Senbazuru/1000 paper cranes - anyone making this?

Folding a crane takes time, patience, and understanding. These same qualities are vital for a marriage to last and thrive. This is why the symbology of 1,000 hand-folded cranes decorating a wedding is so powerful.

The ancient practice of a man and woman folding 1,000 cranes for their wedding is called sembazuru. The tradition itself is called Tsuru wa sennen. The time and energy put into the thousand hand-folded origami cranes symbolized the patience and trust necessary to sustain a happy marriage. A couple who could weather the long, time intensive folding process together, supporting each other, talking with each other for weeks while taking on a challenging task was proving their ability to maintain a long term, content relationship.

"According to Japanese lore, folding 1,000 Origami Cranes is truly a labor of love. Tradition holds that the bride who finishes this task, called 'senbazuru', before her wedding day will be richly rewarded with a good and happy marriage. Paying homage to the magestic crane, which mates for life and is said to live one thousand years, the bride ensures her own good fortune."

I love this idea! My friend did it for her wedding this past summer and it was so beautiful and meaningful.

Beautiful!!! I love it.

I love it too, and several of my couples (non Japanese) have done this. Start tomorrow, lol!

I was going to but I gave up on it after about 5 cranes...they're time consuming...but would be totally worth it if you have the discipline for yourself to do it...I obviously didn't being i gave up on it and such

There was a recent episode of Four Weddings where the (non-Japanese) bride did this. I thought that it was really cool!

So I'm looking on ebay for paper... and they have ready made 1000 paper cranes for just over $100.... NO MUST DIY!!! Super tempting! Also the bright mix packs are so much cheaper than the pastels or blue and white I want haha

Good luck ~ have fun ~ I think it turns out very beautiful

We are also getting married in September 2013, and we started folding a crane a day (each) on the 500th day out. Well, sometimes we miss a day and then make up for it by folding more later. We're really enjoying it!! Not sure what we will do with the finished product... we might have people throw cranes at us instead of rice

Aw, I would love to do this but I don't think we have the time or the extra money to make them. The paper (in single colors) is kinda pricy. So beautiful and kudos to the ladies and gents to finish all of them!

I love that you're doing this too! Our wedding is also Sept 2013. My FH is Japanese and I thought that this would be a beautiful way to incorporate his culture into our mostly western wedding (no tea ceremony, etc). I started in Dec '12 and as of right now, I have 500 cranes in 3 different sizes. I've been averaging 5-10 cranes/day and I've had taken weeks off for vacation too and tried to make up for it later.

Typically the cranes are hung in 20-30 strings but I'm actually going to use them in various places during the wedding: ceremony backdrop, centerpieces, dessert table, etc. I have a specific color, teal, which is hard to find in origami paper (also known as yuzen, chiyogami paper). Chiyogami paper is beautiful but pricey and adds up when you have to make 1000, however, there is a Japanese discount store called Daiso that sells inexpensive papers if you don't have a preference for color or they might have your colors (www.daisojapan.com and type in the search box, origami)

Hi Alina, We actually finished folding all 1000 this week!!! We got all of our paper from Japan Bargain (online store) for $80 (incl. shipping to Australia). It would have been cheaper to buy the mix packs with all colours but I didn't want that. I used only blue and white shades as our wedding colour is aqua.

We are going to the venue this weekend to measure the area we want to hang them, so we know how many to a string, how far apart etc

I am using fishing line and small aqua beads to string them from a piece of dowel

They will be the backdrop for our head table.

Are you doing just the one colour? Sounds beautiful where you are hanging them.

There are a handful of websites that sell origami paper, just google it. Since my colors have been challenging, I resorted to scrapbook paper and text paper from papersource (http://www.paper-source.com/). I'm sure your local art/crafts/paper store will have something for you. I have to cut the paper myself into the desired size using a paper cutter, but other than that, it's working well for me. I plop my butt in front of the TV with a glass of wine and start folding...sometimes it's therapeutic but it has definitely been a lot of work. Make sure you have a plan for each of the lil guys rather than just folding and finding something to do with them later. If you want to hang them like garland, use fishing or clear jewelry string and seat them on a crystal... this site was helpful http://www.afoxywedding.com/2009/11/di-why-not-2-origami-crane-garland.html

Hope that helps! We have the same wedding date!!! =)

Future MrsB..... Our colors are teal/aqua, white and silver! Do I know you? haha CONGRATULATIONS on folding 1000, you're way ahead of me.

Our ceremony backdrop is only three colors: teal, pool blue and silver. But the centerpiece origamis are going to be different shades of teal/seagreen, patterned and solids hanging from manzanita trees. Here are my sample cranes (w extra yuzen paper) on a tree to give you an idea....also, we're just gonna hang them off random branches since the ceremony has an arch with vines on it (will have full foliage in Sept, I went in the winter time to measure too). I'll have some extra ones too..not sure what to do with them.

Wow! We are date twins too!

That will look very beautiful!

Your venue is gorgeous too!

I have seen people put them on their cake. We are also folding another 62 mini cranes to put on the place cards.

I'm planning on doing this for my September wedding, as well! Does anyone have any advice on how to hang them up (not the stringing part - but the framework bit) ? I was hoping to use them as a backdrop for the ceremony (outside), then move them inside to use as a backdrop for our photo booth (just a room in the house). Any tips or tricks?

Thanks!

PS - I love the first image of the blue and white hanging cranes. Beautiful!