Monday, May 31, 2010

wedding crafts: votive placecards

one of the things i absolutely NEEDED to have, (on top of the million other things i already have...) was votive placecard holders. i really fancy the idea of placecards doubling up as something else, as flower vase, paperweight, food... but this by far is the only one that daniel didn't mind as much.

this is an example of how it is placed at the reception area welcoming the guests. a nice warm glow placed collectively but when you walk it to guest tables it continues to fill the room with sparkles of candlelight, illuminating the romantic evening. it also can work as a wedding favour at the end of the evening! excellent! :)



so i first set out many months ago, sending some bridesmaid on a worldwide search of straight sided votive holders, but nada. so sucked it up and settled for slanted sided ones from australia (you'll understand why the big fuss later). also, a big plus was that it could be shipped directly to dad which means no heavy lifting when we're traveling internationally.


this is our baby, looks pretty straight BUT its acutally tapered 3mm..


i cut a strip of scrap paper to measure the area i need to cover the glass holder. see how its a little rainbow shaped? if life always went the way its meant to, i'd have straight sided holder and we'd have chunka rectangles instead, so so much easier to cut and stick..


OKAY.. this is where im gonna confess that im not SUPER pro at design/editing and better at scrapbooking. so this method is prolly silly. but i can't figure out a better way to do it!! if you do, drop me a note and i'll update it.

so i traced the cut out to fit 4 to a page. this helps to save paper when im printing a whole bunch out. then we ran the tracing through the scanner and lay our design on the scans through photoshop. the final layout turned out ok but if you look closely enough, there are little botches here and there in the design.


then cut it out by hand and stick it on. of course, each guest's votive will be reading their own name! :) this is us experimenting with different fonts and size of text box!

so upon receiving our RSVPS (please please send them, guys!) we're typing in our guest names then running them through our laser printer. then hiring a whole bunch of wedding elves to cut till the sun go down! :) tadah our own votive candle holder!!

happy monday, folks!

kisses,
zhing

edit: featured here! :) thanks primadonna bride!

19 comments:

  1. WOW... thats like A LOT of work!
    You could actually get this holders from ikea.. no?
    Anyway, probably not a major time saver, but instead of tracing the rainbows apart from each other, you can trace it right on top of each other, such that the top curve of one is the bottom curve of another. That way,you'll only need to cut 1 line and you'll get 2.
    Also, you can perhaps stack a few of the papers and cut at the same time. Thats what lazy me will probably do :)
    And the design looks awesome!
    Unfortunately we have lotsa kids at our wedding who will probably start a bon fire with the candles :)

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  2. hahahaha thats hilarious! we only have 2 toddlers at this wedding. so hopefully their parents will keep them away from this candle! :)
    good suggestion on the curve!! i'll try that.
    p.s. haha i tried the holders from ikea. they are even more curved and thus, the "rainbow" is even more extreme.

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  3. Actually i just thought of something that might work...
    You can still cut them into rectangles, probably to the height of the candle and instead of sticking it on the outside of the glass, you can slot it in between the candle and the glass (inside the glass). That saves you time having to stick it and it coming off!

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  4. my candle is not a votive, its melted wax in the glass as in no space in between candle and glass! if i had thought of that earlier i definitely would have gotten separates instead.
    you're a genius!

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  5. alot of work!!
    i dun think i would do it for my wedding! =x

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  6. haha i only have 100 guests! :) still manageable. anyhing more i won''t dare to! :)

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  7. nice!! i'm so looking forward to it..
    one nice wedding after another.. woohoo!

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  8. still your efforts are applaudable! =)
    i suspect im having 400 guests! =S

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  9. holy smokes! thats HEAPS...
    i can't imagine!! :) good luck there!!

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  10. hahah! babe, you kinda sorta know that you guys would prolly be the ones pasting eventually, right? hahaha! :)
    i cant wait for it too.
    do you think i should just use this as the escort card? put each candle votive on a piece of paper that has "table 1" or "table x" on it??

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  11. sighs tell me about it. i was thinking more like 280-300 guests.
    actually, 40 tables might be a wishful thinking on my part as the F-FIL wanna 40 tables (!!!!!!!!!) for his family/friends/colleagues/whoever!

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  12. woah. looks like it will be nearer to 50 - 60 tables... throws everything out of proportions!!
    but good thing is, you won't have to worry about most details, cos with that guestcount, every small touch becomes a huge effort... just focus on packaging yourself nicely! :)

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  13. yea mannnn *big sigh*
    maybe i need a wedding coordinator for it! ;)
    haha i told klkl i'll just show up with my gowns! :D the rest i dun care~~

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  14. oops.. ok, i'm not looking forward that much already. hee, just kidding. When's the pasting happening?
    Can't really picture what you mean by escort card. Got a pic to illustrate?

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  15. actually, hopefully the pasting is done by the time you guys fly in! :) so we can hang out and go for drinks. not sit at home and cut! :) so hopefully!!!
    i'll take a picture when i can and email you! :)

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  16. Maybe a dumb question but....
    did these get too hot to hold and take to the table? and i'm guessing you had a seating chart somewhere to indicate what table they sat at? also, what kind of paper did you use or how did you stick them to the glass?

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  17. Re: Maybe a dumb question but....
    hi!
    i didn't try to hold them after they were lit but they sat on the table. we used escort cards to usher guests to tables.
    just simple doublesided tape to stick it on the glass. worked like a charm.
    xx

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  18. Great Idea!
    These are so lovely! I'm going to use this idea for my baby shower. They will be a favor at the table and the wrapper will have my baby's name and a graphic on it. Thank you for sharing how you made these!

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  19. Re: Great Idea!
    yippee!! great to hear!!! :) im sure they will turn out super!!
    hope you have fun making them!!!

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