40 Lantern Centerpiece Ideas to Light Up Your Wedding Reception (2024)

Planning to display the dreamiest tablescape at your reception? From incorporating long, lush arrangements of blooms to adding taper candles, bud vases, fruit, and even personal trinkets, the options for decorating an awe-inspiring table are absolutely endless. Featuring wedding table centerpieces with lanterns can also add a beautiful touch to your décor.

Lanterns come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and colors, so you can select the best option to fit your style and aesthetic. For instance, iron lights are ideal for rustic soirées, while glass and metallic square casings will complement a more modern bash. Whatever you choose for your tabletop decorations, you can either use these items as supplemental pieces by adding a single light to your tables, or you can make them the main moment by creating a runner. Then, to help round off your look, incorporate other add-ons, from lush greenery to gauzy linens.

Do you think wedding table centerpieces with lanterns is the perfect fit for your fête? Read on for 40 ideas you're sure to love.

Your Guide to Every Type of Wedding Centerpiece

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Layer With Colorful Fruit

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If your wedding has a bold and boisterous color scheme, table centerpieces with brass lanterns will ground your design. An overflowing runner composed of multicolored flowers and colorful fruit accents, like papayas and grapefruit, will feel less overwhelming with neutral accents in the mix.

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Highlight Wooden Pieces

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Wooden lanterns are extremely versatile, and you can use the surrounding table décor to fine-tune your vision. For your centerpieces, make your lanterns the main moment, but use gold and glass candle holders to infuse a grandiose flair, plus greenery for a botanical edge.

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Combine Modern With Romance

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Lanterns with black rims are the standard choice for modern affairs. However, if you want to embed a bit of romance, embellish these stark items with roses in pink and white tones. The contrast between the black and pink shades will make your celebration one of a kind.

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Accompany a Ranch Setting

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To decorate your ranch wedding with a Western-inspired aesthetic, look to wooden lanterns with an antique feel. Vases of red anemones and greenery on a bare wooden table will also help bring your vision to life.

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Pull Off a Bohemian Flair

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Rattan is nearly synonymous with bohemian bashes. For your wedding table centerpieces, wicker lanterns in a spherical shape with a braided robe handle will help produce your natural and free-spirited event. Include more warm colors and unique textures in your place settings with orange and yellow glasses and chargers featuring an abstract design.

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Match Your Glassware

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While it's essential to choose a design concept that reflects your own personal style and relationship, it's just as important to create a cohesive look—matching your lanterns with your glassware will do just that. For a modern affair, coordinate black lanterns with gold-rimmed black glassware and use your flowers and place settings to introduce other hues.

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Top Lanterns With Pretty Posies

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Do you want to incorporate lanterns into your wedding table centerpieces, but you're afraid they'll look too dull? Have your florist assemble small bouquets to the tops for a splash of color. The Petal Artist adorned iron lanterns with petite arrangements of blooms surrounded by greenery for a statement-making touch.

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Opt for All-White

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If you're keeping your color palette simple, a chic monochromatic look for your lanterns is the way to go. Opt for all-white, which is what one couple did at their micro wedding on Mashta Island in Miami. High-top co*cktail tables were decorated with white lanterns and little vases of blooms for a light and airy look.

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Pair Gold With Simple Greenery

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Stick to a natural, simple design for your wedding table centerpiece, adding intrigue with a gold lantern. Placed alongside white votives and dainty sprigs of greenery, this metallic light fixture definitely steals the show—which Love 'n Fresh Flowers beautifully executed.

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Fill Lanterns With Flowers

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While lanterns typically include a candle in the middle, we love the idea of switching it up. Instead of pairing candle lanterns with floral centerpieces, why not combine the two? Open the doors and stuff the light fixture with flowers for a gorgeous overflowing design, like Life in Bloom achieved here.

Play With Color and Texture

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For those planning a farm or barn wedding, there are so many textures to play with, from burlap to lace. Set the scene with overlapping fabrics as the foundation before stationing the setup with a vintage-inspired kerosene lantern. To really coordinate with the setting, add a splash of color with a bed of blooms planted in a wooden box.

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Incorporate Wood for Fall

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When it comes to fall weddings, it's all about warm color schemes. For your centerpieces, spruce up simple white linens by incorporating a trio of wooden lanterns, paired with dried foliage and prolific greens. This design by Joyeux Events is perfect for late-autumnal affairs at a vineyard.

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Celebrate With Plenty of Pine

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If you're tying the knot later in the year during a winter celebration, wedding table centerpieces with lanterns will help produce a cozy feel. Complete a spread of pinecones, pine needles, and white baby's breath with a sturdy black lantern to pull off a woodsy-meets-elegant look.

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Scatter Eucalyptus

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Eucalyptus is a versatile plant that infuses any type of wedding with a botanical flair. For a vintage-inspired event, using this type of greenery to decorate an antique lantern will prevent an old-world aesthetic from looking too outdated. Trimming the decorations with a textured linen and white roses will provide the perfect contrast.

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Select Small Candles

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There's no need to add an oversized candle to every lantern for your wedding table centerpiece. If you want the exterior to demand more attention then the interior, fill the item with a dainty votive. For instance, this geometric gold lantern has an unexpected design, so a large piece would only overshadow it.

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Animate Rustic Lanterns With Blooms

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If you love the look of a rustic lantern, but you don't want it to look stale, refresh the setup with flowers. Adding white blooms with a smidge of purple, like A. Griffin Events did here, will animate any design.

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Keep It Simple

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You don't have to decorate your lanterns with over-the-top embellishments to make a statement. Keeping it simple is just as effective, especially if you want the light fixture to communicate a certain message. Use a sleek gold lantern as your centerpiece and surround it with a bit of greenery to finish off the minimal look.

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Revel in Rose Gold

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A mix between yellow gold, silver, and copper, rose gold is one metal that's guaranteed to achieve a chic look. For your wedding table centerpieces with lanterns, choose a geometric-shaped fixture in the rich metallic hue for the center. Then, plant complementary blooms in shades of pink and matching rose gold candle holders to put together a dreamy design.

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Make It Pretty for Spring

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Hosting a garden-inspired party in the spring? Channel the season by stuffing cream-colored lanterns with brightly-hued blooms for a cheerful look that's reminiscent of the time of the year you're throwing down and your overall design concept.

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Embrace a Nautical Vibe

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While it's easy to go overboard with a nautical aesthetic, an understated design will display your theme in a more effective way. Pair a lantern that's not too over-the-top with a beautiful striped blue linen to celebrate your love of the sea.

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Play With White and Purple

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For a dramatic and unpredictable wedding table centerpiece with lanterns, play with contrast. While white and green is the quintessential color palette for any type of affair, an unexpected burst of color will completely change the look. Take cues from this tablescape, which shows a white lantern, white roses, and greenery placed on a plum-colored runner.

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Light It Up

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While candles are a classic option for lanterns, you can make your wedding table centerpieces even more magical by displaying lanterns filled with fairy lights. Collect an assortment of gold lanterns in various shapes and sizes and fill them with gold-painted rocks and twinkle lights. Replacing the traditional floral centerpiece with this substitute will cast a warm and romantic glow over dinner.

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Balance Rustic With Refined

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Lanterns can be entirely pared-back from the get-go, but they also have the potential to get all dressed up. For a rustic-meets-refined wedding, use a slab of wood as a base and add a bit of elegance with a rose gold lantern brimming with lush blooms.

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Embrace Plenty of Color

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Instead of making your lanterns the focal point of your wedding table centerpieces, use the light fixture as a supporting role. Accentuate colorful floral arrangements of peonies and roses with vibrant vases and brightly-colored taper candles. We love this idea for garden nuptials or rustic fêtes with a fun color scheme.

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Celebrate the Sea

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We've already discussed one lantern option for a nautical wedding, but you can also channel the textures and materials of the beach for another fun idea. This lantern has a glass exterior affixed with a thick rope and a sandy base, which makes the perfect fit for a waterfront bash or sea-inspired aesthetic.

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Match Taper Candles With Lanterns

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Hoping to add just a hint of a vintage vibe with your lanterns? Ditch the classic short and stout shape and opt for something tall. These unique slender lanterns work beautifully with taper candles.

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Frame Flowing Florals

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There's no reason you can't stick with a lush floral centerpiece running down the middle of the table. Take your look to a whole new level by framing the florals with simple lanterns. These ones feature rectangular frames and black piping, which is a suitable addition to modern affairs.

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Create a Hanging Stand

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Want an entirely unique look for your wedding table centerpieces with lanterns? Swap the conventional table lantern with a hanging one. Sarah Khan Event Styling designed a piece using an ornate oval-shaped object at the center, wrapped in eucalyptus and flowers in purple tones. Just make sure that the piece isn't obstructing your guests' field of view.

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Mix Shades of Wood

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Celebrate the outdoors with a refined, rustic vibe. Integrate lanterns in multiple shades of wood for an interesting display—we love the juxtaposition of the two different sizes on this table. You can even intersperse these objects with wicker baskets of blooms to infuse even more of a homey feel.

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Add Greenery Inside

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A sturdy black-framed lantern housed with a white votive candle is a go-to design for contemporary weddings. If you want to add more of an organic touch to your tablescape, fill the inside of your lanterns with greenery.

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Channel a Camp-Inspired Vibe

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If you're hosting an outdoor wedding in the forest or even at a summer camp, old-time kerosene lanterns will nod to the setting. Flank these decorative pieces with vases of yellow flowers and spread everything on a checkered tablecloth, like Gregory Blake Sams Events did, to build your camp-inspired theme.

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Wrap Lanterns in Leaves

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On their own, gold lanterns exude glamour. However, if you pair them with greenery, you'll create more of a natural, effortless look. Combine metallic sources of light with green leaves, which is what Pearl Weddings & Events executed here, for an understated yet elegant design.

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Choose a Modern Display

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These lanterns, featuring sleek, black lines, bring a modern touch to this table. Surrounded by plenty of greenery and a few blossoms, this centerpiece elicits a dramatic and moody vibe. Pair them with black chargers and napkins to match, plus pink glassware for juxtaposition.

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Celebrate the Wild West

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Western themes are taking the wedding world by storm. To bring this idea to your own affair, whether it's at a ranch or in your own backyard, lanterns are a must. Go with old-time brass iterations for your wedding table centerpieces, mixed with wooden textures.

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Assemble a Hanging Centerpiece

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Many couples use overhead installations as an extension of their centerpieces—with lanterns, you can do the same. Suspend greenery, draped with different kinds of lanterns in silver and gold, from the ceiling for an attention-grabbing, floating centerpiece. Adding decorations above your tables will make a large room feel more intimate and animated.

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Tie a Ribbon

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Lanterns are stunning on their own, but embracing a subtle pop of color will up the ante. Set up gold lanterns in between vases overflowing with florals. Then, tie a ribbon on top of the light fixture for a delicate, vibrant touch.

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Play With Metallics

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One way to embed opulence into your reception is choosing gold lanterns for your wedding table centerpieces. To increase the luxe feel, line the surface with smaller gold candle holders and hang disco balls from above.

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Introduce an Island-Chic Feel

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We don't know about you, but any time we see citrus fruit, white linens, and neutral details, we are immediately transported to the islands. That was the goal of this couple, who got married on San Juan Island. Neutral wicker lanterns and scattered lemons kept this design casual yet elegant.

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Go With Unexpected Shapes and Textures

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Using rectangular lanterns with sharp angles is the more traditional route, but why not have some fun with different shapes and textures? At this couple's tropical backyard wedding in Miami, they selected orb lanterns that mimicked coral for a simple yet natural centerpiece. The monstera leaf and individual flowers added to the tablescape and looked as if they were plucked fresh from the trees.

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Mix Metallics

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Mixed metallics, when done right, can be classically glamorous and industrial at the same time. This couple, who married at an art museum in Boston, opted for a tablescape that featured square silver-edged glass lanterns, gold-rimmed candle votives, and black and gold flatware. Neutral flora and a simple white runner allowed the other elements to shine.