one of the things i absolutely NEEDED to have, (on top of the million other things i already have...) was votive placecard holders. i really fancy the idea of placecards doubling up as something else, as flower vase, paperweight, food... but this by far is the only one that daniel didn't mind as much. this is an example of how it is placed at the reception area welcoming the guests. a nice warm glow placed collectively but when you walk it to guest tables it continues to fill the room with sparkles of candlelight, illuminating the romantic evening. it also can work as a wedding favour at the end of the evening! excellent! :) 



so i first set out many months ago, sending some bridesmaid on a worldwide search of straight sided votive holders. and of course only the US of A had them but it was glass so we didn't feel like it would arrive in one piece. so sucked it up and settled for slanted sided ones from australia (you'll understand why the big fuss later). also, a big plus was that it could be shipped directly to dad which means no heavy lifting when we're travelling internationally.


this is our baby, looks pretty straight BUT its acutally tapered 3mm..


i cut a strip of scrap paper to measure the area i need to cover the glass holder. see how its a little rainbow shaped? if life always went the way its meant to, i'd have straight sided holder and we'd have chunka rectangles instead, so so much easier to cut and stick..


OKAY.. this is where im gonna confess that im not SUPER pro at design/editing and better at scrapbooking. so this method is prolly silly. but i can't figure out a better way to do it!! if you do, drop me a note and i'll update it.

so i traced the cut out to fit 4 to a page. this helps to save paper when im printing a whole bunch out. then we ran the tracing through the scanner and lay our design on the scans through photoshop. we're using black damask on all our wedding stationery. my designer friends swears by illustrator but it was too late because we started learning photoshop. the final layout turned out ok but if you look closely enough, there are little botches here and there in the design.


then cut it out by hand and stick it on. of course, each guest's votive will be reading their own name! :) this is us experimenting with different fonts and size of text box!

so upon receiving our RSVPS (please please send them, guys!) we're typing in our guest names then running them through our laser printer. then hiring a whole bunch of wedding elves to cut till the sun go down! :) tadah our own votive candle holder!! btw its not too late to improve the design so let me know if i can improve it!

happy monday, folks!

kisses,
zhing

edit: featured here! :) thanks primadonna bride!