Stage and Ceremony Setups That Photograph From Every Angle

The stage is the most photographed six feet of your entire event. It deserves more thought than it usually gets.

Design for three viewpoints.

Your photographer shoots from the front. Your guests see it from the sides. Your video camera often sits at the back. A setup that looks perfect head-on can look thin and unfinished from the side, which is where most of your guests actually are.

Build depth. Something behind, something beside, something at floor level.

Frame the couple, do not swallow them.

Big florals are tempting. But if the arrangement is wider and taller than the two people in front of it, the people become an afterthought. The setup should draw the eye to the center, not compete with it.

Mind the floor.

The most overlooked surface at any event. A bare stage floor undoes a beautiful backdrop instantly. Petals, a runner, a rug, low florals along the base, any of these close the gap between the backdrop and the ground and make the whole thing look finished.

Seating matters more than you think.

Whether it is two chairs, a low seating vignette, or a full sofa setup, this is furniture that will appear in your closest, most intimate photographs. Rented banquet chairs with a cover on them read very differently from a considered piece.

Think about the walk-up.

How do people get to the stage? What do they see approaching it? An entry moment, an aisle treatment, or lighting along the path turns a functional walk into part of the design.

Lighting last, but not least.

Uplighting along the back wall, warm spots on the couple, string lights overhead. A gorgeous setup under flat fluorescent ceiling light will disappoint you in every photo. Ask your venue what lighting control you actually have before you finalize anything.

We design stages that hold up from every seat in the room. Tell us your venue and we will work backward from there.