a long while back, i think before i was engaged (yes, i am one of those brides, shhh...) i was flipping through a Martha Stewart Wedding mag (yes i did buy one prior to being engaged) and i came across this inspiration for one of the main focal points of our wedding reception.
once i became engaged i stumbled across this reception look again, i had been searching for paper lanterns, i had seen many pics of receptions incorporating them. although at that point i wasn't quite sure what look i was trying to achieve, other than a nautical feel....
then the above Martha inspiration came my way, instantly i knew i wanted white, blue, and a few purple lanterns in various sizes. rather than Martha's approach of hanging the lanterns over a table, i wanted to use them to focus the attention on our dance floor. after realizing my vision, my mom and i made the trek up to china town in los angeles on a mission to get great prices on paper lanterns, sure enough 16 lanterns and $60 later, my lanterns and i were driving home.
i was quite pleased with myself!
also, a few days ago my sis-in-law informed me that paper lanterns were on sale at
Cost Plus World Market, so i found these fabulous brocade style lanterns! i think they are all really neat, but the blue are by far the winners in my book, since they work so
well with my color scheme!
so the problem is now, what would i do with these.... hmmm...
ha! i know, i could use them outside at the cocktail hour for decor! genius...
this way the lanterns will tie the cocktail hour decor and reception decor together without being the same exact style!
the next plan of attack was to use the centerpiece idea for some of my reception tables.
after that same LA trip, i was about ready to give up on the idea of 5 various sized hurricanes on each of these tables, wow that would cost more than just sticking with flowers!
well one night at Big Lots, i spotted a drinking glass set that was uber cheap, and had 3 various sized cylindrical glasses, which a candle would fit very nicely in... hmm.. since all the hurricanes will be wrapped in a white paper, it really didn't matter what they looked like! ha, i saved money again for my smaller "hurricanes."
now the problem of the tall ones, well on a visit to good old WalMart, my brilliant sis-in-law saw the Catholic prayer candles (for lack of a better name) and thought hmm... hurricane plus candle all for $.99, can't beat that! cross off the candle situation, and it looks like the table decoration problems were solved.
crisis averted!
