"Artificial" ceiling ideas for gym

A gym?

Yes, it's in a gym. The gym at the church we are getting married at. It's a low budget wedding and the gym is pretty much free and will hold our 150+ guests. It's about 3/4 the size of a normal gym (stops shortly after midcourt)

Try using uplighting in like a warm white.

@FutureBennis, will that work with the ceiling being 30+ feet up? And the hope is that I won't really see metal frame work ceiling of the gym. Or am I over stressing in how much I think I will see it?

The lights you linked are probably not enough. I just looked at the link. They would be a nice accent, but not a main source.

I don't think the height would be a problem. Try looking for websites like diyuplighting.com and other sites. They can be rented for $17 a piece. You can also reach out to them and ask their opinion.

I like the idea of uplighting as it would simulate the look of a light saber.

@first haha that's a good point!! Plus uplighting is easier to set up and break down.

OP since you said it's 30 ft up, can you safely hang the lights, or is there someone that's able to hang them for you ahead of time? If not I'd opt for uplighting. Has your church hosted weddings in the past and do they have suggestions for you on lights you can use?

I think you'll need more lights somewhere else. Maybe uplighting in walls, or candles on the tables?

@EngineerInLove I don't if the church has hosted anything like this before in the gym. The ceilings are your typical metal frame work that is probably closer to 40 feet high. We can't drill into the wall to place any brackets to hold wires to drape any above lights.

Are you guys suggesting to only do uplighting, or to do uplighting in conjunction with the overhead lights draping? Would we be ok with just putting uplighting on two sides or should we do them along all 4 sides?

@ Daniel, good question, I think all 4 sides since there's no windows.

You are going to need a ton of those lights to cover the whole ceiling.. Have you thought about draping fabric along with the lights? My class did this for our prom. It turned out great, we hung 3 lines of wire with a scissor lift and then draped regular christmas lights and fabric. Then we hung fabric along the walls to hide the brick. It really does wonders to hid the gym look! You could then add more lighting- I would suggest some kind of tall lamp

ETA: you can get tulle super cheap at Joann Fabric- look for coupons!

ETA again: do you have any posts or poles to tie the wire to?

Thank you for the suggestions for uplighting, I had no idea it was a thing. Would uplighting along the walls be all we need with the gym being so big? Would it be possible to put a light or two mid way in sort of a column, behind tulle?

I don't think the fairy lights will do as much for you as you want them too, plus the expenses will probably rack up pretty quickly with how many you need. Google "wedding uplighting gymnasium" for some images....some are pretty creative. Since you mentioned a lower budget, maybe light up paper lanterns would pop more. You could also drape some fabric along a couple of the walls with uplighting in front of it to soften the space. Do you have a picture of the space you're working with?

@Daniel do you mean putting tulle over an uplight? That could be dangerous, if I remember correctly they use parcan lights for uplighting, they get hot and can cause a fire if they contact fabric.

@FutureBennis the rentals from diyuplighting are led, so heat won't be an issue, but what I'm think of is this. pcp pipe in a square column probably 7 feet high, with tulle scrunched up, making the whole thing look like a collumn. on the INSIDE, we put the light. The tulle would soften the light, but also since nothing will be put a the top of the column, the light would continue to go up.

I was going to recommend draping the ceiling like @Karie suggested. I am a high school teacher and have been involved in planning/decorating for school dances. You can use fishing line to attach the lights and fabric to the ceilings. You can also use Scotch command strips (they are pretty strong and remove with no damage to the walls). You can build PVC pipe frames to do the draping on the walls, if you wanted, like in the pic @Karie shared. I also think uplighting would look nice, especially with the draping! We rented uplights from our DJ for $10/each.

@Daniel I'd experiment with this before the date. It sounds like a lot of work.

Although a "free" gym sounds economical, by the time you add everything you need to make it hospitable you could probably find a place that provides everything for cheaper.

Do you mean put the uplights inside the PVC pipe? If so, the light wouldn't really have the desired effect. You'll want the uplights on the ground and you can adjust the angle onto the wall. You may want to check with local rental companies to find out their suggestions.