Posted byAh, the tradition of the special bride and groom toasting glasses. Some see toasting flutes as a super-traditional, Wedding Industrial Complex-induced purchase. For offbeat brides who decide to go this route, however, it can be an excuse to introduce one more element of awesome into their wedding. As always, you do not NEED anything like this, but if you WANT to add this element to your wedding, here are a few ridonkulously cool toasting flute options, including dragons, optical illusions, and even, yes even, Mason Jars. First let's start with my favorite glasses of all…
When these dragon glasses are set together the dragons nuzzle, their tails entwine, and the space between them becomes a heart. OMG! Nuzzles and hearts AND you can also get the flutes in different colors to either match your wedding scheme or represent your favorite color.
Don't have to worry about getting carried away and breaking fragile stemware with these Nambé champagne flutes made of mirror-polished, durable metal alloy, that won't crack or chip if knocked over. So party hard with these bad boys.
For all you Irish/Scottish/Welsh couples out there, these Celtic charm toasting flutes are pretty damn perfect for your Celtic weddings.
Here's a set of four wine flutes, each etched with a different design: swirls, vertical stripes, horizontal stripes, or polka dots. And each glass features a bridal party member's title: Bride, Groom, Maid of Honor, and Best Man.
Here‘s something weird and unconventional, and I kinda like it! You could customize the look of the vase by filling it with ice, rose petals, colored sand, or other small decorations to fit whatever theme you're rocking.
Sailor Jerry Tattooed Toasting Flutes
OBT member Kasia, aka. “Lil Pistol” found these rad tattooed toasting flutes from Laserbird's Etsy shop. They're perfect for a tattooed bride and groom, or... Read more
Check out the interlocking heart action. I like these because even separately they look cool, but together they form like Voltron and look even cooler.
Red Waterford champagne flutes with hearts! These are decadent and so sweet.
Here's a more subtle nod to the heart, combined with a super sleek styling with these Lenox toasting flutes.
How about these golden toasting goblets, perfect for your Renn Faire or fairy tale wedding.
Are you a musical couples? Interesting, so are these wine glasses!
The funky optical illusion-y double wall on these glasses have form AND function. The double walled design keeps the champagne bubbly and cold, sip after sip, and remains condensation free.
Ooh, these John Rocha Black Cut flutes radiate mystery with their high gloss black crystal surface. I love how the crystal band of funky cuts look like some sort of machinery.
This set of two champagne glasses are crafted of hand-blown glass with clear cups and funky colored bases. They also have a pink and green set.
From colored bases, to colored tops! I love these cherry blossom flutes in blue.
These nickel-plated glitter toasting flutes are pretty much the definition of rock and freaking roll.
These Swarovski crystal toasting flutes are doing my head in with their prettiness factor. I imagine royalty sipping out of these babies.
From royalty to … backwoods? Check the hell out of these Mason jar flutes!
I love that these two flutes don't match exactly, but they are, indeed, part of a set. Aw! Kinda like the two of YOU!
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I DIY have hand painted flutes–trying to upload a pic. How do I do that in comments?
You can link to it like Jax did!
Or for those of us without a bazillion dollars, might I recommend a couple cheap glass flutes, a bottle of glass etching fluid, and a paint brush. Also, don’t buy the wide champagne glasses, only ever get flutes. Wide glasses will cause your bubbly to lose its bubble faster.
No worries, I made sure to keep all the bazillion dollar flutes off this list. 😉 There are pairs that range from $19.95 (can’t beat that!) to $150 (some people love stemware).
Ooh and notice I didn’t put the wide glasses on this list as well because I FEEL YA on the loss of bubbly. Worst glasses ever, even though they make me feel like I’m in Mad Men when I use ’em.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it actually looks like the price range goes up to $230…
Nope, you’re right. I was ball parking it. $230 it is.
I only had to comment because, of course, those were the first ones I clicked on and the only ones that jumped out and said “BUY US!” Damn.
We skipped the flutes altogether and our marriage license is still 100% valid. Cheapest solution of all! We didn’t even miss them.
We’re using the double-walled flutes, we got them for about $20. We had to have them because they look like SCIENCE!
YES! That’s exactly what I thought! Cheers to you. 🙂
My awesome sister/Maid of Honor just sent us those blue cherry blossom flutes. They are beautiful.
All of the ones on my list to investigate appear on this… wow.
NAILED IT! 🙂
I painted mine at the pottery place. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecoylection/5006061433/in/photostream
The last pair freak me out. They look like a little man and a little woman – and you drink out of their heads.
Actually, no, that’s kind of cool.
very cool – love LOVE the nambe flutes!
I have to agree about the coupe glasses – I’ve read that Marie Antoinette had them made in the shape of her breast – fine for her but : ( for me (and bad for the bubbly too).
– also for the creative and/or budget conscious – craft stores now carry paint that is permanent on glass and does not require kiln drying, so you can paint any or all of your glass and personalize to your heart’s content! also, you can glue on bits and pretties with E6000 glue and it’s pretty much permanent, even with glass.
we used silver plated goblets bought at TJ Maxx – such a buy and perfect for passing on to our children.
cheers! (now if I only had champagne here at work…)
I’ve seen several posts on OBB about champagne flutes that have been gorgeous, but where can I find some fun/fancy- or at least cool looking- beer tankards?
My fiance and I enjoy beer, we want to have drink ware that reflects us. We aren’t terribly fancy, but we don’t want something that would make us look too much like fraternity bros. either. Any ideas?
Fellowship Foundry does awesome steins, as well as fancy flutes (I got the peacock set for our wedding.)
They are a little pricey, but it is quality workmanship.
Hmm… perhaps this could be another roundup topic! 🙂
Yes please! I’d love to see some kick-butt tankards on OBB. lol.
Thank you so much for that beautiful suggestion, apt9000! I love the hammered quality of the tankard. 🙂
Please! I’ve been looking for nerdtastic tankards and finally settled on a Warhammer Ravenhost tankard for him, but i’m still stuck for me!!
ThinkGeek!
I bought the /head ones as attendant gifts (um…actually they were free from points buying other stuff *shifty eyes*). Best site!
We got the Sagaform hand-blown flutes. We got both sets; the blue and orange and the pink and green. Our colors are pink and orange and figured the blue and green could be used by the best man and maid of honor. The colors are amazing and we love them!
Um, y’all? The dragon flutes? That’s Fellowship Foundry, where I worked starting when I was 11, and where my sister learned to pour molten pewter when she was 8. I’m just saying.
Good people. Good Art.
I said it on Twitter and I’ll say it here too — those dragon babies were the entire excuse to write this whole post. Mostly I was like DRAGON FLUTES! ARG! … DED.
I love the dragon ones. If we’d run across them on our honeymoon we probably would have bought them.
We picked up a pair at the gift shop of the art gallery where we got married when they had a sale. Silver around the bottom is the skyline of Paris. I loved the shape of them plus for $10 total for a lovely pair of glasses, who could go wrong? Toasting the photographer
Ok this is where I have to admit to being a total wedding nerd – but I have known about those interlocking ones since I was in high school (and I had my ten year reunion 2 years ago, tehe) and I just adore them! They are so cool! I have yet to see them at a wedding though, maybe some day 🙂
I so wanted the dragon flutes… but they were way out of the budget so maybe an anniversary down the line.
I do want to vouch for the long stem flutes in the vase – I’ve seen these in person and they make such a statement because of their height – I am just always scared of breaking them, even though they have a good weight to them – I think the sand in the vase is a good idea to help weigh down. If you want a functional centerpiece for the head table, I would totally consider these
The Swarovski crystal toasting flutes are the ones that I bought for my upcoming wedding. We had them engraved and also purchased the matching serving set! Believe me they are even more stunning in person!!
We’re totally getting a set of dragon flutes, but from our local ren faire. They’re pretty awesome because the body and tails make hearts and then when you face them the opposite way the wings make three hearts!
yeah, i’ve known about the dragonflutes for ages now. my twentysomething me wouldn’t died for these, but they’re not so much the almost fortysomething me, and definitely not the fortyplus other half. i REALLY like the stemmed flutes in the vase, but i don’t hitnk there will be a proper reception where i could set them up to be ogled as they deserve. i’m thinking about the new beer glasses they’ve got on sale at disneyland, especially since we’re both beer drinker’s.
another take on the sciencey ones – borosilicate glass (like Pyrex test tubes)flutes $69 for six http://www.artandartifact.com/artifact/Entertaining_1EA/Item_MIMOSA-FLUTES_PT2342_ps_cti-1EA.html
We had a Viking theme to our wedding, so we used drinking horns! (Actually, we decided to use them before we even decided on the overall theme). They weren’t very expensive because my husband ordered them unfinished online and made them usable himself.
http://people.tribe.net/564af3af-dc3b-4392-bde9-e97031e44be0/photos/09e76667-25ec-4e78-b295-13ed4fd80558
We were sent the dragon flutes in blue glass as a gift from an out of town relative right before the wedding. Since we needed two glasses of wine for the wedding ceremony (Jewish wedding) we decided to use those. Now they sit on the “wedding shelf” of my entertainment center with my bouquet and the box with my veil and smashed glass.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/18qNsBf4ZnjrGVYDPopDkA?feat=directlink (the crown royal bag is holding our glass for stomping later)
In use: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9iBxi6n7NhzsnGLeEsQMjg?feat=directlink
I used the Dragon glasses in my wedding ceremony! I actually bought them from the Medieval Times’ gift shop. Everyone loved them!
http://offbeatwed.com/2010/05/florida-medieval-times
I so very badly want these bad boys: http://www.bhldn.com/the-shop_decor_tabletop/ice-carvers-flutes
Not only are they way over budget, but I’d much rather not support that company. Any suggestions dear Offbeaters for comparable glasses?
They look like small vases without the stems. Try looking in housewares departments for tiny vases?
Both my fiance and I were drawn to the Nambe pair, but didn’t want to spend that much money. I eventually found them used (and in great condition) for close to half price. Maybe you can find your favorites the same way 🙂
Very pretty, but no way in hell I’m paying $100+ for two glasses that are rarely going to get used. Kinda disappointed in the the prices of these. If we go with something fancy, I’ll stick with the two custom-etched for $30 (total) that I found.
I only say because (while I love a lot of them), I love really love the John Rocha Black Cut flutes. And all the ones I clicked on were ridiculously expensive. After reading through the comments apparently there were cheap ones, but they must not have jumped out to me because I didn’t see it.
Those interlocking half heart ones would probably end up tipping over if I were using them, considering the fact that the base is only half a circle
Those crystal ones are amazing. They make me want to have the Princess Bride speech in my ceremony (“Wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you fowevaw…” ). Maybe I will DIY this somehow!
We used the forevermore goblets from gailsong. On my phone and can’t link to them right now but a friend got us the matching platter. We also had a Celtic Renaissance theme so we had mead instead of champagne. 🙂