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DECOR

Why stop at flowers when you could have balloon bouquets? Matthew Hague surveys this uplifting trend, from arches to garlands

If Vera Wang and Veuve Cliquot are at the top in the hierarchy of wedding frills, cheap beer and chicken dances are at the bottom (let's leave the Macarena off the list entirely, for now and forever). Balloons? They are somewhere in the middle. Their airy innocence stops them from being completely tacky, even if their immediate association with children's birthday parties and county fairs makes it hard for us to imagine them as top-tier decor.

Until now, that is. Balloon-filled bouquets, arches, photo-booth backgrounds and garlands are being embraced by even the most sophisticated, discerning couples from around the world. Pinterest bursts with examples of balloon-embracing wedding receptions, engagement parties and honeymoon suites. In February, Brides.com, published by tastemakers Condé Nast, called balloons the "hottest trend" in wedding decor.

There are many benefits to breaking out a helium tank. Balloons are far cheaper than flowers (although they look great when mixed with foliage), require minimal prep and fuss (how hard is it to tie some twine on a balloon?) and when hued in pastel, pearl or champagne tones (as opposed to clown faces or kid colours), instantly scream "event."

And, for the high-minded, they are a crossover from high art. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol made silver, pillow-shaped balloons. In 2013, Jeff Koons sold a sculpture in the shape of a balloon animal for more than US$60-million. And in 2015, Charles Pétillon installed 100,000 white balloons in London's Covent Garden Market. Both sublime and surreal, it looked like a soft cloud was rolling through the building, and forever proved that balloons bring beauty to audiences of all ages.

Yes, most late-twenties and thirtysomethings have long outgrown marking their special days with air-filled bits of rubber, and many might think it odd to see a colourful cluster floating around a wedding reception. But, in these trying times of presidential Twitter feuds, trade wars and heaven knows what's next, maybe innocence and escapism is what we all need. Here, seven standouts, from purely simple to pure wow.


The colours of the balloons at this engagement party matched the party invitations.

Australia's Benny and Co. is a mini mobile-caravan-turned-bar. Belle Balloons does all things, well, balloon-y. Melbourne's Amy Stevenson hired both for her engagement party to achieve maximum cuteness. "I chose the colour scheme to match my party invitations," Stevenson says of the festival spray of different-sized orbs strung across the serving window. "It was perfect."


Mini-balloons, leaves and palm fronds adorn a dessert table.

As a small but surprising detail for her sweet table (topped by a Polish meringue cake with fresh berries), Paulina Dzierzak-Bartocha, from Lublin, Poland, mixed mini-balloons, freshly cut leaves and palm fronds. "I had no idea how to make this. I didn't have a design to do it," Dzierzak-Bartocha says. "I just looked online for inspiration."


Bird Dog Wedding created a canopy of balloons above the dance floor.

Getting married on New Year's Eve warrants a double celebration. For the end-of-December wedding of Katie Risinger and Ivan Dorflinger, stylist Emily Leach, of Bird Dog Wedding in Austin, Tex., created a "canopy of giant tassel balloons under which everyone danced the night away," she says. "Blush and punchy citrus hues lent themselves to the festive feel."


Balloons were more cost effective than flower displays for this US$1,500 wedding.

California bride Golriz Lucina had a tight budget of US$1,500 for her wedding to Devon Gundry. Instead of pricey flower displays or costly tchotchkes, "the giant yellow balloons were a great addition because they were so cheerful and out of the box," Lucina says. "Which basically describes our entire wedding and also sums up me and my partner pretty well!"


Balloons overflow from a tub in a postwedding suite at the Coworth Park Hotel.

In Britain, Bubblegum Balloons is like the Willy Wonka of inflatable art. Everything is whimsical, unexpected and unabashedly over the top. For a postwedding suite at the Coworth Park Hotel, in Ascot, the company "completely transformed the bathroom for the happy couple," according to Bubblegum's Ellen Reed. Instead of the typical rose petals, pink, pearl and peach balloons overflowed from the tub.


Balloons add a personal touch to this venue’s historic architecture.

In August, 2017, when Rebecca Martin married Craig Williamson in Oxfordshire, England, she wasn't expecting balloons. But as she walked down the aisle, Williamson urged her to look up. As a surprise, he had commissioned Bubblegum Balloons to decorate the ceiling in inflatables of her favourite colours. The balloons contrast the grand, historic architecture of the venue, Aynhoe Park, with something both charming and personal.


A massive 10-foot-by-12-foot balloon wall was the backdrop for this couple’s vows.

With a last name such as theirs, it's perhaps not surprising that Thomas and Tarin Love decided to get married on Valentine's Day. Although the red-and-white colour scheme was a given, the couple, from Atlanta, still wanted a surprise, so engaged stylist Lizeth Gomez, from MomsKloset, to create a massive 10-foot-by-12-foot balloon backdrop for their vows. "What is really fun about this wall is that the balloons are all sorts of sizes," Gomez says, "which creates an organic look."


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