Old glass jars are perfect for DIY weddings! At almost no cost at all you can make so much beautiful wedding décor out of your recycled glass jars. I recycled most of the jars below to make some sweet country style lanterns for a wedding. Once the jars were washed, cleaned and dried they were ready be turned into charming décor.
I have written about making lanterns out of recycled glass jars before but since burlap has become so popular I have decided to make another more rustic version using burlap, lace, string and/or paint. Super sweet for a country or vintage style wedding!
You can make your lantern project as involved or as simple as you like. An example of one super simple idea is to by wrap some burlap, cut to size, around your jars and tie it on with a bit string or lace. Then simply place a small candle or tea light in the glass jar and voila´ there’s your lanterns ready to use!
For the lanterns below I measured and cut my pieces of burlap so it would overlap at the back with about half an inch. This made it easier to glue the seam at the back (with a glue gun). I really like when the edge of the glass is covered at the top so I made sure the pieces of burlap were approximately ½ - 1” wider than the jar was tall so the burlap would stick out a bit at the top. I also frayed the top edge a little bit to add to an even more rustic look. Then I simply tied a bit of lace around my jars for a decorative, romantic touch but if you prefer a neater look you can sew the lace onto the burlap and then glue overlapping seam at the back.
You can also use your DIY wedding lanterns as table numbers by painting numbers on the burlap. There are many different ways you can do this. One way is to buy a set of “Number Stamps” and simply stamp the table numbers onto the burlap. Another way is to buy or make your own stencils and simply paint the numbers onto your burlap pieces. It’s easy - see the article “Burlap Wedding Table Numbers” for a detailed tutorial on how to do this.
Enjoy your DIY project