Paper Lanterns for Reception

We are using them but not lighting them up, and our venues ceiling is all exposed beam so we are using fishing line to hang them

Http://www.save-on-crafts.com/paperlanterns.html

This is a cool site.

Ya I don't know if I should use the light in the venue (it's just ceiling fan light fixtures) or dim those lights and have just the lit up paper lanterns.

The date is in July, so it's a summery and music oriented theme, laid back and like a picnic. But not sure how to incorporate the lanterns with the low ceilings. Definitely need some ideas.

We are planning on using them also. Our reception site also has open beams. So we will probably use fishing line and we are getting a bunch of clear christmas lights after Christmas.

We're doing them as well but our reception is outdoors in the early afternoon so there's no point in lighting them. Instead we're having them hung from the ceiling of our tent and then between some trees outside of the tent. Let me tell you: we're saving a bunch of money on our rentals (labor and parts) because they don't have to get electricity to all of the lanterns!!

With regard to the lighting issue, you might want to check out my article on various ways of lighting paper lanterns.

I am using them but not lighting them (trying to cut costs). I bought them from save on crafts - the 8" ones in purple at white - 10 for $11 I think and will hang them from the ceiling with fishing line and paper clips.

We used them but got lucky about the lighting, I found a way to string them up on the ends of some ice sickle lights that were all ready hanging up. I thought about having individual lights in each lantern but changed my mind when I remembered that someone is going to have to climb up a ladder to turn the lights on right before the reception because there wouldn't be enough battery life in them.

@Lynley - If you're doing a long run and hoping to hang numerous lanterns off of that run, you will want to look into something else. We used lanterns for our wedding. I ran three fishing lines, the width of the tent, which was either a 40 or 60 foot wide tent (can't recall). When you start loading up the fishing line, they'll end up drooping. Fishing line is made to give so that when a fish "hits" it absorbs some of the energy and doesn't snap.

I used string lights cuz they matched my Tuscan theme... I found them at Big Lots, forty foot strands for $10 each!!! it was a total steal!!!

Lunabazaar.com has a huge selection that are well priced. I use thin wire, since fishing line is so hard to tie & work with

We are going to use them (about 10 of them), red ones all lit up.

I'm thinking of using them too. Turquoise and fuschia inside the tent for outdoor garden reception. I won't light them either-- just use them for some color.

Instead of lanterns, which we found to be kind of pricey (and no way to light them anyways), we decided to do paper pom poms out of tissue paper. I bought the tissue paper in bulk (which was nice because we had a huge selection of colors to match our wedding colors) and it cost us about $30 to make 6 large (18"), 12 Medium (12") and 20 small (8") balls, which we are hanging in varying heights over just the head table. Super easy to make. Take a few pieces of tissue paper, fold them together accordion-style, cut the edges to a point or curve, put a wire around the middle, and fluff out. They're easy to hang from fishing line. Here is a link for where I got the tissue paper... http://www.nashvillewraps.com/tissue-paper/color-tissue-paper/c-016165.html

Ive searched several sites because i will be using paper lanterns too. Im still trying to figure out myself which way is the best to light them.. maybe your best bet is to light some.. but not all of them.. that way you can save money and it will still look nice.. ive known people who have hung them directly under the lights at their venue so no need for internal light was needed

Check out 2d bride's link. She wrote an entire article on lighting paper lanterns on www.projectwedding.com and I plan on using her technique to light paper lanterns at my wedding. The link also has links to wear to buy LED lights, cheap paper lanterns and cheap batteries. Her link is always the first place I send people to answer this question.

We are using them! Im so excited for this project. We got our lanterns from paperlanternstore.com or somthing like that... I got 100 different sized lanterns for $125 shipping included. We are lighting them with throwies http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/04/03/if-only-i-had-majored-in-event-lighting-instead-of-biology/

Our lanterns range from 8"-16" with most of them being 8 or 10". I got all white and am lighting them with different colored LED lights to save on money and so that they can be sold after. And I only got enough stuff to make 100 throwies... bought the LEDs and Batteries off of Ebay... the LEDs are 10000 hours and can be re-used over and over... I did a trial run and my batteries lasted about 48 hours so we are setting them up the night before. We are using fishing line and paper clips to attach them to the drop celing!

BTW I am selling my Lanterns in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!! if you are interested Ill make you a deal...

We borrowed white lanterns for the inside of our tent two weekends ago, they were purchased from that paperlanternstore I think, but we did not light them, they looked pretty cool when the DJ's lights hit them and the videographer kept them lit as well.

Sara, I might be interested. I definitely want to hear how the throwies turn out- I have never heard of those before. Were they easy to make? You should do a little blog post about your experiences with the creation of your throwies.

Love the white lanterns, bethany!

I was thinking about doing a few different colors, but if the throwies work, that wouldn't be bad at all to just have them light up with the different color bulbs.. RESEARCH TIME!

We just made our LED throwies last night. Have the paper lantern sitting in my room right now. They were SUPER easy to make. We lit them at 8pm last night and they're still going strong right now at almost 5:30pm the next day.

2d, finally got to read your article- very helpful! Thanks!