DIY Wedding Forum

Paper Lanterns Yay or nay for ceremony decor?

I am on a very tight budget and was thinking back to the throwback days of simple kid crafts. I was thinking a simple paper bag lanterns lining the aisle. I would go to town on them with a whole punch or maybe paint a pretty design. It's a church ceremony. I thought maybe they might be a little tacky...They would look something like  this.


Re: Paper Lanterns Yay or nay for ceremony decor?

  • I looked on Pinterest, and the professional perfect photos with these in them look very pretty.....but the few photos that showed more real life weddings they didn't look so great. If you are going to buy candles anyways, I think it would look much better even with cheap dollar store vases or votives over the paper bags. 
  • I love luminaria, but may I recommend LED candles instead of real ones? Not that much more expensive, and less of a fire risk.
  • bleve0821bleve0821 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited September 2016
    What about doing something like this and using tall vases/pillar candles?  Cardstock is pretty inexpensive, and it's probably close to the same amount of effort as hole-punching individual paper bags.  The glass vases would contain the flame and lessen the fire risk.

    Boom!  You also have centerpieces.

    Just a thought.

    ETA glass vases can be purchased at the Dollar Store/Tree.  We used lots of Dollar Tree vases and votives for our wedding.


    "And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me..."
    --Philip Pullman

  • I like them in theory but could see them potentially not looking great. If the church lighting isn't just right, they'll be disappointing. You also need LED candles to major accidents.

    If you're on a tight budget, I'd probably just skip them.
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
  • Inside of a sanctuary they'll be incredibly disappointing.  Ditto what the PP mentioned about using LED's instead of real candles - they're a huge fire hazard! 

    We tried to do them for our wedding, but what no one mentions is that sand often soaks in the moisture from the air and doesn't stay dry, wet sand and paper bags - enough said...

    IMO, skip it!  Save the money and put it in to some other detail instead.  By the time you do all the punches, paper, sand, candles, let the sanctuary space speak for itself. 

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