Well, you can start off by using a few favorites as a place to store jewelry and other little things either on your dresser or on a bedside table. I've also seen - probably on AT - where someone devoted a whole drawer to little bowls and teacups and used that drawer as a jewelry organizer.

Another option if you want them in a more public place - exposed modern shelving (like the white shelves from Ikea).

I would hang them on a brightly colored wall, by their handles, and in a nice pattern. Or, perhaps use them in your bathroom or bedroom to organize things - hair ties, cotton balls, etc... I also like the idea of using them as tea cups (if they're in good condition) or putting flowers in them like you have in the picture! They are beautiful - happy decorating!

Maybe use them for flowers, like Amber713 noted, but specifically with non-traditional flowers. For instance, teacups with roses may look a bit granny-ish, but what about teacups with a more exotic flower?

Go for an old-fashioned, romantic look of hanging the cups on cup hooks in the bottom of your kitchen cabinets or a shelving unit in another room. You can stack the saucers together out of the way.

Perhaps you could make soy-based filled candles out of them and give them away as gifts? I have seen an artist in my town do this. He takes antique or discarded one offs that he finds in thrift stores and he glues the saucer to the bottom of the cup with super glue. Then he makes soy candles and sells them. They are charming as can be. Good luck!

My husband and I have an antique display cabinet where we combine my collection of fancy teacups, our huge collection of 60s retro bar ware, liquor, and part of our knicknack collection in. The combination of old/fancy with retro/chic balances out the antique feel that you can get by displaying too many teacups in one spot. I think it's all about complimenting the old with the new!

I like the idea of displaying them on a white shelf or hanging them from hooks. I have a bunch of Japanese tea cups and small bowls, and I have them displayed in a corner in the living room in an IKEA tall thin CD/DVD shelf. Everybody thinks it's nifty - looks like it was built for displaying dishes!

What about on a plate rail shelf close to the ceiling? I like the idea of hooks too, and love the idea if making them into candles.
You could also build a large shadow box to put them in to act as wall art... Or a coffee table.

I don't think you're looking to repurpose, but the candles reminded me of an idea I saw somewhere for making a pincusion out of a teacup. You could also make an eclectic cake stand out of the cups and some plates.

What about displaying them on these little cube shelves?

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=598&f=4866

I was given some of these and have been trying to decide what to display on them. Teacups are one the ideas I've been considering.

http://www.swankydigs.blogspot.com/

I have 20+ tea cups. I've stacked them up on top of my secretary desk. Saucers are stacked in back and the cups are stacked towards the front. I have mixed in a little modern figurine - like this one: http://www.etsy.com/listing/56508494/susanna
and a coordinating book (Domino's book to be exact) that I set some of the teacups on top of. I also have a set of antlers and an antique photograph hung above it. To me it feels modern but romantic. I think you could find a spot to show case a few at a time or all of them on a shelf or side table. I like using them for punch when I have parties as well.

Here's a link to the earlier suggestion about using them for jewellry storage in a drawer (from martha stewart) http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/25-bedroom-organizers#slide_3
You could also make candles: http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/teacup-lights
I have a teacup on my dresser for loose change, and one on a shelf with small nick nacks inside it (the rest are in use).

I second the suggestion of hanging them under your kitchen cabinets by cup hooks. It's a great look and it will make you happy to see them everyday as you enter your kitchen! If there are too many, change them out on a regular basis.

I would display them on a prominent wall -- for example, the longest or most dominant wall in your dining room. I would paint the wall a dramatic colour (think museum display), something that suits your decor, and will showcase your cups (for example, if some of your cups have red or pink touches, perhaps find an appropriate shade of red). Then I would affix very discrete ledges (flush-mounted like LACKE shelves from IKEA); these should either be painted out, or should be the visual equivalent of the sort of discrete but modern frames that you see in art galleries. Mount these in a dramatic way -- for example, all 20 at eye-height in a single row centred on the wall (with extra space at either end). Or, 2 rows of 10, or 40 rows of 5... Make sure to affix the saucers with that sort of gum (forget what it is called) to the shelf, and the cup to the saucer so that they do not fall by accident.

It will be dramatic, modern and your tea cups will be a focal point in your home, presented like a work of art.

p.s. by "discrete", I mean that the ledges should not be too thick (like LACKE shelves). They will probably need to be custom cut, but not a major expense (oiled walnut would be nice... )

That said, those CB2 cube shelves in white would be great, or the clear boxes (they are not hard to find if CB2 no longer sells them).

Hang them on a tree!!! think tim walker and lily cole" http://chicknamedhermia.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/keeping-my-eye-on-lily-cole/

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/08/tea_cup_clock.html

Amy Good House had the right idea...I have been collecting tea cups for years and have decided to pair down what I display by actually using my favorites around the house as catch-alls (for rings and other jewelry), in the bathroom for Q-tips and cotton balls, etc. etc. They look purposeful and beautiful at the same time. The others I actually use for tea when people come over...the tea room I go to doesn't use matching tea cups, why should I. :-)

Maybe you could do a sort of shadow box display in your kitchen by creating a deep frame big enough to hold 20 cups in 4 rows of 5. You could hang each cup from a hook. Might look cool and the cups would be handy if you wanted to use them (just stack the saucers in a nearby cupboard).

You could put together an array using IKEA's Ribba picture ledges. I've seen them installed upside down so that the edge runs along the bottom and you get a clean, crisp look for your display. Their size also makes them easy to place in various spots around your home.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20126065

Maybe display them in one a "cubby organizer" like this one:

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/cubby-organizer-white/?pkey=cwall-organization

Teacups sort of give off a formal air, so to display them in a non-old-lady way, you need to offset the formality in the way that you display them.

My apartment has a built-in china cabinet in the dining room. I have a collection of mis-matched teacups that were my grandmother's, my mother's and some that were given to me. Just lining them up neatly in the cabinet gave a very formal air. Stacking them the way you would casual china gave them a completely different look and feel. Some are stacked as sets--saucer, cup, saucer, cup--and some are stacked with all the saucers stacked on the bottom and the cups stacked on top of those. People definitely notice them more.

Or get a sleek stainless steel rod and hang the cups off that with S hooks.

Sleeping Spot's idea of mixing them up with other things is also a good idea--helps to break up the whole "getting ready for a tea party" vibe.

There are many different hangers and holders to display teacups. It's worth a look to see if there's something out there that would work for you. I found an old, ornate brass stand to display one cup and saucer on Ebay. I have that on a table with some candlesticks and wooden boxes. I change out the teacup periodically--I have a Christmas cup and a birthday cup and so on.

I also like the idea of using them. I use a saucerless cup on my dresser to hold change and loose buttons. A cupless saucer could be used as a soap dish or jewelery catch-all.

You could also use them to hold tea lights or votive lights. I've seen cupcakes served in teacups. And I love the idea of using them to serve punch.

You could use them to drink tea from.

(While I love many of these ideas, especially the candles and displaying them on a plate rail or doorframe, I'd just stack them up on open shelving in the kitchen and have tea a lot.)

Invite your friends over and use the cups to drink gin.

I've seen many plates on walls lately in a random pattern...what if you glued the cups to the saucers and then arranged them on the wall in a manner that is pleasing to you? Random, grid, straight line, doesn't matter - whatever moves you! Don't forget you can always paint them, too.

I use my great-grandmother's forget-me-not tea cup and saucer on my night stand as a jewelry catch-all. I love seeing it and using it every day. I like the idea of using a few for jewelry/coins/buttons around the house, and the rest for actual tea or coffee.

To keep the tea cups from becoming too granny look for some vintage industrial style shelving that you can stack the cups and saucers onto. The juxtaposition of the dainty cups with the rough shelving will make for an interesting display.
www.ChristinaMarieInteriors.com

If they're pretty on the insides as well as the outsides, you could put them on the magazine shelf of a glass-topped coffee table - don't know if 'magazine shelf' is the technical term, but you know, the shelf that some glass coffee tables have beneath the tabletop. In fact, I suppose the ones that are only decorated on the outside could be displayed there upside down, especially is you have the saucers to stand them on.

I would love to see them (if you have a tall ceiling) hanging from their handles in various heights from invisible wire in the kitchen almost like they do with origami paper cranes (http://www.soyoureengayged.com/bloggers/diy-origami-crane-strings/) I know you don't have that many but randomly hung, I think they'd look slightly surreal and very interesting! :)

Some more useful ideas rather than displaying them:

Do you have any backyard space, or even a patio? There are directions online for making a birdfeeder out of a teacup (and plate, if you have one; or look at thrift shops). Picture a pole the thickness of a broom handle, with the plate glued atop it and the cup atop that. And fill with birdseed!

Also, put 2 in your bathroom if you currently have regular old cups for use while brushing your teeth and rinsing.

They could also be useful in the kitchen when you're cooking. Measure out the exact amount of ingredients (well, less than a cup size!) into the teacups to help you get all your ducks in a row.

Or: Imagine eating your scoop (or 2) of Ben & Jerry's out of one of your teacups!

(lastly: use them to hold something you collect? shells? beach glass? marbles? old keys? trite, perhaps)

Succulent planters!

I, too, found inspiration from Miss Martha's tea cup jewelry storage idea. I use the cups for rings and earrings, and the saucers for bracelets and watches.

The question here doesn't really have much to do with good design or good style, but rather emotional attachment to a bunch of essentially useless objects. The teacups were no doubt beautiful in the context of a wedding, but it's probably not necessary to keep and display the entire collection in order to remember how special your wedding day was. In the context of your home, there aren't many ways to display 20 teacups and saucers that aren't old lady-ish. Really.

I think it might be worth asking yourself if these teacups are objects are something you actually love and want to enjoy every day. If they weren't associated with your wedding, would you still want to look at them all the time? Would you have even collected them all if you hadn't been planning a wedding? If the answer is really, truly yes, then put them all on a shelf or hang them all from hooks, knowing that they're going to look old lady-ish, but that you'll get to live with and enjoy something you love every day.

If, however, you don't love the teacups themselves but what they represent, let them go. Save a few favorites and create a rotating display. Take pictures of each of them, print them, and display them in a bunch of clustered, tiny frames or in an album. Have a tea party for all your friends and their daughters and send each guest home with a cup and saucer. Donate them to an organization that doesn't care what they look like but desperately needs dishes. Fill each cup with little treats, wrap, and give them to your colleagues as holiday treats.

I'm sure your wedding was a fabulous, magical event, and you'll have lots and lots of ways to remember it through the years. The fact that you're asking this question, though, suggests that you're either looking for validation-- that it's okay to keep this entire collection even though it doesn't look modern, is difficult to display, and is currently taking up precious real estate in your home and headspace-- or permission to get rid of them despite their sentimental value. Best of luck in whatever you do! Let us know how it turns out!

paint the inside of a cupboard black and display them there :)

i'm doing research on here for my own tea cup collection and i think i'll be grouping mine by color for different purposes. i do a lot of crafting so i'll have a group (perhaps with pink as the dominant color) for crafting do-dads. maybe another grouping for jewelry, etc. I'll definitely do what several people have suggested and display a group on a "floating" shelf. One idea that I'd love to try but don't have the proper tools for is making a lamp out of tea cups. Here is a step-by-step guide from someone who made her own inspired by Anthropologie's "One-Lump-Or-Two" lamp

http://vintagerevivals.blogspot.com/2010/10/crafting-with-starswinning-tutorial.html

She chose to paint hers as hers were flea market finds, but leaving them in their original patterns would be beautiful if chosen wisely.

Perhaps use them to draw eyes vertically in a bedroom or bathroom. install a long thin shelf where a picture rail would be and put them on top. Beware of the dust!