DIY: Unity Candle

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful and not TOO busy holiday weekend! My whole month has been insane, however, after the first of the year, things should slow down - basically because I am going to make them. :) I have a lot of projects that I want to get completed during the cold, dreary mid-west winter and I need to start clearing my schedule for them.

Which takes me to the start of my first REAL DIY wedding project. (I know I talked about my first DIY project being the wedding binder/bible, but this is the first project that will actually be used for the wedding.)

The unity candle! Here is my inspiration:

No idea who Sara and Justin are, but I like what they did with their unity candle.

I started with our GIANT pillar candle from IKEA and measured out a "template" where a purple backer and our wedding monogram will go (don't mind my mom cooking Christmas dinner in the background or the bowl of chex mix I was munching on...)

Then I started measuring out where the crystals will go with a ruler:

To mark where the crystals would go, I made a little divot with a pencil and then went back and made a clearer mark with a Sharpie:

Making the divots first and following with a Sharpie allowed me to adjust the pattern if I needed to. The crystals I purchased are pretty good sized and will have no problem covering the black dots all over the candle.  At about this time I figured out that using a cloth measuring strip on a round candle is much easier than a hard ruler:

This is as far as I got on Christmas. Shortly after this shot, my mom served an awesome meal of prime rib, party potatoes, green bean casserole and roles. Then we all hopped in the car and went and saw the new Foeker's (did I spell that right?) movie - that series is one series of movies that I would probably still go and see even when they're on the 7th installment. Still funny as ever! Hopefully, I will get the candle finished on one of my days off over the next week and I can show you the finished results. 

My Good Deed for the Day

I must say, this Monday was easier than other Mondays have been as of late. I think the extra hour of sleep Saturday night combined with the fact that the sun was actually half way up when my alarm went off was a huge help. J

Today I was at Target buying a baby gift for my matron of honor (she’s due in about 6 weeks!!!) I was browsing the baby gift wrap and this lady randomly came up to me and asked if I knew if there was a wedding section. (No, I was not wearing a red shirt OR khakis.) As she started to walk away she mumbled something about unity candle. I asked her if she had tried Michaels or Hobby Lobby, she said she had and that she didn’t like any of their stuff. We started chatting and I said that I was planning on making mine.

She was intrigued.

I told her I got a pillar candle and two candlesticks and the holders from Ikea like these:

Mind you, I know I am going to decorate these myself, but at this point in my day, I was not exactly sure HOW I was going to decorate them. I rattled off some ideas that she could do.

I think this lady fell in love with me in the three minutes I was talking to her.

I told her some of the other things I was planning and she looked totally amazed. I mean honestly, doesn’t every bride make most of their stuff?

No?

Anyway, I felt pretty good about myself after that. Hopefully I helped her see that you don’t have to buy everything out of the box. I love when I go to weddings and you can just TELL how much time the bride and groom (…mostly the bride…) has spent on all the details. You can really see their personalities come through.

Help give me some more ideas, what are you doing to help bring your personalities into your wedding and reception?