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Offbeat Brides seem to be geniuses when it comes to creating gorgeous spaces out using a few low-budget decor ingredients.
Specifically, we see some serious decor magic worked with humble paper items like paper lanterns, parasols, and fans.
Our sponsor Jadetime.com sells all three of these decor elements (and then some!), so we decided to do a round-up of some of our favorite things we've seen Offbeat Brides do with schtuff you can buy from Jadetime.com.
So come with us as we dance down an aisle of paper lantern, parasol, and fanny-fan decor inspiration….
PAPER LANTERNS:
See that photo? Everything is better with paper lanterns! Hang them from the ceiling or from the trees, light 'em up at night and watch your venue decor transform from day to night. We've had OBBs use them to line their aisles, as centerpieces and even to decorate photo booth areas…
Gloria & Pete's low-budget, fun, Chinese & Western culture fusion wedding
The offbeat bride: Gloria, Event Co-ordinator Her offbeat partner: Pete, Self Employed Location & date of wedding: Favorite picnic spot in Sydney Australia — 22nd... Read more
The paper lanterns from Jadetime come in TONS of different colors and sizes. But I'm quite fond of the patterned ones, like the cherry blossom and even peacock lanterns!
PARASOLS:
Oh, parasols … one of our favorite wedding decor accessories! Seriously, these babies are so versitile and SO pretty.
We've seen OBBs and their bridesmaids carry parasols instead of bouquets, use them to line aisles, had a bucket full of them for their guests to use during their outdoor ceremony and then take home as favors, and to use as amazing props for amazing photos like this…
Of course, Jadetime has parasols in tons of different colors, the classic white, with pretty floral patterns and more — all between $4 and $6!
FANS
Fans are along the same lines of parasols as an awesome bouquet alternative. And Jadetime has a good selection, including embroidered hand fans, silk and paper one that looks like the fan pictured above. The best part… the more you buy the more you save. They could be as little as $1.29.
Oh, and you Los Angeles brides: you're extra lucky because Jadetime's retail store is in LA's Chinatown, and they carry an even greater selection of products. I mean, you could decorate an ENTIRE space on the cheap and in so many unique and colorful ways with products from Jadetime.
So head over there now to add some color to your wedding! We can't wait to see what you come up with.
About the Author: Megan Finley Horowitz
When Megan's not writing, traveling, and sleeping, she's eating like the fate of the world depends on it. (You're welcome, world!) You can snoop into her personal life over on her website The Dash and Dine!
Jadetime is my favorite online company (besides ebay)! I bought hand fans for my girls from them, parasols for all the above mentioned functions, and will be getting paper lanterns as well. Their prices rock and their customer service is nothing less than amazing! Claudia is one of the owners and she has been so so so cool to us.
I absolutely HAD TO HAVE this amazing double parasol that I was unable to locate or procure anywhere. Jadetime doesn’t sell it, so Claudia went to a GREAT deal of trouble to get me one from a manufacturer in China. She sold it to me at cost when she was finally able to get it, and she did this out of the kindness of her heart to make me happy. Like I said, amazing customer service.
Beyond that, their quality of their products is grade A as well so you know you won’t get defective products. I highly recommend them to anyone.
I should note that that fan didn’t come from Jadetime (that’s me with the fan above – whoo!)
THAT fan comes from Lugang, Taiwan and will cost you $25. Each one is handmade by a well-known fanmaker there, and I’m just lucky enough to live within weekend trip distance of Lugang.
But…one of the sites we ordered paper lanterns from was Jadetime and yes, they are fantastic and affordable!
Channa, I thought that was your dress!
I love the parasol idea! My maid of honor shrugged when I asked if she thought the bridesmaids should carry them down the aisle. But your pictures inspired me to hang opened umbrellas upside down as the ceiling for our outdoor reception! woohoo! Thanks so much!
Unfortunately, Jadetime.com does not ship outside the US. Trying to decide how complicated it would be to find a delivery location in the US that will then ship to Canada. 🙁 I love that the lanterns can be bought individually.
asianideas, the paper lantern store, save-on-crafts and luna bazaar also sell lanterns – see if they have int’l shipping or even just N. America shipping.
There are also proxy mailers that give you a US mailing address and then send the package on but the fees are a bit steep.
Funny: we have a sponsored post about lunabazaar coming in a couple weeks. 🙂
I was just coming here to say the same thing, I got all excited and then checked the shipping details 🙁
But thanks for the links to stores that do Channa, that’s a huge help.
I love JadeTime! In fact I ordered some paper lanterns from them for my wedding that should arrive tomorrow. JadeTime has excellent customer service and the best prices, at least, for paper lanterns that I’ve come across online.
In my adventures to find the perfect green paper lanterns for my wedding, I had quite a struggle with The Paper Lantern Store who’s “grass green” lanterns that appeared to be a nice deep green color online turned out to be very much lime green (The Paper Lantern Store was very helpful in accommodating my return with little to no hassle but do not assume the color of an item displayed online will be even remotely similar to what you receive). Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I contact JadeTime and they volunteered to ship me a color swatch of the lanterns I was interested in. It was super helpful and helped me rest assured I was not wasting my (or their) money and time by ordering something I would be disappointed in and have to return.
My lesson from all this: always contact online vendors before making your purchase. You will figure out if they are people you actually want to do business with (since JadeTime was always quick to respond and provide me with the information I needed, I knew they were keepers) and make sure you will be 100% happy with your purchase. No since adding extra stress to those wedding day purchases, especially when shopping online is extremely convenient and can save you a pretty penny.