Imagine walking into your wedding reception and being greeted by a breathtaking canopy of soft, glowing floating paper lanterns suspended overhead, casting a warm and romantic light across the entire venue. Floating paper lanterns are transformative design elements that elevate your wedding atmosphere from ordinary to extraordinary.
Table of Contents
The Sustainable Choice: Hire Paper Lantern Canopies for Your Wedding Celebration
At PartyLights, we specialise in creating stunning lantern canopies that turn your wedding space into an enchanted setting, where every moment feels suspended in a gentle, luminous embrace. Whether you’re dreaming of a whimsical garden wedding, an elegant ballroom celebration, or an intimate outdoor reception, our professionally installed paper lantern canopies bring a magical ambience that will leave your guests in awe and create memories that will last a lifetime.
Hired Paper Lanterns vs Floating Paper Lanterns
While floating paper lanterns create a magical sight as they drift into the night sky, they pose significant environmental and safety risks, often leading to many venues banning their use entirely. At PartyLights, we offer a stunning alternative with our suspended paper lantern canopies. These create the same enchanting atmosphere while remaining safely secured overhead, transforming your venue into a dreamy wonderland throughout your entire celebration.
Sustainability Benefits Of Hiring Vs Buying Disposable Lanterns
Instead of purchasing lanterns that will likely be discarded after one use, our professional-grade paper lanterns are carefully maintained and reused for hundreds of celebrations. This approach not only reduces waste but also prevents the environmental hazards associated with floating lanterns, which can harm wildlife and create litter in natural spaces.
Cost Comparison Between Hiring and Purchasing
While buying disposable lanterns might seem cost-effective initially, the expenses quickly add up when you consider the quantity needed for a full overhead display, plus the materials required for hanging them safely. Our hire service includes all necessary installation equipment, rigging, and lighting elements at one transparent price. This package deal often works out more economical than purchasing everything separately, especially when you factor in the time and stress saved.
Quality And Professional Installation Advantages
Professional installation makes all the difference between a Pinterest-worthy ceiling display and a disappointing DIY attempt. Our expert team has years of experience creating stunning lantern canopies, ensuring perfect spacing, secure fixing points, and optimal lighting levels. We use commercial-grade lanterns that maintain their shape and colour better than retail versions, and our installation includes proper weight distribution and safety checks – crucial details that are often overlooked in self-installed displays.
Environmental Impact of Traditional Sky Lanterns
Sky lanterns pose serious environmental concerns that extend far beyond their brief moment of beauty. Once released, these lanterns can become uncontrolled fire hazards and airborne litter, often travelling miles before landing in natural habitats, farmland, or water bodies.
Environmental Hazards And Fire Risks
The wire or bamboo frames of floating lanterns for weddings can entangle wildlife and livestock, while the paper and fuel cells contribute to pollution. These airborne flames pose a significant threat to buildings, dry vegetation, and agricultural land, particularly during summer months when conditions are dry. Even when released in seemingly safe conditions, unpredictable wind patterns can carry lit lanterns into dangerous areas, potentially igniting trees, thatched roofs, or crops.
Wildlife Impact
Even “biodegradable” versions can take months or years to break down, during which time they can cause significant harm to animals that mistake them for food or nesting materials. Marine environments are particularly vulnerable, as lanterns that land in oceans add to the growing problem of floating debris that threatens sea life.
Local Regulations And Bans
Major wedding venues increasingly include no-sky-lantern clauses in their contracts to protect their properties and comply with insurance requirements. The inherent fire risks of sky lanterns have led to their outright ban at many venues and in several countries worldwide. In the UK, over 200 local councils have prohibited their release on council-owned land, with some areas extending the ban to private property.
Before planning any wedding decor involving traditional sky lanterns, couples should check their local regulations. Our suspended paper lantern canopies eliminate these risks entirely as they’re constructed with LED lighting and installed with strict adherence to fire safety regulations.
Sustainable Alternatives to Sky Lanterns for Weddings
Creating magical lighting moments at weddings doesn’t require compromising environmental responsibility. For dramatic send-off moments, couples might consider biodegradable confetti or our synchronised LED light display that mimics the twinkling effect of rising lanterns.
Besides suspended paper lantern canopies, couples can choose from numerous eco-friendly alternatives that capture the same enchanting atmosphere. Fairy light canopies create stunning ceiling features, while tree lights can illuminate garden pathways throughout the evening. Some couples opt for digital alternatives like drone light shows, which offer spectacular aerial displays with zero environmental impact and can be programmed to create stunning shapes and patterns in the night sky.
Creative Ways to Style Floating Paper Lanterns at Your Wedding
Transform your wedding venue into a captivating wonderland with strategically styled paper lantern installations to illuminate your venue and make a true statement. Our colourful paper lanterns are enough to brighten up any occasion; powered by mains power and controlled with a dimmer controller for the perfect ambience, they come in a variety of sizes. Our lanterns are available in white and a range of colours, making it easy to match them with your wedding colour theme. Our colourful floating paper lanterns for weddings help you to create a truly memorable event which will be remembered long after the last guest leaves.
Indoor Venue Styling
Create romantic ceiling clusters by hanging lanterns at varying heights, mixing sizes and shades of white for added depth and visual interest. We particularly love creating intimate reception spaces by installing lower-hanging clusters over dining areas, allowing the warm light to create the perfect ambience for evening celebrations. Create striking focal points by arranging them in organic, cloud-like formations above key areas like the dance floor or wedding breakfast tables.
Outdoor Styling and Marquee Lantern Canopies
Make an enchanting entrance by forming a canopy tunnel of glowing lanterns, or frame your ceremony backdrop with an elegant wall of cascading lights. For marquee weddings, mix our classic white lanterns with flowers and natural arrangements to complement your colour scheme. For outdoor celebrations, line garden pathways with illuminated lanterns to guide guests between spaces and illuminate the space.
Conclusion
The timeless appeal of paper lanterns continues to enchant couples planning their wedding celebrations. While traditional floating paper lanterns for weddings may have captured imaginations in the past, today’s sustainable and safety-conscious approach to wedding lighting offers even more magical possibilities. Through the professional installation of suspended paper lantern canopies, couples can create the romantic atmosphere they dream of while ensuring their celebration remains environmentally responsible and completely safe for all their guests.
Ready to Transform Your Wedding Venue?
Contact PartyLights today to discuss your wedding vision and discover how our professional lantern installations can create the perfect atmosphere for your celebration. Our expert team will guide you through design options, installation requirements, and pricing to create a stunning display that transforms your venue into an unforgettable setting.
Book your free consultation by calling 020 8892 3444 or fill out our online enquiry form to receive your personalised quote.
