Weddingbee Blog

I spent some time this weekend with my shepherd’s hooks and cache of jars working out how to attach one to the other.

First, I picked out 20 jars of a similar smallish size, and set them aside. Then, I went a-crafting. I took a trip down to Michael’s to pick up some wraphia (aka raffia), a natural-looking, grassy ribbon that’s strong enough to use as a hanger.

But my mock-ups wouldn’t be complete without some stand-in dahlias…so I got five of these lovelies at a local florist:

Then, I cut them down to length, wrapped the wraphia around the jar mouth, and knotted a handle:

Here they are on the shepherd’s hooks as-is, with about a 12-inch handle:

Here they are with a little knot to help shorten the handle and evenly distribute the weight:

I repeated the process (tediously) for all 20 jars, but I haven’t yet tied the little knots in to shorten them. Do you think I should leave them long or make ‘em short?

I’m still not quite sure what to do with all of these pretty hooks. There are two options for what can be placed in the jars: flowers to line the aisle, or tea-light candles for the evening. IDEALLY, I would like to use them to line the aisle and then have the flowers placed in empty jars on the tables for the reception. (Or just removing the jars from the hooks and replacing them with a second batch of clean jars for the candles…but that would involve making more hanging jars.) Then, we’d use the hooks to hold candle jars for the evening. I just don’t know that’s too much of a pain in the butt to have people set up for me.

I guess I could use ten jars to line the aisle and reserve ten for candles to make it easier. But I have a feeling I’m over thinking this.

What do you think I ought to do with ’em?