How to Decorate Oil Lamps for Weddings

If you're planning a wedding and intend on a low-budget do-it-yourself wedding, one of the places you can cut your budget is with the decorations. Some brides make the mistake of concentrating too much of their budget on piles and piles of silk flowers to make sizable centerpieces for each table. Instead, invest some of your money on inexpensive oil lamps to decorate your wedding tables. The look is dramatic in a dim room, and they will look more expensive and impressive than fake flowers. Decorating them is easier than you might think.

Instructions

1

Purchase oil lamps that best fit with your personality and wedding theme. Oil lamps today come in styles ranging from sleek and modern glass spheres to traditional old-fashioned lamps with brass bases.

2

Clean the glass thoroughly with the rubbing alcohol and lint-free cloth. Glass often has oil, dirt or grime on it (from handling or shipping), and this can affect how the paint adheres to it. For best results, wear rubber gloves so that your own body oils do not remain on the glass from touching it as you clean it.

3

Paint the glass in colors and patterns that go with your wedding and personal style. Follow the directions on the bottles of paint, because some brands of acrylic craft paint require you to cure the paint in the oven at a low temperature, while some just need to air dry.

4

Use ribbon in coordinating colors, if you desire. Tie these around the base, well away from the flame.

5

Fill the oil lamps with colored lamp oil in a shade that coordinates with your wedding colors, but contrasts with your wedding table linen. For instance, if your wedding colors are pale yellow and green, and your table linens are yellow, you should use a soft green oil. Using yellow oil on a yellow table cloth will make the oil blend in, and the oil lamps will not stand out as much as you want them to.