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Where are you located? I can tell you where to buy them in LA but if you are not in LA, have you checked out this website. I've never used them before, but it looks like they have a wide selection.
http://www.asianimportstore.com/lanterns.html
MS205.jpg (25.5 KB, 62 downloads) 2 years old 
Blue was a hard color to find for lanterns. I bought my 20" ocean blue lanterns from AsianIdeas. I have 12 of them as well as 8 (?) turquoise star lanterns.
I have pics and link of them here: http://9ahchick.googlepages.com/thereception
If you're interested in buying mine, PM me.
Try asianideas.com they have good prices on lanterns and in lots of colors too. They're shipping is really fast too since your wedding is in a month. We are going to hang ours with fishing line. If the tent's ceiling is tall, you can have any many lanterns as you like cause if there is too little, it just looks really bare.
I've always liked www.paperlanternstore.com You can buy the battery operated LED lights from them too.
To break up the brightness a bit, just mix in some white ones if your nervous about it being too much. I'm in the same boat as you. DIY backyard reception and I'm renting a tent and stringing paper lanterns in OUR colors!! But our wedding is over a year away so I have time ;) I will definitely be stalking this thread to find how tos though!!
Also, to save money I was thinking of buying just white lanterns with the battery operated LED lights for lighting, and using the tissue paper pom poms (for decor) a la Martha Stewart found here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias
It definitely looks like work, but I'm sure it'll be easier on the pocketbook.
Hi Genavee! I was going to post pretty much the same questions as you but you beat me to it it!
I'm also doing a backyard reception only I'm using a 20 X 40 tent and don't know how many lanterns will be too much or not enough. Please let me know how it goes and how many you used!
As for the lanterns, I am looking into renting them in lilac and brown through infusecreativity.com. They have a lot of colors and cost per lantern is about $1.60, whereas if I had to buy them they averaged about $5 each. Also the string lights are $11.27 for 24 feet, and to buy them I found them for about $25. They ship nationwide so I'm hoping that since paper lanterns aren't too heavy the shipping costs won't be too much. I actually just called to get a quote, haven't heard back but will keep you all up to date. Have any of you rented through them before?
NatiSylv---go to AsianIdeas.com to buy your lanterns. I paid $1.60 each for mines and I can always resell them again after the wedding.
You can just use regular "natural" colored lanterns. The "white" LED lights from here:
http://www.lunabazaar.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=705
have a major blue/purple tint to them so they really are not white at all. They would be perfect for your color scheme.
I don't think you can have too many! MS Weddings a month or two ago featured a table with a large number of paper lanterns clustered over it in the same color and lots of different sizes. It looked stunning! I think I would worry more about having too few than too many. Since they are hung overhead, they won't be in your guest's faces anyway. Don't buy all the blue ones, save some for me! 
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I agree that it's hard to have too many -- we had a ton (maybe 3 dozen?), and it still looked bare once they were spread all over our reception space.
Ours came from Luna Bazar and The Paper Lantern Store. But you should check out Pearl River Mart, which has a huge variety of shapes and colors: http://www.pearlriver.com/v2/sub_lanterns.html
STAY AWAY FROM infusecreativity.com - they are unreliable and unresponsive.
We first decided to use LED throwie lights for our lanterns to save money and ordered all the supplies. But then we thought our venue might look askance at hanging these crazy-looking things and looked for alternatives.
Mr. Ruffles found LED lantern lights for rent at InfuseCreatvity and placed an order over a month before our wedding. He got a confirmation email and it appeared that we would get them about a week ahead of time (he purposely put an earlier event start date on the order just to be on the safe side).
We did not receive the lights on the promised date. We sent an email and got no reply. We phoned, left a message, and never got a call back. Mr. Ruffles found a number for the owner's related wedding planning business - called, left a message, no reply.
So less than 3 days before the wedding, we're stuck without lantern lights and no time to put together the LED throwie lights. We ended up not ony having to pay full price for the lights but also to pay for express overnight shipping. Thankfully, PartyLights.com had them in stock and ships the same day.
InfuseCreativity.com seems to be out of business but didn't bother to take down their website or disable their shopping cart. Totally Uncool to say the least.
you most def. want to make sure you have enough. I used clear fishing line and walmart brand sticky hooks (think 3M stick to anythings) a pack of 6 for 1$. They are both cheap and easily found at wal mart. For lights, I used party lights found in the bridal section @ WM (12 for 9.98)- slightly expensive, but you don't want to light up every single lantern or it'll be too bright anyhow. The fishing line is SUPER cheap and you can get a TON for 5 bucks (think mod. weight CLEAR fishing line). You can also use ribbon to hang them if you have any laying around.
I just used plain white lanterns and used color elsewhere in my decorating.
Good luck!
Is there and IKEA in your area? We found that ordering them online was way too expensive and someone mentioned IKEA to me. We went and the 24" were only $5 which is less than on the websites!!
I was in a restaurant the other evening and they had a mix of 24" and 14" lanterns that had about 36" between them. The smaller lanterns made a border around the larger ones, which covered most of the ceiling. I think that you're safe with between 24" and 36" between each lantern leaving 24" around the edge of the tent.
I hope that helps some :)
Thanks for the heads up about InfuseCreativity.com. I was starting to feel weird when I called a left a message the other day about the paper lanterns and still haven't heard back. I'll probably end up using AsianIdeas.com. Thanks!
small_dhp.jpg (46.5 KB, 49 downloads) 2 years old
I second the STAY AWAY FROM INFUSECREATIVITY!!!!! I had the *exact* same experience as Miss. Ruffles- down to having to start from scratch with lanterns and lighting 3 days before the wedding. I logged in here meaning to warn others, as I had initially done web research that only turned up positive reviews. I think they tried to go big too fast and got overwhelmed. But this is NO EXCUSE for not informing their customers!!!
Dollar General had a bunch in a variet of colors..battery operated.
I'm sorry to repeat, but DO NOT USE INFUSE CREATIVITY!!!!!!! I am yet another bride that got screwed on lighting. Luckily we used Christmas lights and were only relying on the LED lanterns for decor and a little extra light, but DON'T USE INFUSECREATIVITY.COM!!!! MICHELE GRANT 's business has failed and yet the website is still functional, you will NOT receive goods from the www.infusecreativity.com business!
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So I'm doing a very DIY backyard reception and was able to get a very simple 20'x30' white tent from my stepdad's work for free. I would like to decorate it with chinese lanterns in our colors (blue and purple), but I'm not really sure where to begin, and was hoping for your help.
First of all, does anyone have any good tips on where to get lanterns? I've tried lunabazar, and they were all sold out of the colors I liked (plum and horizon). Does anyone know a place online that sells relatively inexpensive, but still decent looking lanterns in similar colors?
Most importantly, I'm absoloutley clueless as to how many I should get. i don't want the tent to seem too bare, but as I'm using bold colors, I don't want to overwhelm people. Any thoughts?
I'm also unsure what the best way to hang them is. It seems like you can just string them onto some wire, and string that across the tent. Is that correct? Does anyone have any other ideas or instructions, or know where I can find them?
Thanks everybody! My wedding is only a month away, and I'm suddenly being flooded with how much I have left to do (which is almost everything) how little time I have and how little I know! I really appreciate all of your help! Thanks!
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