Comparison guide
Wedding lighting options, compared.
The short answerEach wedding lighting option changes a different part of the room: dance floor lighting lights the floor, event lighting colors your walls, and the towers put on a moving show. Every Elevate DJ booking includes dance floor lighting; event lighting, the towers and cold sparks are add-ons. 4,000+ events, 20+ Elevate-Certified™ DJs, 18 awards, 9.7 NPS and 4.9★ across 1,058 verified reviews, as of August 4, 2026.
4.9(379)
4.9(218)
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Photo: Olive and Oak, 2026, Seth T Photography
The options
What does each wedding lighting option change in the room?
Each wedding lighting option changes a different part of the room. Dance floor lighting lights the floor, the interactive lighting towers put on a moving show, event lighting washes the walls in your colors, a monogram shows your names on a wall or the floor, cold sparks mark one moment, and pin spots and string lights pick out details or hang overhead. Here is what each one changes, and how we handle the ones we bring.
- Dance floor lightingWhat it changes: The dance floor itself. Your DJ brings it and runs it on the night.How Elevate handles it: Every Elevate DJ booking includes it, so there is nothing to add to get it.
- Event lightingWhat it changes: Wireless lights placed around the edge of the room wash the walls in your colors, and each light has a small built-in microphone, so it picks up the music and reacts to it.How Elevate handles it: We set it to your exact colors, and we read your guest count and floor plan to decide how many lights the room takes.
- Interactive lighting towersWhat it changes: Two lit towers, a moving head on top of each and sweepers that move with the music, put a moving show in the room.How Elevate handles it: They run from your DJ’s own software, so the light and the music move together as one show.
- A monogramWhat it changes: Your initials, names or date, shown in light on a wall or across the dance floor.How Elevate handles it: Our graphic designer cuts the design into a piece of glass, which is yours to keep after the night.
- Cold sparksWhat it changes: A spark machine on a separate stand sends a fountain of sparks up for one moment you pick: the entrance, the final dip of your first dance or a big drop.How Elevate handles it: On the cue you plan with your DJ, your DJ sets it off, with an attendant on the unit. We only use effects where the venue and the fire marshal allow them, and we handle the approvals.
- Pin spotsWhat it changes: A narrow beam aimed down from above at one small thing, such as the cake or the centerpieces, where light on the walls comes up from below.
- String lightsWhat it changes: Twinkle, fairy or bistro lights hung in rows over a lounge, the dance floor or the tables, so they read as a canopy overhead.
Pin spot and string light definitions as Brides, Junebug Weddings and WeddingWire describe them.
What is included
What comes with event lighting from Elevate Entertainment at your wedding?
Event lighting from Elevate Entertainment comes with three things: your exact colors, lights sized to your room, and lights that react to the music. You add it to your Elevate booking, since lighting is never booked alone. Dance floor lighting needs nothing added, because every Elevate DJ booking includes it.
The three things in Elevate event lighting
- Your exact colorsWe match light the way a paint counter matches paint, so it is your color and not close to your color.
- Sized to your roomThe number of lights comes from your guest count and the rooms you use, read from your floor plan, so the whole edge of the room is covered.
- Lights that react to the musicEach light has a small built-in microphone, so it reacts to the music by itself.
Additionally, Elevate Entertainment serves every client, weddings and corporate events alike, with add-ons such as sound production, photo booths, event lighting, live musicians, the DJ-Band Hybrid and special effects. Two of them change how your room looks on the night.
Nearly 1 in 5 of our events
Lighting
The room in your colors, and your photos come back finished instead of flat.
Sycamore Creek Ranch, 2025 · photo Stem Visuals
Special effects
Cold Sparks, Dancing on a Cloud and CO2 cannons, staged where they belong in the night.
The Bardot, 2025 · photo Jefferson May Photography
Tap any add-on to see how it works.
Side by side
How do uplighting, dance floor lighting and the towers compare?
Event lighting, dance floor lighting and the towers compare by what each one lights. Event lighting washes the walls in your colors from fixtures placed along the room’s edge. Dance floor lighting lights the floor, and every Elevate DJ booking includes it. The interactive lighting towers follow the music as one show. You add event lighting, the towers or both to your Elevate booking.
| On the night | Event lighting | Dance floor lighting | Interactive lighting towers |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Wireless lights around the edge of the room, pointed up the walls | The lighting that comes with your DJ | Two lit towers, a moving head on top of each and sweepers that move with the music |
| What it lights | The walls and the room itself, in your colors | The dance floor | The floor and the room, moving with the music as one show |
| How it comes | Added to your DJ booking, sized to your room | With every Elevate DJ booking | Added to your DJ booking, run from the DJ’s software |
| Best for | An older, relaxed crowd, and color behind every photo | Every wedding with an Elevate DJ | A younger crowd used to clubs and festivals |
Room and crowd
Which wedding lighting fits your room and your crowd?
Your crowd and your venue decide which wedding lighting fits. An older guest list on a relaxed, family night is happy with event lighting without the towers; a younger crowd used to clubs or festivals wants the interactive lighting towers as well. What venues provide usually lights the dance floor, and your Elevate DJ already brings dance floor lighting, so what you add is color for the rest of the room. Cold sparks suit one moment, such as the entrance or a big drop, where the venue and the fire marshal allow them.
Booking your lighting
How do you book the lighting you picked?
You book the lighting you picked with Elevate Entertainment in three steps: see your price range above, design the night in one free conversation, and read the itemized number in your quote. Your lighting goes on your Elevate booking, and its own number sits in that quote beside everything else you pick.
See your price range
Tap what your night needs in the estimator above. It sorts your running order and shows one rough range for the whole night; your exact price still comes from your quote.
See your price rangeDesign the night in one conversation
Your free Entertainment Design Session: 60 minutes, video or phone, with the team behind 4,000+ events. You bring the vision. You leave with a complete plan.
If you would rather build your night with a person than on a screen alone, or want more guidance on what to choose, you can do it together here.
Book your Entertainment Design SessionGet your exact number
A real, itemized quote for exactly what you choose. Or skip ahead and build your quote online any time.
Pricing
How much does an Elevate Entertainment wedding night cost?
Experiences begin at $1,500
Most couples spend between $2,500 and $7,500. Highly produced events can run up to $25,000. Where your night lands depends on how much of it you hand to one team: the DJ and MC alone, or the sound production, the lighting, the live musicians and the booth with them.
Build it online, or get your exact number in your free Entertainment Design Session. Klarna and Affirm financing are available.
Related guides
What else should you read before you choose your wedding lighting?
Before you choose your wedding lighting, read how the reception runs hour by hour, what a wedding DJ costs, how pricing works and how a DJ compares with a live band; each has its own guide.
The wedding reception timeline, hour by hourThis guide lays the reception out in order, from the entrance to the last song.Read the guide →
How much does a wedding DJ cost?This guide explains what moves the price of a wedding DJ and MC: the hours on site, the tier of DJ you book, the date and the drive, and what a booking covers before a single add-on.Read the guide →
How pricing worksThis is Elevate Entertainment’s own pricing page: what a booking includes, what moves the number up or down, and the two ways to get an exact price for your night.Read the guide →
DJ vs live band for your wedding: cost, sound and the hybridThis guide sets a DJ and a live band against each other on cost, sound and range.Read the guide →
How much does wedding lighting cost?This guide explains what event lighting and a monogram add to the room and the price.Read the guide →
Are cold spark machines allowed at wedding venues?This guide explains what to ask your own venue about cold spark machines before you plan the night around them.Read the guide →
How to plan your wedding music: must-plays, do-not-plays, and requestsThis guide explains how to build a must-play list and a do-not-play list that your DJ can work from on the night.Read the guide →
Before you book
What do couples ask about their wedding lighting options?
Couples weighing their wedding lighting options ask whether the DJ brings dance floor lighting, whether lighting can be booked alone, what the towers do, where cold sparks are allowed, whether the colors match and how it differs from venue lighting.
Does dance floor lighting come with an Elevate Entertainment DJ?
Yes, every Elevate DJ booking includes dance floor lighting. To light the walls and the rest of the room, you add event lighting, the interactive lighting towers or both.
Can you book wedding lighting on its own?
No, Elevate Entertainment does not book lighting on its own. You add event lighting, the towers or a monogram to your Elevate booking, and special effects such as cold sparks are added the same way.
What do Elevate Entertainment’s interactive lighting towers do?
They put a moving show in the room: two lit towers, a moving head on top of each and sweepers that move with the music. They run from your DJ’s own software, so the light swells and settles with the songs.
Are cold sparks allowed at every wedding venue?
No, it depends on the venue. We only use effects where the venue and the fire marshal allow them, and we handle the approvals.
Can Elevate Entertainment event lighting match your wedding colors?
Yes, event lighting is set to the exact colors you pick, so the walls carry your wedding colors and not a near match.
How is event lighting different from the lighting your venue has?
It lights a different part of the room. What venues provide usually lights the dance floor, which your Elevate DJ already brings; event lighting puts your colors on the walls around the whole room.
Your Event Made Perfect
How do I talk to a real person about my wedding lighting?
You talk to a real person about your wedding lighting by booking an Entertainment Design Session in the short form here. One free conversation, 60 minutes, video or phone. You leave with a complete plan and an exact number, without any pressure on the call.
Complimentary · real numbers.
Call or text(816) 477-4077