Mrs. Cupcake, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 27, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Construction Project Manager
Engagement Date: February 10, 2007
Wedding Date: September, 2008
Blogging Since: December 7, 2007
Venue: The Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PA
About Me: Mr. Cupcake and I hit it off at a Halloween party and immediately began a long-distance relationship. After two years, he moved to my neck of the woods, and a year and a half after that, he proposed at the “place we fell in love.” I am a true perfectionist who enjoys designing and creating more work for myself, so wedding planning is my perfect outlet. Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we hope to weave that aspect of our personalities into our wedding day.
Jackpot!
December 18th, 2007 @ 5:26 pm by Mrs. Cupcake
Since the exciting purchase of my vintage-inspired gown, I have been thinking about ways to add other vintage details to our wedding.
On Perfect Bound a few days after buying my dress, I happened upon this:
This idea originally comes from Country Home magazine, which I have never picked up in my life, but to whom I am now forever indebted for this spectacular detail!
Our venue includes centerpieces, for which we can choose from three recommended florists, but I know that I will probably want more than what is included in their general package. This would be a perfect addition to what my florist can provide, adding both a touch of vintage flair and the eclectic look that kind of defines my style (which is kind of all over the place). Not to mention, Mr. Cupcake and I have a strange fascination with glassware and we always pore over it in stores like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma.
I decided to start buying all different types of glassware at around or less than $1 each — which can easily be accomplished by shopping at places like Ikea, Home Goods, Marshall’s, flea markets, and thrift shops — I can dress all of our tables with 5 glasses each at around $100. This does not include the cost of candles, but if I’m feeling super ambitious and want to pour my own wax instead of buying candles, I’ll be able to save a bit of money there. I’ll probably use white or ivory candles, since I’m not a fan of the yellow-ness in the inspiration photo.
Mr. Cupcake and I took advantage of the Yard Sale day that happens in our town every fall, and collected 30-something pieces within an hour in that one Saturday morning. With the help of FMIL, who has been collecting boxes upon boxes of cut glass from the Salvation Army, I have now accumulated close to 130 pieces! We haven’t even stepped foot in an Ikea or Home Goods yet to look for additions, because we’ve found so many elsewhere. I venture to say that I might aim for 200, since many of the prices have been even better than we expected (some for as low as $0.25 a pop, or sold in sets for only a few bucks), and I think more candles can only add to the mood and charm.
Here is a sneak peak at what we’ve got so far!
Laid out on Mama Cupcake’s dining room table… our apartment is too small to store all of these, so I’m using her basement!
A little collection of some of my favorites….
My absolute favorite… I think we have four of these.
25 Responses to “Jackpot!”
Oh! You are like my sister bee! We did something similar with mason jars for our centerpieces. If you were closer I’d give you all my left over ivory candles! We also decorated with framed photos as well as put our table numbers in picture frames. We had a hodge podge of frames found in thrift stores and close out shops! We had tons of fun finding the most random stuff: my favorite frame is a frame in a figurine log with a figurine squirrel on top (that was table 8!) It sounds like you’re having fun too!
That collection is too amazing for words!!!
this is gorgeous! i love how diligent you are in accumulating all of these pieces, and the matched but somewhat mis-matched look is perfect with your vintage decor!
OMG - I saw the same picture on Perfect Bound and fell in love with the idea. We’ve already decided on our centerpieces for the reception, but we’re going to do this for the highboys at cocktail hour. Originally we were going to use clear glass, but then we found a bunch of stuff in dark cobalt blue at the Salvation Army (our colors are white, ice blue, and navy).
We decided to tackle the wax idea ourselves, and had a great time. It looks so cool all filled up with wax. A couple of tips - 1) make sure you put down wax paper or tinfoil under the glasses before you start (you *will* drip, not matter how careful you are). And 2) find something to do in between the pours, since you have to reheat the wax and pour it in 2-3 times, but it’s an hour lag in between each step. Have fun!
That last glass is the exact same type of glasses I grew up with! How funny!
Very cute idea!!!!
When I saw this on Perfectbound, my heart fluttered a beat and then I realized that I had already committed to a design which would not be able to include these. I’ve been contimplating using them for an evening bridal shower and after seeing your lovely collection, I am sold! I can’t wait to see how it turns out for you… you have some really great finds in that collection- and my! you’ll have interesting serving pieces once it is all said and done!
That is awesome! And such great savings! You know, pouring your own wax is a great idea because the wax will fit perfectly, but you can find cheap candles on sale…we found GREAT deals at Joanne’s (but we weren’t picky about color, either). 
Good luck! Can’t wait to see the end result.
Elizabeth, I owe a lot of the credit to FMIL…. she stops by the Salvation Army near her work at least once a week, and comes home with several pieces from each trip! It’s great to have her help, and I’m so glad she’s enjoying being involved. I think/hope the end result will be as lovely as the picture in my head!
I think we’re going to experiment with pouring our own wax (the coordinator at our reception venue happens to own his own soy candle company on the side, and told us he’d give us lots of pointers on where to order supplies for the best prices!), but I’m not ruling out buying some candles, even if only for the smaller pieces. For some of the larger pieces I’d love to do 2 or 3 wicks per piece, like the large one in the inspiration photo (in the back, on the right). Once we get to that stage, I will most definitely keep you all posted!
What a beautiful idea! I wonder if it would be unsafe given all the children that will be at the reception though…boo.
Dear Mrs. Cupcake:
You are one of my fav-or-ite members of the hive. Let me tell you why:
1. You pretty much post everyday…sometimes TWICE!
2. You heart IKEA
3. You have a great engagement story
4. I love your icon
5. I could go on….
Love the idea you have about the super glam/romantic candle holders.
What a great idea, Miss Cupcake! So beautiful…and I am looking forward to your post on pouring wax, something I’ve always wanted to learn!
We’re totally doing this! We’ve poured over 150 candles so far and I didn’t have to collect a single piece of glass. My mom and her friends are awesome. I am so excited to see how it all turns out. Soy wax is super easy to clean and even melt in the microwave, for anyone that’s interested.
brillant!!!!
I’ve been planning to do this for our receptions too!! I may decide not to do it for the actual wedding b/c I’d have to ship all of the candles. . . but that won’t stop me from having so much fun with them at our reception here at home!
Oops mis-post! I meant to say:
I love it! I also love your ambition for pouring wax into them. I was just going to do tealights in ours, because the color should pretty much hide everything. I can’t wait to see how it looks all on your tables!
what do you plan on doing with all the glasses after the wedding! They’re so beautiful and I love the idea!
But do you have use for 200 glasses?
Holy cow, I LOVE that champagne saucer in the left-center of the photo 2nd from the bottom of your post! What a gorgeous idea, and how much fun to shop for all the pieces!
Linda me too! Those were our ‘everyday’ dinner glasses, until they were too chipped and beat up to be presentable.
I loove the one in the middle in the second pic.. with the little Jetsons-style rings on the stem.
I looooove this idea!! It is so beautiful!! My original idea for centerpieces was similar to this, but it would’ve also included some old silver pieces - old teacups, etc. - to add a little shine to the romantic candle light, while still keeping the vintage theme. I ended up finding glass hurricane candle holders at a ridiculously good price, but I still wish I was using this idea. I think it’ll look beautiful! You have such elegant taste!!
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