My venue has a lot of windows and the curtains/shades are somewhat transparent. I have been to the venue during the day and the room is very light even when the light switches are off.. I have also seen photos of weddings at my venue and all of the photos are very light and bright. I would like the room to be dark so that it has a more romantic/late night party atmosphere and so that everyone feels more comfortable dancing. I certainly don't want to be dancing in a well lit bright room.
I know that I can have a company pipe and drape the room and/or windows, however, I prefer not to spend thousands of dollars just blocking the windows.
Also, I wanted to have a lot of candles on each table, and I think that will look silly if the room has the sun shining in. My party ends at 10 PM and it won't be dark outside until about 8:30.
Any DIY solutions? I know I can purchase my own black curtains for the windows and see if that helps. However two of the large windows have electronic shades so I don't even know how I would hang curtains up without adding hardware to the walls (which I know the venue doesn't want me to do). Also, the venue as of now is not even willing to turn the lights off for the whole party - they said they need to keep them on during food service.
I came across window blackout film but I don't know if it works:
https://www.amazon.com/Total-Blackout-Window-Film-Prevention/dp/B0725G9KS2
I am open to any suggestions!