Wedding Blog

Remember that little Manzanita forest I have going on back home? Yes… the nekkid branches, that’s right. I promised to tell you how we decided to decorate the branches, right? Well…

We’re approximately 50% decided on what to do with them.

And that 50% would be to make a little army of hanging votives. If you remember, I was a bit disgruntled at the beginning since we couldn’t use real candles at the Art Museum. So, these votives are really more like hanging vases. The plan is to put about 3 on each tree, and a teeny bit of water (maybe), and 1 white dendrobium orchid blossom inside. I have high hopes for these! I *COULD* use some LED votives, but… for now, we’ll just use orchids.

There are about a million tutorials on how to make these, and of course, I didn’t read any and just went with the flow. I cut a length of wire about the length of my arm, maybe a bit longer. I wrapped it around the lip of the votive (purchased at Walmart for about $0.60/each - yeah, yeah, I know, I shop at Walmart; it’s a Phoenix staple!).

I then wrapped the wire around the bottom of the votive, looped it around the part that makes up the rim, then back around the bottom, and made another loop at the rim-wire, and over to make the handle. I attached it back to the rim-wire by twisting it around a million times. Yeah, those directions don’t really sound great, but… it’s hard to explain unless it’s in person. So hopefully this picture will help explain what I did…. my motto is: “When in doubt… wrap some more!”

Yes, Mr. Ramen was there to help.

After finishing most of them, and seeing what they looked like hanging up, one fell and shattered into a million pieces on the table. To be on the safe side and make sure that didn’t happen during the reception, we decided to bust out the trusty old finger-burner, Mr. Glue Gun. I put a little bit on the bottom and a tiny dab on the sides for extra insurance. They are MUCH more steady now, so no one will have any shards of glass flying into their eyes. YAY! I know it’s not the prettiest effect, but… it works, and I doubt anyone will be studying the votives closely. I hope. At least the glue is clear and removable.

Glue-gunning

2 of my lovely cousins spent Labor Day weekend in Phoenix with us, and helped in the wedding labor pains. Thanks, cousins!!!!! This is one of the little projects we whipped through in those 3 days. It probably took 3 of us a good 3-4 hours total to cut, wire, and glue all 60+ votives. Not bad…

Did you have to revise any crafts after testing them out?