How To Make Personalized Wedding Candle Place Cards
HOW TO MAKE CANDLE PLACE CARDS
Place cards…. They are the little folded business-card-looking thingies with the guests’ names directing them to their assigned table. At a recent wedding that I was the DJ for the bride and groom decided to go a different route, as discussed in another one of my recent blogs Themed Place Cards at http://thedjservice.com/2010/07/themed-alternatives-to-wedding-place-cards/.
At this reception, they decided to trade in the paper for fire. They used little tea lights in votive candle holders with the printed names on each one. It was really cool to see everyone surround the table and look for their candles! Then, on by one, each person carefully brought their little candle keepsake to their destination table.
When purchasing the following materials, it is very important to use tealights in place of the actual votive candles that often come with the holders. Using actual candles will result in the outside to hot to the touch. Tealights will getting warm but will not be uncomfortable to hold as the guests bring the place card alternative back to their table.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR DIY CANDLE PLACE CARDS
MATERIALS NEEDED: Tealights /tea light candles (enough for each couple), Plain glass votive holder (Candle holder cups), light -medium weight transparent vellum (thin paper is best), Laser printer, double-sided tape roll;
1) Get the proper measurements…. Measure the votive candle holders to determine the height and length around the cup. Make a template of the shape of your label. Note that even the most plain votive holders will have a slight curvature, so expect the template to be in an arch-like shape.
2) Set up the template… Set up Microsoft Word or PhotoShop so that you can space your guests names and your actual table numbers the right distance. You can probably get about three templates to a page with room to spare.
3) Print out the sheets… Use the template you made in step one to cut the right shape out of the larger sheets of vellum. Organize the labels, as you set them aside after printing.
4) Open shop… Set up a big workstation with all your materials at a table and make sure to enlist help. Even one extra person will cut your time in half, or more! Wrap each printed label around the votive and trim accordingly. Depending on your printer, you make need to be careful that the ink is dry, and you do not smudge the names during this process. When the label is lined up correctly, it will lay out smooth and flat. Apply the double-sided tape and put aside.
5) Quality control… Keep all the candles in front of you. This will allow for an overall consistent appearance of the candles and give also it you a preview of what they will look like all lined up at the wedding.
Make sure to light candles no more than 30 minutes before your guests come to pick them up to ensure long lasting light.
Planning a wedding with great flowers in the Albany NY region or beyond? If the answer to that question is “yes,” then maybe you will want to try this idea out… “Tiny Flower Pot Wedding Place Cards’
What a better way than to kick off your rustic wedding with little tiny live flowers as the place cards to show your beloved guests to their seats!?
What this couple did was they went to a craft store and bought loads of little vase-like jars, but super small. The next step is easy: Just get some nice flowers, chop them up. Stuck them into little bottles like these, and add the place card tag – and you are done!
How to tidy up your place card table with a new twist…
Here is a neat way to assign seating at your wedding, without fumbling over dozens and dozens of cards. How about getting your dining hall organized with picture frame place cards?
Rather than putting out a card for each person with their name and table number on it, why not make a decorative table directory display informing every guest who will be seated at one particular table in the hall?
This alternative idea to the traditional wedding guest place card idea will save you and the guest from time and confusion in having to deal with a separate card being displayed and retrieved for every individual person on your guest list.
What this bride & groom did for their wedding at Woolfert’s Roost Country Club in Albany, was play close attention to the quality of the picture frame themselves. Rather than spending big bucks on pricey cardstock and printing charges, these couple went a different route. They printed them up entirely by themselves and displayed their work in super nice picture frames.
Here are some pictures I took at a wedding recently in Albany:
Wedding Candy Cart – Roped Off With Party Streamers to Save for After Dinner
If you are planning on having a candle table at your wedding reception, here is a neat little idea I saw last weekend.
While DJ’ing for a wedding at The Hilton Garden Inn on Hoosick Street in Troy, NY, I saw the following neat little idea.
The newlyweds had a wedding candy cart arranged as part of the party favors. As a special thank you gift from the bride & groom, they decided to work their candy cart into the actual table place cards, for a little fun. (Ever watch a sweet-toothed guest salivate before they even walk in the door?)
Killing two birds with one stone, they printed the place card information on the candy bags; each individual guest name, along with the number of the table where they wanted the guest to sit.
Of course, the bags followed the color scheme and set the mood sitting just outside of the hall on a decorated table. As the people signed in on the guestbook and grabbed their bags, this sweet idea also created anticipation for the candy cart later on.
What a great idea! Below are some pictures of this creative idea in work.
You know the little cards that lead you to your table at the wedding reception… Well, people are really raising the bar now. It seems that place cards do not even need to be cards anymore. As I wrote in a previous blog about a month ago, I recently saw a couple use lit tea candles with their guests names printed on the candle holders. This isn’t the only alternative option out there, especially when a them is involved.
At a beach-theme reception, you can really have a blast. Seashells with names printed on them, perhaps from metallic ink pens are a novel idea, as are decorative stones. Other people may choose to actually decorate coconuts with their guests names on them, as well. Other ideas can include mini-ships in a bottle, messages in bottles (open slips of paper read through the glass), or other various sea-related statuettes.
A vegas theme could involve poker chips with names on them, or even large playing cards!
Music-friendly? Another neat idea includes cd’s (compact discs) with the couples names printed on them, with music for later listening. How about a 45 record with names on them for the older guests?!
It is really worth stopping by the dollar store and seeing what you can whip together! You will be surprised, and hopefully, so will your guests!
