Monday, September 15, 2014

Budget Weddings: Marshmallow chandelier

Hi All,

This pic has been around forever....well, since at least November 2011.  It comes from a stylized shoot of a breakfast wedding by wedding photographer Ely Fair, in collaboration with an Oklahoma-based event design company. Since I saw it a few years back it has been banging around in my brain. I'm long married and do not anticipate getting hitched again by this idea is just too good to leave behind (btw - breakfast parties....amazing. Mid-morning weddings? Why are there so few of those? Who doesn't love breakfast?)

So here I present to you this oft linked to pic of a marshmallow chandelier.



The feel of the shoot is pretty fantastic - crisp morning light, great flower and color combinations and some very tasty looking pancakes. I know the DIY small, laid back wedding thing has peaked as a trend, but the shoot is timelessly gorgeous. Honestly, the earnest, small, and fun wedding will always trump all other trends for me.

 So back to the chandelier - I must bring this into my life somehow. It might be a good second birthday decoration for the little one. It occurs to me, also, that we will be having a Fall house warming in the coming year....so maybe that's the time.

I tried to count the marshmallows here, I put this chandelier at 6-7 bags of the big marshmallows, plus about $5 for the line....which makes it a $20-30 range as a project. The fishing line is wrapped around the marshmallows, which keeps them from slipping or melting around a string that might have been punched through them with a needle. You couldn't do this project days in advance because the marshmallows will melt and deform as they take on moisture - basically you will be up 2 nights or the night before tying these things together, and up the morning of the event tying them to some sort of grid on the ceiling...or a light fixture. This is most definitely a dry air project - late Fall and Winter for most folks. Still...cool. I'd do it.

One consideration for this project. Some transparent rope/fishing lines that you find in the average hardware store next to spools of fine gauge wire contain lead. Be sure to check the labels on the line. California state law requires that lead content be disclosed on such products, so most spools that you find should say something if lead is in there.  Why handle lead if you don't have too?

So it has done the internet rounds, but I really like this shoot - so here it is again for your viewing pleasure.