The Paper Crane Quest: Follow up (Includes actual wedding photos)

If you read my other blog you know that I just got married in October. I'm crazy so I basically decided to have a DIY (do it yourself) wedding. When I first got engaged I really planned on doing all of the catering, decorations, flowers, cake, invitations, etc myself. Thank goodness I got some sense talked into me before the wedding and only ended up doing the decorations, flowers (bouquet, boutonnieres, and flowers for my Mother, his Mother, my Step-Mom, and our four Grandmothers), card box, flower girl basket, and the outfit for my Chihuahua who was the ring bearer. 

One huge endeavor that I took on was The Paper Crane Quest (Get it? Our last name is Quest! lol). Basically I decided it was a good idea to make 1,000 paper cranes. In the Japanese tradition, if you make 1,000 paper cranes your wish will come true. It all sounded very sweet and romantic and I thought, "Well, if I make all these paper cranes then I won't have to make any other decorations. Blah blah blah nonsense."

It was a crazy thought and so very untrue. But ended up actually working out in the end. :)

I didn't end up making 1,000 cranes. Once I ran out of paper the first time I just gave up.  The number of cranes I would have had to make per day to reach 1,000 by my wedding was just too much. It would be like having another job. I also made the HUGE mistake of using card stock paper instead of origami paper. I picked it out because it was black and white wedding themed paper and was in squared sheets. If you've never used card stock, it was basically like trying to fold little cranes out of cardboard. It hurt my hands, cut my fingers, and took forever to fold. I ended up folding so many I could make them while watching the TV. lol I think in the end I ended up making about 400 cranes. I never counted because that was just another chore that I didn't have time for. 
As it turns out, 400+ was more than enough to decorate with! I don't know what I would have done if I had really made 1,000. Here is some of the ways I decorated with them:

To make my wedding bouquet I placed some of the cranes on green floral wire and secured them with hot glue (the cranes will have a hole in the bottom that you can stick the wire into). Then I dispersed them amongst long stemmed silk dark purple lilies and wrapped most of the stem with a large purple and black ribbon.

As I said above, if you make your cranes right they should have a whole in the bottom. Take your crane by the wings and blow into the hole while gently pulling the wings apart. This will inflate the crane and allow it to stand upright better. Cut a small slit in the top and you can use them as place card holders like I did!

These were so great and I wish I hate better pictures of them. We made two of them, one with white flowers (for my side of the aisle) and one with dark purple flowers (for the grooms side). My wedding ended up having to be inside instead of outside so we used them instead to decorate the two candelabras on either side of the staircase I walked down. They are simply made from styrofoam craft balls, green floral wire (to secure the cranes like in my bouquet), silk flowers, cranes, and a ribbon to hang it.

They also make great hair accessories! Lookin' good Randy!