Chinese Lanterns-How many?

sage111

We want to do chinese paper lanterns in our reception tent but are unsure of about how many we will need. We are on a budget so we do not want to order much more than we need but obviously the more you order the bigger the discount. We also don't want it to look tacky by having too few.

Does anyone know about how many 10" or 12" chinese lanterns (round) would look good in a 40X80 ft tent?? or in a 60X40 ft tent??

TIA!

joebeth22

Hey there! I saw the most gorgeous chinese lantern wedding display in a wedding bee's photo of her tent wedding last week -- but she sold all her stuff, and fast.  here's the idea... she had a variety of sizes of lanterns and clustered them together pretty tightly in the center (highest spot) inside the tent, so it formed a kind of hanging chandelier over the center of the area.  These were lit via a dimmer switch.  The effect in the photos of her reception was gorgeous! I wanted to duplicate it for my loft wedding but I'm so confused right now about all these LED lights -- lots of folks say if you don't get it just right, the light effect is very bluish and casts an awful, awkward glow over your space AND everybody's face! Plus, the dimmer idea is the only thing that suits me... and how in the world.... without a lighting expert or electrician.... so I'm moving onto stand-alone Moroccan candle-lit lanterns all over!
what can I say? Hope this helped!

Synamon21

I'm thinking of doing the lanterns too but didn't even think about dimmers or getting lighting technicians. Seems like alot of extra expense. So, you're going to use candles in the lanterns? I bet that will be beautiful. How do you avoid a fire hazard?

joebeth22

Hey there! sorry if we've hijacked the post a bit, but it is on point, no, about paper lanterns, lighting, etc>?

anyway, about moroccan lanterns, yes, we'd use candles because they're made for candles.  there's metal scroll work which should cast a really pretty light from the candle and the lantern part comes in lots of options -- purple, blue, turqoise, amber, yellow -- they're gorgeous... and they're are plain white ones with lots of scroll work too, just for weddings, it seems.  anyhow, they're in the range of $5 apiece I think, plus the candles or tealights, which in bulk won't be so bad.  This won't be cheap cheap, it's true, but I have a feeling the effect will be beautiful... so will the photos.. and possibly an easy-ish re-sale after next June.  So that's my latest project.  I just couldn't figure out how to hang and light the paper lanterns so I kinda gave up, but I may yet go back to that plan! these moroccan glass lanterns stand on the surface, like on the wood floor, or table, or terrace.... don't have to be hung; no electric, no wires, no dimmers.  sounded easier to me.