be an event that people will be talking and tweeting about long after the cake is cut, so suggest that they make it more fun through gamification! Gamification at weddings boils down to applying gaming techniques to typical wedding events to get guests laughing and mingling. Gamification could be anything from the DJ having guests play “hot potato” at their tables with a napkin (let your clients decide what happens to the person left holding it!) to using augmented reality that projects fun or silly information about the couple onto guest’s mobile device at different stations throughout the venue. There are tons of ideas online, from the non-tech variety (check out OneWed’s ideas) to the tech-heavy. Either way, it’s worth having a discussion about with your clients.
5. Projection Lighting
Yesterday’s projection systems may have been fine for a bride and grooms’ parents, but not today. Rather than simply project an image on a flat canvas, 3D projection mapping allows imagery to be projected onto irregularly shaped three-dimensional objects, wrapping around them and molding to their shape. At weddings, projection mapping can be used to turn any object into an amazing display. Of course, we can talk about projection mapping all day, but it helps to see it in action. Check out what they did to J.Lo’s dress in this video showing some of the coolest uses of projection mapping ever, and think of what AV companies could do with the bride’s dress or the cake display!
6. Use Video Decor
Static lighting can be a snooze, so why not project something meaningful to the couple on the walls? If the couple loves boating, project gentle blue water ripples. Are they nature lovers? Project gently falling leaves. The options truly are endless and can make the wedding more personal for your clients. Sound mixing can also complement the video decor you choose.
7. Try Out New Apps
You can create a wedding app, or use one of the many that are available already (Mashable put together a pretty impressive list that you can see here). One app we think is pretty cool is The Guest. Remember when it was popular to put disposable cameras on all the tables to encourage guests to take candid shots? Sometimes these produced the best pictures, but it’s so 1990s. With The Guest, wedding guests simply download an app onto their iPhone or Android, and for a set amount of time, any photo (or video) they take will automatically be auto-shared to the app for everyone to see. The bride and groom will no longer have to rely on hashtags or manual uploads in other apps, or worse, bug their guests to send them their photos afterward—they can download what they deem keepers later on.
Finding Wedding AV Rental and Support
Need help with wedding audiovisual in NY? If you said “I do,” look no further! One Way Event Productions has helped put on events of every size, from large outdoor concerts to intimate indoor affairs, and we can help with an audiovisual wedding package too. We know there are a lot of AV companies and AV rental options out there, which is why our team of experts always goes above and beyond—and why our clients continue to come back to us! Give us a call today to talk about NY wedding planning and our awesome AV wedding productions.
