Measure the throw before you read any spec
Ask where the fixture will physically sit before asking what it should cost. On a wedding light the throw distance sets the lens, the lens sets the image size, and only then does wattage become a meaningful question. Buyers who start with the power figure usually end up with a unit that is either wasted on a short throw or hopeless on a long one.
- Distance from the realistic mounting point to the centre of the target surface
- Image width you actually need, measured on the wall
- Whether the surface is flat, matte and square to the beam
- Any obstacle in the beam path — signage, foliage, display stands
Brightness is a question about the room, not the lamp
The wattage question is really an ambient light question. Daylight starts around 10,000 lux, a lit retail interior runs 300–500 lux, and a dim restaurant may sit under 100 lux. A wedding light has to beat whatever is already falling on that surface, which is why the same model can look brilliant in a wedding reception and invisible in a banquet hall.
- Existing illumination at the working hour
- Surface colour and finish
- Image size versus available output
- Hours of operation and duty cycle
The optics decide what you can actually adjust
The optics decide what you can correct later. A fixed lens wedding light has to be positioned correctly the first time; a zoom lens lets you frame the image after the bracket is up. In practice that difference is worth more than an extra 20 W, because the most common install problem is not brightness — it is an image that lands slightly off the intended surface with no way to adjust it.
What your artwork forces you to buy
Your artwork decides the gobo material, not the other way round. A glass gobo handles fine strokes, gradients and photographic halftones that a metal stencil simply cannot hold, but it costs more and needs a little more care in handling. If the design is a solid single-colour mark with no fine detail, metal is cheaper and effectively unbreakable; if it has thin script or a gradient, glass is the only honest answer.
Where it lives matters as much as what it does
The ingress rating is a statement about where the unit can live, not how good it is. IP20 on a wedding light means it will cope with the conditions it was tested for — driving rain, dust, or in the case of indoor ratings, nothing more than a wipe-down. If the install is under a soffit that only sees wind-blown rain, an indoor-rated unit may be fine; if it is exposed on a dance floor, IP20 is the floor, not the target.
The five lines that get an accurate quote
Before you send the enquiry, walk the site once with a tape measure and a phone camera. Throw distance, surface colour, the position of power, and a photo of the ambient light at the relevant hour will get you an accurate wedding light recommendation on the first reply — and they are all things you will need on install day anyway.
- Throw distance and mounting height
- Required image width
- Surface description and colour
- Ambient light at the hour of use
- Artwork file, vector if available
