Patio Lights for Weddings & Events Video

Zach has been working to create new videos for our new sites! Here is a video breaking down the different types of patio lights that we carry on AAChristmas.com and ChristmasLightsCentral.com. We're hoping to create even more of these videos in the future so like, subscribe, and share on twitter, facebook or pinterest!


Thanks for watching and if you have any ideas for future videos leave us a comment!

Lighted Wedding Backdrop

We have all seen the pictures with those beautifully lit backdrop, using Christmas lights and fabric. We might have even been a little envious that we cannot all have one at our wedding or event. Well now with all the DIY projects out there, you can have the photos you've always dreamed of and you won;t have to break the bank for it. I know some people are out there thinking, what lights would I use? How would I attach them? Well that is exactly what we are here for. There are a few perfect lighting options for this project.

Curtain Lights

Curtain lights are great for a project of this sort. They have a uniform look, which is great for backgrounds of head tables and cake tables at weddings. Most people won't want too much going on behind them as far as a pattern of light goes. Simple is better.  These look stunning when draped with a little sheer fabric to soften the glow just a bit. Curtain lights come in white, green and black wire with white (clear) lights.

Globe Lights

Globe lights are a wonderful choice if you want something a little more outside of the box. These lights are something that you could use for a background of a photo booth or even for a wedding ceremony. Since globe lights come in different sixes, you could even consider mixing them up a bit. Try using G40 and G50 bulbs alternating on the string for a whimsical feel. You also might try using clear and pearl white to give your lights a little more depth. These look great hanging in front of sheer fabric or even just right against the wall.

Fairy Lights

Fairy lights, the faithful light string. These are a tried and true form of lighting for all occasions and events. These would make a great background if you wanted something that was much easier to customize. You can buy as many strings as you like and hang them in any pattern you choose. There are many lengths and colors to choose from. There would be something for every budget and decor. These look great in front of or behind fabric.



We have found a great DIY backdrop frame blog too. It's simple, very easy to understand and it is very inexpensive. This is great project for those that want to build their own instead of renting one, which could end up costing hundreds of dollars! Check out, Dandelions on the Wall.

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Hannah
All American Christmas Co.

White Wire Curtain Lights back in stock!

We just found out we're getting our shipment of White Wire 150 count Curtain lights back in stock! Order them up before they are gone again. These curtain lights are very popular and we have had many requests for them and we're glad to be getting them back in.

As of 5/3/13 we have these curtain lights, so order early! Click here to check these Curtain Lights

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Zach

Decorating with Curtain lights (Updated)

    As trends go, the use of curtain lights for Non-Christmas events has risen steadily over the past 5 years. The biggest use of these Curtain sets has for this non holiday use has been for Weddings and other Special Events. We carry 2 main types of curtain lights, Standard and Commercial. Standard are built like you're standard mini light string only in a curtain design, using quality 22 gauge wire and shunted mini light bulbs, these are great from smaller applications. Commercial sets use larger wire and bulbs, these sets are almost twice the width and height of a Standard set and have many more bulbs, commercial sets also have molded in holes to make mounting easier. One thing to keep in mind is that commercial weigh more than double that of a standard set, so be sure you can hang them if you decide to go that route.

     The most common way people use these for weddings is by hanging them on a wall or on a frame of some sort. Hanging curtain lights from your wall is simple. If you have a drop ceiling then you can easily use a light weight wire or string and hang them from the ceiling grid. If you have walls you can drill or hammer into then you can very easily put some nails or small hooks up. The biggest issue people run into is not being able to drill into a wall, or having concrete walls and no drop ceiling, but don't worry you have a couple options. If you can hide it  heavy duty adhesive tape is a good option. Tapes come in a variety of colors and even clear duct tape is now available, using clear or white would be ideal. Many customers have said they use items like 3M's Command Line of adhesive hooks and hangers to hang these sets, you just have to make sure with any type of product like that you can get it to adhere to a surface and distribute the weight evenly. Nothing is worse than hanging your sets only to have not hung them properly and they come tumbling down.

    Hanging them from some sort of frame is and easier option, so long as the frame itself can handle the weight. The frame or stand could be anything from just a couple pieces of PVC pipe made into a stand or frame of wood. After you construct your frame/stand you can easily mount your sets, depending on it's construction you can screw clips, mount nails, tape, zip tie, etc the sets to your frame. Using this method  allow makes things easier for you to hang some sort of fabric in front of your lights. This is a great way to set the mood and soften up the lights. Like in the picture below.

Wedding Curtain Lights

     I hope this give you a little insight into hanging curtain lights. Please visit our Curtain Light section and Wedding Light section for more wedding decorating ideas!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Wedding light ideas

     There are a ton of great products to use for a Wedding ceremony and/or reception! I've gone on and on in previous blogs about how popular Curtain lights are and how great they look for weddings. I'll get to them but first I'm going to give some details on some other great lights for weddings.

White Wire Mini Lights

Click here to see our Mini Lights

     White wire mini lights come in a variety of bulb spacings and bulb colors! Bulb spacing can vary from 2.5 inches apart all the way up to 8 in some cases, and Mini light bulbs come in all the standard colors; Clear, Frosted White (show), Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Purple, Amber, Teal, and Multi. Mini lights are a great way to accent the colors of wedding party and a great for table decorations. Mini lights are also great for hanging from the ceiling creating a swag effect!  Mini light strings vary in bulb counts from 20 all the way up to 150 lights per string so unless you're lighting a football stadium chances are mini lights will meet your lighting needs!

Globe Lights

Click Here for Globe Bulbs
They are on the bottom of the C7 & C9 Page

     Globe lights are pretty common for decorators, they are the quintessential outdoor decorative light! They come in a variety of colors and sizes but it's hard to beat a clear or pearl white color Globe lights especially for a wedding! These lights go in either C7 or C9 light line which you can custom cut from a spool to fit almost any need. Globe lights are perfect for hanging outside outdoor tents and are killer for lighting walkways if you're doing a dusk/nighttime wedding. The standard size is called G50 and can fit into either C7 or C9 base,  G50s are approx. 2" in diameter. Some people complain about price (around 16 bucks for 25 bulbs) but these bulbs will last a long time if maintained.

Rope Light

Click here to view our Rope Light

     Rope light is a great form of accent lighting. It's compact, attractive and easy to decorate with! Rope lighting is great for going down walk ways or aisles, for wrapping columns or hand rails. Rope light comes in spools of 150' with all the accessories you would need to make multiple runs of rope light for your special day. Just like mini lights rope lights are great to make swag lights.

Curtain Lights

Click here to view our Curtain Lights

     Curtain lights for weddings are super popular! Many decorators and the like rent out curtains lights but if you're a do it yourself-er like many of us are and want to save and buying your own to use and reuse on other holiday projects. We offer a smaller light curtain thats around 5 feet tall and a larger one that's around 9.5 feet tall! Like the picture on the right shows these curtains are great for going behind tables at a reception, they are great behind the bridge and groom during the service. A great effect is had by putting the light curtain behind some sheer fabric, this hides the wires slightly and looks great!


If you have any questions please visit the site or give us a call Mon-Fri 8-5 CST

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Hanging Lights for a Wedding

We get asked how to hang lights fairly often, and seeing as how most lights sold during this part of the year are used for Weddings and parties I thought I'd give some helpful tips for hanging lights!

If your venue has a drop ceiling then you can very easily hang lights! Simply use some string or zip ties to secure the wire to the metal frame. The image below shows how you can simply loop around the frame of a metal drop ceiling.
If the walls of the venue are drywall or fairly smooth you can use the Command adhesive hooks available at any local department store. They can easily hold a light string so long as you use a couple hooks to disperse the weight.Another option for curtain lights is making a frame. This can be done with wood or PVC. Just use two upright 2x4s or PVC pipes with some sort of base, connect the two with a horizontal piece, attach lights, then overlay sheer fabric to hid the frame. You can always paint the frame white so it's hidden better behind the fabric.

If you'd like to browse all the lights we recommend for weddings, click here!

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Zach

Decorating with Curtain lights

As trends go, the use of curtain lights for Non-Christmas events has risen steadily over the past 3 years. The biggest use of these Curtain sets has for this non holiday use has been for Weddings and other Special Events. The most common way people use these for weddings is by hanging them on a wall or on a frame of some sort. Keep in mind that the weight of normal curtain lights (which are constructed like icicle mini lights) and Commercial curtain lights GREATLY vary in terms of weight.

Hanging Curtain Lights from your wall is, fairly, simple. If you have a drop ceiling then you can easily use a light weight wire or string and hang them from the ceiling grid. If you have walls you can drill or hammer nails into then you can very easily put some nails or hooks up. The biggest issue people run into is not being able to drill into a wall, or having concrete walls that have no drop ceiling you have a couple options. If you can hide it there is always heavy duty tape, duct tape of some sort comes in a variety of colors and even clear duct tape is now available. Some people have said they have used items like 3M's Command Line of adhesive hooks and hangers to hang these sets, you just have to make sure with any type of product that you can distribute the weight evenly. Nothing is worse than hanging your sets only to have not hung them properly and they come tumbling down in one section or the whole set.

Hanging them from some sort of frame is and easier option, so long as the frame itself can handle the weight. The frame or stand could be anything from just a couple pieces of PVC pipe made into a stand or frame of wood or metal. After you construct your frame/stand you can easily mount your sets, depending on it's constructing you can screw clips, mount nails, tape, zip tie, the list goes on and on. This can also allow you to hang some sort of fabric in front of your lights. This is a great way to set the mood and soften up the lights. Like in the picture below.


I hope this give you a little insight into hanging curtain lights. Please visit our curtain light section and wedding section for more wedding decorating ideas!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Using Christmas lights for mood lighting...

More and more weddings nowadays are using Christmas lights to set a mood, but you can't just buy a bunch of lights and just string them up like crazy...there is an art to it. Here is a couple tips that might just help you achieve the look you're going for in your head.

• Space - Getting bulbs that are spaced further apart (4-8 inches) will really help disperse the light to create more MOOD not just LIGHTING.
• Pattern - If you intend on using a pattern STICK TO IT! Don't give up halfway, because even if you are just using lights to set a mood...people notice laziness.
• No Patterns - Not using a pattern or a set layout is a nice way to create a ceiling of stars or something similar. Use wide spaced sets and try to just have fun, this is usually better for areas that are not going to be main focal points.
• # of Bulbs - People think you really need to flood the area with light...you don't. If being able to see isn't a key you can sometimes use a third less lights to just give everything a soft glow.
• Twinkle - The only standalone twinkle set we offer is only available on green wire,BUT if you are lighting greenery mixing in a coule random twinkle sets really look great. We also have 150 Multi function sets that can twinkle and comes in white wire.

Remember less is more, though if it's too dark...just hang some more lights!

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Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Getting a decorating plan for your Wedding Lights...

90% of the time when a customer calls us to purchase lights to be used in decorating a wedding they have not fully laid out a plan on how to hang their lights, get power to them, and how to hide the wires. These steps are quite possibly the most important part of your light decorating agenda and should never...ever be a afterthought.

The first and the most important step is planning how to hang your lights. If you're purchasing lights to be hung along a wall or a ceiling figure out how you can attach them to the wall or ceiling before you commit money to a product. If a room has block walls or something you cannot drill or hammer nails into you may have to improvise with tape or something like a sticky pad hanger (the 3m Command Series largest hook holds up to 7.5 lbs per hook) that wont damage your walls. Tapes and sticky hangers might not have the strength to hold up a whole string of heavy duty Curtain lights so you may be out of luck. If the ceiling has a drop panel ceiling you may be able to hang your lights from the frame in the ceiling. You can use fishing line, thin wire, even paper clips can be transformed into a quick and easy hanging device for drop ceilings. Remember to try not to damage the panels if you want your deposit back!

The second step may be more important than the first to some but finding a good power source for your lights is second on our list. Hanging lights from a wall or ceiling can put a decorator in between a rock and hard place, they can really give a great atmosphere by hanging lights but it's usually hard to get power where you need it. You usually want to draw a layout of your room, note where your power outlets are and then using a pencil, draw your extensions cords to where your lights will be. Using your extension cord map you can start to power you lights. We recommend using our bulk bare wire rolls and quick connect plugs to make your own power cords, this way you can hide them (more on that later) and cut them to EXACT length that you need. If you have to run up a wall, find a corner and run it up the corner taping it as you go up. Another option if you are hanging lights from a drop ceiling is to run the power up the wall far away from the wedding action and simply run it over the ceiling panels and drop it out where you need to power lights. Powering lights on tables or in places where the power is closer to the ground is easier, again make a map and see how you need to layout your wires. You usually want to keep wires out of high traffic areas but you can always use our bare wire and quick connect plugs to make your own perfectly cut cords and them tape them to the floor.

The last and final step is hiding the wires. No one wants a extension cord to ruin a good wedding photo. Hiding extension cords isn't as hard as it may seem, on carpet you want to stick your wires along the wall or next to furniture and you can usually push the wire into the seam and make it almost disappear if the carpet is thick enough. Tile or hard floors can be a bit trickier, usually running wires along the wall and only coming out when necessary is about the best one can do, you can use tape to secure the cordage and or rugs laid over the wires will really help if you have to take pictures in a are with a lot of wires about. Another tip is to use anything around to hide your outlets and wires, foliage, cloth, anything available that matches the weddings theme will work.

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of wedding light decorating. Remember to plan ahead, map out your area before you commit money into products.

Click the link on the right to visit AAChristmas.com and see all of our wedding lights and Christmas light accessories.

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Zach

Wedding Lights...

One of the most popular uses for Christmas mini lights during the off seasons is using a white wire set to decorate for a wedding. Using mini lights for a wedding is a great way to accent windows and tables, but the uses don't stop there. Anywhere you want to set the mood or give some soft lighting will look great strung up with lights for your wedding. My sister just recent got married and she wanted arches lit with rice lights, Dad got some PVC pipe, painted it, made some brackets to go around (and protect) the pew, and we strung it up with lights. Here's a picture of what it looked like, we also used LED Net lights on the stage underneath some nice fabric. This picture was, obviously, taken during the day and the effect isn't as breathtaking as it was during the ceremony.


Many people use curtain lights during a wedding for the reception, this is a great way to make a simple doorway more interesting. The number of ways you can add a little bit of mood lighting to any ceremony is limited only to your imagination. Check out all our wedding and christmas products at our website

Wedding Section
Mini Light Section
LED Section

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Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.