Paper Lantern Inspiration

Paper Lantern Inspiration

March 13th, 2008 @ 9:25 am by Mrs. Penguin
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We’re having a tent wedding, so to spice up the blank white canvas above our heads, we’re going to string up some individually lit white paper lanterns. I turned to the internet for some inspiration, and here’s what came up:

ourweddingplus.com

ourweddingplus.com

flickr

brides.com

culturalintrigue.com

YUM! Pengy rikes.To recreate my own sky of lights, I ordered 48 white irregular ribbed paper lanterns in 3 different sizes: 12″, 16″ and 20″ from The Paper Lantern Store, all for around $170.

paperlanternstore.com

Rather than space them out throughout the tent, I’m considering clustering them lengthwise through the middle of the tent (creating three tight long “strips” of lit lanterns). 50 lanterns spaced out might look a little “sparse” so adding drama through the middle of the tent might be a more economical way to go. I love this look:

tentwares.com

I’ll light each lantern with individual LED battery powered lights, similar to these below, in white. The advantage of an LED light over a standard bulb is that the lit time is around 12 hours, whereas the lit time for a standard individual bulb is around 5-6 hours:

sivallighting.com

How are you “sprucing up” your blank canvas?

Tags: decor, sacramento |

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86 Responses to “Paper Lantern Inspiration”

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Guest

Ley

Beautiful! I like the idea of concentrating them through the middle.

We’re getting married outside and there are huge trees all OVER the yard, so we’re stringing ribbons and paper lanterns from them. We’re just renting them from InfuseCreativity.com, though, rather than buying them.

3/13/08 @ 9:37 am (reply)

Guest

Rhonda

Hi Miss Penguin!

Thanks for using us for your inspiration!

Rhonda
OurWeddingPlus.com/blog

3/13/08 @ 9:40 am (reply)

Member

bethgraced (message) 133 posts, Blushing bee

Those are some beautiful photos! The second one reminds me of champagne bubbles.

Can I ask where you bought your LED lights from? I was planning on leaving my lanterns unlit, but now I want to light them!

3/13/08 @ 9:52 am (reply)

Guest

shellbod8

Be Careful with your venue, make sure they allow for lanterns to be hung as is. It is a state law here in my state that all lanterns need to be fire retardant, which costs ALOT of $. Some rental providers have them already fire x’d so you don’t need to do it yourself. Just make sure its cool with your venue and there aren’t any weird laws like there are here about them.

3/13/08 @ 10:22 am (reply)

Member

lotusmoss (message) 126 posts, Blushing bee

We’re having a tent wedding and hanging a huge chandelier from my grandfather’s antique collection in the center of the tent. One big element like that can really spruce up the blank space.

Also, spreading out food “stations” around a tent can create visual interest and get people to mingle around a large space.

Thanks for the inspiration photos–they’re great!

3/13/08 @ 10:24 am (reply)

Member

MissRojoOso (message) 255 posts, Helper bee

I tried floralytes in my lanters and it didn’t seem bright enough. Are you using more than one light per lantern? Maybe I was trying to light up too big of a lantern. I bought similar ones as Pengy at http://www.flowersandsupplies.com $1.75 w/o on off switch - $2.10 w/ on off switch

3/13/08 @ 10:33 am (reply)

Member

cinderella (message) 22 posts, Newbee

these are beautiful!! how are you hanging them/ what from

3/13/08 @ 10:41 am (reply)

Member

stargazerlily (message) 942 posts, Busy bee

@Rhonda: Hi Rhonda! You do beautiful work!

@bethgraced: Havent bought any yet, although Miss Rojo Oso below says floralytes arent bright enough, so I might go another route…

@MissRojoOso: Thanks so much for your input! I didnt buy any yet…whew! I might go the traditional light route if this is the case with floralytes.

@cinderella: Were tying fishing wire from opposite ends of the tent, so that the lanterns will appear to “float” in space!

3/13/08 @ 12:38 pm (reply)

Guest

Elisa

We LOVED the look the lanterns added to our wedding–
We added them to the ceremony, the cocktail area, the outdoor reception, and the indoor dance room…the best way to add color!
check it out:

3/13/08 @ 12:39 pm (reply)

10.

Member

stargazerlily (message) 942 posts, Busy bee

http://www.lunabazaar.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=705

Those have 3 LED lights and illuminate up to a 24 inch lantern, but theyre darn expensive (4.25 each!)

3/13/08 @ 1:19 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

catieb

I was going to use those battery powered tea lights and place one in the bottom of each lantern- until I realized the lanterns have holes on the bottom So now I have to figure out some way to suspend the lights- but the tealights are fairly cheap and bright, and when I tested one it burned 8+ hours on one battery.

3/13/08 @ 1:38 pm (reply)

12.

Member

stargazerlily (message) 942 posts, Busy bee

@catieb: why not tie a little fishing wire around the bulb and suspend the tealight from the top of the lantern?

3/13/08 @ 1:45 pm (reply)

13.

Guest

ambinsb

We are making led throwies to hang by fishing line within our lanterns to light them up. They’ll come out to about $0.25 a throwie, and we’ll need about three to light up one lantern (under a dollar, yea!) Here are the instructions if you want to give it a shot:
http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Throwies/

Keep in mind that you won’t need the magnet, but it would probably be beneficial to add the on/off switch, instructions are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/everythingdigital/sets/72057594069888500/

3/13/08 @ 3:11 pm (reply)

14.

Member

MissRojoOso (message) 255 posts, Helper bee

ambinsb - Awesome… I’m going to radio shack after work to try it out.

3/13/08 @ 5:30 pm (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Tiramisu (message) 1,098 posts, Bumble bee

@ambinsb: whoa! if those throwie things work, they could save us a ton of money! way to go ambinsb. have you tried it yet? keep us updated!

3/13/08 @ 7:22 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

Top 5 Wedding Blog Posts of the Week! — Our Wedding Plus

[...] in one of my posts about paper lanterns from several months ago and posted about it, check out Paper Lantern Inspiration over at Weddingbee.3. Melissa, you made it again. I’m also biased here because Melissa [...]

3/13/08 @ 10:03 pm (reply)

17.

Guest

ambinsb

@Miss Tiramisu: I haven’t tried it yet, but plan to this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes!

3/13/08 @ 11:40 pm (reply)

18.

Guest

redvine

@Elisa: Elisa- on a side note, what kind of veil did you wear? it’s very pretty!
thanks!

3/14/08 @ 5:06 am (reply)

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