LED Lights for a Picture Perfect Wedding: Tips from Michele Fox Gott

Wedding season is upon us, and whether you’re organizing the festivities yourself or enlisting the help of a wedding planner, lighting is sure to be a major item on your to-do list. Michele Fox Gott knows a thing or two about creating stunning, well-lit weddings. As the president and founder of Center of Attention Events, her star-studded client list includes Snoop Dogg and Ozzy Osborn, while her design of Niecy Nash’s wedding earned her the number six spot on TLC’s Top 10 Weddings of 2011 (pictured above). “Lighting is a great way to add richness to a wedding without spending a lot of money,” she says.

Fox Gott has found that LED lights are the best choice for almost any wedding application, and that when she presents the options to her clients, “they definitely pick LEDs over the old lights. LEDs are a huge trend in my industry; they’re just easier to work with, and lighting designers get much more out of them,” she says.

Indeed, LEDs provide dynamic, energy efficient ambiance no matter where or when you’re tying the knot. Following are some of Fox Gott’s favorite ways to use LEDs in weddings; read on for a bright start to your even brighter future together!

Transform Any Space with Color

“One of my favorite applications for LED up-lighting is in a white or light-colored room. RGB LED lights can change colors, and white paneling picks up any color you choose. You can go from blue to red to purple, depending on what mood you want to create,” says Fox Gott. Center of Attention events recently employed this technique in the wedding of Rob Dyrdek’s sister, which was featured on the MTV show Fantasy Factory. “We used white fabric during the ceremony, and then transformed the room to a soft pink during the reception,” says Fox Gott.

The Great Outdoors

If you’re working with an outdoor location, Fox Gott recommends playing up the natural beauty that surrounds you, using LED string lights, or LED wall washers. “If you’re working on a tight budget or with a small space, focus on up lighting the trees or architectural elements on the edge of your space. This will make the space seem bigger and create beautiful ambiance,” she says.

It’s All in the Details

Fox Gott also recommends incorporating LED lights in unexpected places, like on the underside of glass tables, or around the periphery of a room.  “LEDs are great for small, tight spaces because you don’t need as many lights, they’re more discreet and can fit anywhere,” she says. “I was especially impressed during a recent bar mitzvah that I planned. We used glass tables with embedded LED strip lights, and though the client and I had decided to display purple and blue colors during our initial meetings, she changed her mind the day of the event. Luckily, with the color-changing LEDs, I could switch to the brighter, more playful oranges, greens and yellows she requested with the flip of a switch,” she says.

Colorful Cake

The dessert may come at the end of the night, but it can look beautiful throughout the whole event with a little help from LED lights. “We use directional LED spot lighting on cakes, to really draw attention to them,” says Fox Gott. “It also helps that LEDs don’t get hot, so they won’t cause the cake to melt.”

Curious about what’s next for Fox Gott? So are we! She confided that she is planning a “big celebrity wedding this summer,” but has to keep the details very hush-hush. Be sure to keep an eye on her website, Center of Attention Events, to find out who this secret A-list client might be!