Tag Archives: Candle Arrangements

Real wax, flameless candles for your wedding

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I’ve decorated any number of weddings in which the bride wanted lots of lighting incorporated in their flowers and decorations, including candles and Christmas lights. Both those options had their difficulties — candles are not always allowed or require a permit from the fire department and Christmas lights require a power source, and its not like you can link together 20 table arrangements with normal Christmas lights. I’ve spent many nights loading batteries into yard-long Christmas light strings, wrapping up the battery pack to protect it from water in the arrangement, then taking it all apart at the end, believe me. And let’s not talk about the fire danger of traditional luminaries, where you light a candle inside a paper bag.

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Image courtesy Candle Luminary

However, there’s a Southern California company that is making real wax candles, but instead of lighting them, you use rechargeable lights to light them up. Candle Luminary is making these candles in several sizes and shapes and, as you can see above, there is also a floating option. I got a chance to check them out recently.

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Handmade candle covers on Etsy

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One of my most popular posts on Pinterest is one about candle decorations, in particular one image of several candles in glass hurricanes, covered with lace. So I thought to myself — are there any other candle covers online that a bride can use? So I turned to Etsy.

When my husband looked over to see what I was blogging about, he remarked that this candle cover was really nice. It’s very classy and chic, perfect for a black and white wedding, if that’s what you’ve done. These look pricey, but they come in a batch of 30 (15 vase, 15 votive) for $75.

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Dress up one candle to be a centerpiece

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Jinah’s wedding is fast approaching, so I’m in prep mode. Just this week, I’ve set up time to go pick up some materials from my siblings to decorate with, I’m bugging a florist I’ve worked with before on the pricing of flowers and now I’m fretting a little over the candle arrangement plan we have for her guest tables. Right now, the plan is simply to place a 2×2 pillar candle in one of the vases that we picked up from Big Lots (really!) and surround it with four votives. However, now I’m fretting that this is too simple.

Flickr photo by DrGBB

So I began perusing Flickr for idea. There are a lot of people using candles nowadays for their centerpieces to cut down on costs. However, if you’re not careful, you could end up spending way more on a candle arrangement than on a flower arrangement if you go overboard. Plus, don’t forget that most people are not florists and don’t have access to real wholesale prices. So my thought is — how do you dress up one candle without breaking the bank?

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Save lots on candles at Big Lots

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So everyone is trying to save money, right? One way to save money is to go without flowers and just set up a candle arrangement. But if you’re not careful, you could spend just as much on a candle arrangement as you would on flowers. So I suggest you visit your local Big Lots.

Is Big Lots a store you wouldn’t be caught dead in? Too bad…whenever it comes time to do Christmas decorating at my church, Big Lots is my first stop. Turns out, its a good spot to find candles and candle accessories too, for cheap.
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Wedding at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley

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I cannot for the life of me remember all the places I’ve decorated for weddings, which spans all the way from Santa Barbara County to San Diego County — no kidding. So when my buddies Josh and Nicole said their wedding was going to be at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, my interest was piqued — a place I’ve never been for a wedding? Incidentally, those geekier than myself might recognize the spot — its been the site of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, one Star Trek: Next Generation episode and as the power chamber for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, according to Wikipedia. Shamefully, I think I remember this building from the Power Rangers.

But the place is AMAZ-ZA-ZING. (Sorry, Benchwarmers reference there.) Driving up to the place was an adventure in itself — the road up to the institute is a barely two-lane meandering dirt road along the sides of a hill. At night, on the way down, there were no lights. It was much like our drive up Mt. Haleakala in Maui last year. Except this one isn’t 10,000 feet up and a dormant volcano. The day was perfect for a wedding. The sky, which had just been cloudy a day before, was perfectly clear, and the place had an amazing view of Simi Valley’s hills. In this spot, it was hard to believe we were in metropolitan Los Angeles.

Inside, the layout was actually quite cozy — there weren’t too many tables that you felt lost, and everything was very laid back. Each of the tables was named after a tree and the colors brown and purple surprisingly went well together. (It so happens I was wearing a plum dress while my husband wore a brown shirt and tie — go figure!)

Tall centerpieces are always nice — they help keep the flowers above the heads of the seated guests, so as not to impede on conversations. I liked these arrangements — the colors, the flower choices and the stands themselves. I knew Nicole would not disappoint me in this department. Heheh. Nicole’s flowers were done by Ginny G Floral Design in North Hollywood.

The cake table, carrying precious cargo. That was some yummy cake, yo. Not too elaborate, although, I think that’s a petal stuck to the side, there.

The requisite sweetheart table. ^_^ I don’t think my mom or myself can take credit for the sweetheart table concept, but it sure has caught on.

For more pictures on this wedding, see my Flickr stream.
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