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10 Tips on Renting DIY Uplighting & Wedding Backdrops

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Learn how to get a gorgeous look on a budget with savvy DIY wedding rentals and decoration options that can be shipped directly to your door via Ship Our Wedding! It’s beautiful, simple, and affordable!

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Deciding how you will design your wedding ceremony and reception spaces is one of our favorite topics to explore. Whether we’re talking about choosing your wedding’s style, exploring color schemes, or culling ideas for flowers, we love diving into all things creative. Beyond the obvious details, there are plenty of other ways in which you can transform your space. Two of the best ways to create a stunning look on a budget is with wedding rentals such as backdrops and DIY uplighting!

Backdrops can help to soften a space’s interior, and lighting can create an ambiance you can not achieve with the venue’s existing lighting. Plus, uplights are one of the most cost-effective ways to transform your event! Together, a draped backdrop with the right uplighting adds plenty of warmth and additional style. Many couples may look at either and think they’re expensive or too difficult to install. We’re happy to share with you how to create a gorgeous look in minutes under budget!

Today, we’re partnering with Ship Our Wedding to share the top 10 things to keep in mind if you’re thinking about DIYing your backdrop, draping, and lighting for your wedding day. Like we said, the key thing to keep in mind is it’s easier than you think!

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

1. Chat with your venue to learn what’s allowed.

Before you finalize your wedding decoration rentals, think about contacting your venue to make sure they’re on board with all of your ideas. Most locations are flexible. You will want to ensure your venue will not require you to obtain any additional insurance or request that you only work with an expert on-site instead of completing a do-it-yourself setup.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

2. There’s a difference between lighting and uplighting.

Although lights and uplights can both accent a wedding reception, their purposes are different. Lights, like string lights, tend to hang overhead and offer the purpose of adding light to a rustic space.

And, it’s so easy to set up! All you need to do is:

  1. Plug in your light
  2. Select your color
  3. Aim and voila!

Now you can enhance your decor and splash your room with uplighting in colors beyond classic white.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

3. Wedding monograms are not adhered to walls or dance floors – it’s lighting!

If you have ever attended a wedding reception or seen photos from a party and noticed a monogram on a wall or dance floor, odds are it wasn’t adhered to either spot. Instead, it’s something called a GOBO. A GOBO is a pattern filter that slides over a projector’s light. The light that filters through the pattern forms a monogram. This can be projected onto areas, like walls, draping, and dance floors. There is no adhesive used. The wedding monogram lighting appears and disappears with the click of a button.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

4. Before you order, make sure to measure (and count)!

Make sure to measure before you add rentals to your cart and pay your deposit. You’ll want to know what size backdrop will fit behind your sweetheart table and how large the backdrop should be to create a partition between your ceremony and reception space. Ship Our Wedding has beautiful backdrops available in different sizes & styles. Get expert recommendations from Ship Our Wedding via online chat so you know exactly what you need. Plus, you’ll want to know how many uplights to rent for your wedding. One way is to visit your venue and count the number of spaces where you can place uplights. You can also determine how many lights you need to rent by using the uplight calculator tool provided by Ship Our Wedding.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

5. Rent backdrops, draping & wedding uplighting.

Instead of hiring a local vendor, now you can do it yourself by renting a backdrop, drapery, and even uplights! Ship Our Wedding has affordable bundles that include all three services. Their most popular package is The Epic Experience. This package combines room uplights, a cake spotlight, wedding monogram lighting, a head table backdrop, and a photo booth all for under $700. You can also order each item a la carte, so you will have exactly what you want to create an ambiance with wedding decor rentals. When you rent backdrops, draping, and DIY uplighting you’re able to skip labor costs, which represents the majority of the markup when working with a professional company!

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

6. Consider ordering more wedding rentals than just backdrops & uplighting!  

Backdrops and do-it-yourself uplighting are the top items to rent on our list in order to create ambiance in your ceremony and reception spaces. Use this to tie together your primary and secondary colors. Another area to enhance is your guest experience. Think about renting a photo booth from Ship Our Wedding! For under $300, their package includes pictures, props, and even the ability to create GIFs and Boomerangs.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

7. Gather a team together.

With Ship Our Wedding, setting up backdrops, draping, and uplighting rentals is quick and easy. But, you may want to gather a team of family members or friends to take on the tasks for you. Don’t forget, on your wedding day you will be spending time getting ready and capturing photos. As a result, it may help to delegate setting up your DIY rentals to a few members of a trusted team.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

8. Learn how to set up your DIY wedding rentals before they arrive.

 Setting up do it yourself backdrops and uplights are easy! What helps to ease the process is the availability to watch setup tutorial videos with QR code technology. You can find QR code labels on your equipment. Simply scan the QR code on your phone for fast access to photos, product specs, helpful tips and minute-long setup videos. Browse even more how-to videos on Ship Our Wedding’s YouTube page. Once you have your rentals, watch the videos again for a quick refresher. You’ll be ready to get to work quickly and confidently!

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

9. Know your setup and breakdown timeline.  

You will need to know the timeline that is provided by your venue. Simply ask your venue manager:

  1. When can you arrive to setup your rentals?
  2. When must everything be torn down?
  3. If setting up the night prior will the room be locked overnight?
  4. If cleaning up after the event, how many hours do you have access?

You’ll want to know all of the timing details! It is even better to have it documented in your contract. All of the decoration rentals from Ship Our Wedding will arrive two days before your wedding, and you will have two days after your wedding to pack everything up in the same box and ship it back. Every order over $94 ships FREE both ways.

Ship Our Wedding - Nationwide DIY Wedding Rentals!

10. Make a plan!

Once you’ve decided which items or packages to rent from Ship Our Wedding, you’ve assembled a team, you’ve viewed their tutorials,  and confirmed your setup and breakdown timeline, it’s time to create a plan! The Ship Our Wedding team recommends creating an order to follow when deciding which items you will set up first, second, and third. We always recommend completing the longest task first so you can move onto easier tasks.

Do you have questions about how to add wedding backdrops, draping, or diy uplighting to your wedding day? Visit Ship Our Wedding for personalized advice, suggestions, and service!


Easy Do It Yourself Rentals (1 Min)

Learn how to setup DIY uplighting by watching the video below:

Check availability for wedding uplighting on your wedding date:


Easy Do It Yourself Rentals (1 Min)

Learn how to setup draping for weddings watch video below:

Check availability for backdrop rentals on your wedding date:


ShipOur.Wedding is based outside of Detroit, and they have been creating event draping, backdrops, and lighting since 2003. Because they’re event pros, they know how to create products that are beautiful, durable, and (most importantly!) easy to set up quickly on your own. On their site, they share plenty of how-to details, and they also have complete budget friendly rentals packages that include some of the most popular backdrop, draping, and lighting options (we’re looking at you, string lights!).


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