Glamping’s all about setting up a luxurious, super-comfortable and inviting camp. We’ve got the bell tents, comfy beds, soft linen, cushions, sheepskins rugs etc sorted, but there are other things you’ll need to consider when thinking about your glamping wedding, such as outdoor lighting.

We provide LED lanterns in all our bell tents, as well as exterior solar lights but you’ll also want to consider location-specific lighting ideas. Picture the scene, your guests have arrived, marvelled at their fully-equipped bell tent, ditched their bags and been furnished with a G&T. Happy days. You’re getting hitched, today’s the day… all the planning for your glamping wedding has come together. The sun is high in the sky and you’re on cloud nine. As the day goes on, and the sun goes down, you want dusk to be a beautiful twinkly experience, and when night falls you don’t want anyone to think ‘oh wow, it’s dark’. You don’t want anyone struggling to find their bell tent, or their friends, or the toilets… or the bar. You want it to be as easy as switching on your lights at home, or even better, get lights with a daylight sensor that will automatically come on when the light drops.

Often people don’t consider how important it is to light their glamping area… so make sure you do! You can thank us later.

Lighting is not just about practicalities; it’s about setting the scene and feeling all comfy and cosy. It’s about your guests sitting outside until the small hours because they’re having the time of their life. Not taking to their bed because they’re cold and it’s pitch black.

Festoon lighting

Festoon lighting is gorgeous for glamping weddings because it gives an idyllic, old-fashioned fairground feel. There’s a whole range of colours, lengths, bulb sizes and voltage options on the market now. We like strings of festoon lighting with a warm white glow as it offers a soft, comforting, homely feel.

As festoon lighting uses full-size lightbulbs, it’s very effective in providing proper light, as well as looking uber decorative. They’re great strung up between trees, as a canopy above walkways or for lighting up bell tent villages, chill out bells, toilets and bar areas.

Of course, you will need to consider power from a generator when considering your lighting options but there solar-powered options on the market now too.

Fairy lights

Fairy lights are a great option as they’re battery operated so you can get creative without worrying about where to plug them in. You can fill jam jars with fairy lights, wrap them around the centre pole of the bell tents or the outside guy ropes, string them up in the trees, line a log basket or wrap them around the frame of a deck chair. Let your imagination run wild! You could consider a fairy light curtain on the side of your toilets, or on the outside of a building. Practical for lighting things up and twinkly lights look great against exposed brickwork. Check out The Beautiful Day for a range of hire options for glamping weddings.

Fairy lights can also be utilised as effective canopies too. They’re great for large distances because they’re lightweight and more cost effective that festoon lighting for this purpose.

Tea lights

LED tea lights are good for tea light chandeliers. You can also pop them in jam jars and hang them from the trees. Look at waterproof options and bigger, pillar candles too.

Stake lighting

It can be tricky to know where to put lighting, especially if your glamping venue doesn’t have conveniently placed trees or buildings from which to attach strings of lighting. Stake lighting means you can create pathways/walkways or light up flower beds. They’re great for lighting the entrances to our bell tent villages/individual bell tents and there are so many options available from bamboo tiki-style torches to shepherd’s hook lanterns.

Lanterns

Lanterns can be hung on hook stakes as mentioned above, Moroccan-style lanterns are effective as table centrepieces or tall lanterns with large pillar candles are good for creating a dramatic effect for an entrance or walkway.

Paper lanterns

Chinese-style paper lanterns offer a soft glow and a real garden-party vibe for balmy summer glamping weddings. The different colour combinations can tie nicely into the theme of your event. They contain battery powered LED lights and last 36-48 hours. Have a look at The Hanging Lantern Company.

Light up letters/signs. Lightbox

Big light-up letters and cinema-style lightboxes are great to light an outdoor bar area for a festival-style wedding. We love Surrey-based Doris Loves and Hampshire-based Missing Chopper.

We offer bell tent hire in Hampshire and West Sussex, check out our weddings page and talk to us about our experiences of effective lighting for glamping bell tent villages!

All bell tent photos: Bobby Mills