Wedding Reception DIY Decorating Ideas

Over the summer my oldest daughter got married and we decided that to save money we would do the whole reception ourselves (along with the help from lots of family members!!)

It was quite a task to undertake….especially because I don’t live by my daughter or the rest of the family but….. if there is a will, there is always a way! We spent many hours on phone planning, budgeting, researching all kinds of websites as well as purchasing quite a few magazines and books for ideas too. We came up with the idea of having a french outdoor reception…well unfortunately in the area of the country where the wedding was going to held ………August is just too dang hot for an outdoor reception so we had to move it indoors into a lovely little reception hall. It was a magical day and everything turned out perfect!

In the photos below you will see how we used white paper lanterns to make a really festive fun atmosphere. We bought them from http://www.asianlantern.com/ and we hung them them from strands of white lights all across the ceiling from wall to wall. (or should I say my awesome nephew did! He climbed up big tall ladders and hooked them onto suction cups for us !!) It turned out spectacular!

Including what we served, table decor and more! With lots more photos!

A couple of months later……. Halloween came around and I figured out a way to use the white paper lanterns decorated as ghosts and hung them in front of our house for decoration and then once again at a Halloween church teen dance. They kept on eye on everyone at the food table!

Then, recently we hosted an Asian Dinner at our house. We used three lanterns and spray painted one of the paper lanterns red and hung them from the ceiling……it really had an impact. You can see more details at our website.

And this just a few ideas of what you can do with Asian Paper Lanterns!! Please share with us any ideas that you have used with the paper lanterns.