Chinese Fire Lanterns at a wedding

cheekyass

Hello,

Does anyone know anything about having Chinese fire lanterns at weddings? I think that they look lovely and they would be a lovely surprise for our guests on the night so I I would like to look into having them at our wedding.

Has anyone been to a wedding where people have set them off? Are they expensive? Are they not a fire hazard? What happens after they've gone down? Are they just left there - surely this can't be good environmental wise...

Thanks for any comments......

Toots

I've never been to a wedding where they've had them, but was looking at them for my own wedding, I think you can get them on Amazon. The only things check with your hotel before organising anything. Our hotel was in the middle of the glen of the downs which is a nature preserve type thing, so obviously letting off these fire lantern type things would be a bit of a fire hazard considering it's surrounded by woodland!

byhookorbycrook

Was at a wedding recently where they had them, not a good idea. People had drink taken and one person got burnt lighting theirs, the wind at the front of the hotel was swirling so they went everywhere,including back towards the guests.

Borderfox

By the time they get lit everyone is drunk and they end up getting caught in trees/roof/guests etc

They look great in theory but not in practice

Tabnabs

A lovely idea, but sometimes disastrous consequences.

Have a look at this report

http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0119/media-2889606.html

ABajaninCork

Nope!! A really BAD idea for obvious reasons...

A lot of venues will not allow them in any case. If you really must have them, then check with your venue first. In they unlikely event they will, they will probably insist you have public liability insurance for at least 1m euro cover, if not two.

Where I worked in events, no way were Chinese lanterns allowed. Fireworks could only be provided by accredited companies who did the display, and the appropriate permits had to be obtained from the local authority.

OS119

Tabnabs wrote: »

A lovely idea, but sometimes disastrous consequences.

Have a look at this report

http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0119/media-2889606.html

indeed, they are also believed to be responsible for causing appalling injuries to cattle who eat the binding once the burnt out lantern comes back to earth.

as the link in Tanabs posts suggests, they definately causing problems for the coastguard because they look like distress flares. i spoke to an HM Coastguard officer (who i know socially) who believes that they account for a sizable portion of SAR helicopter scrambles on summer evenings.

personally i'd like to see anyone letting them off billed for the costs/danger they cause, and then shot!

magentas

I think you actually have to inform the coastguard now if you're letting off a certain amount of them. They get loads of calls from people "reporting" lanterns thinking they're something else, ends up wasting their time and resources. Then there's the environmental factor.

This combined with the messiness of fire and drunk people!

So yes, they are purty but not very practical!