Beautifully decorated candles are often used to decorate a banquet hall. In addition, they participate in a beautiful and solemn ceremony of handing over the hearth. We will tell you how to decorate wedding candles with your own hands.
The wedding ceremony, as one of the most important events in a person’s life, has a magical and symbolic nature. Almost all details of the ritual have some hidden meaning, rooted in the distant past. Candles at a wedding also have their own meanings. Firstly, this is a reference to the Orthodox wedding ceremony, when the future husband and wife hold candles in their hands. The fire of the candles symbolizes the pure and fiery love of the young people for each other. Husbands and wives keep wedding candles for the rest of their lives. Nowadays, church weddings are more a rarity than a rule, but candles carry the same meaning.
In addition, a live fire correlates with the warmth and comfort of a home, warming the whole family. It is this meaning that is played out in the now popular ritual of handing over the hearth. This is a beautiful and deeply symbolic ceremony that will require three beautifully decorated candles. Each couple - the groom's parents, the bride's parents and the newlyweds - take a candle. The older generation lights their candles and together brings the fire to the candle of the young family, passing on to them a piece of their wisdom, experience and love. During this ceremony, parents usually give advice to the newlyweds and talk about how they managed to preserve and carry the fire of their love through all the years of their life together.
Now in stores you can find a huge number of all kinds of candles that will decorate the interior of a banquet hall. However, homemade decor is much more valuable. For which candles should you prepare an original design? Firstly, candles are required to be decorated for the ceremony of handing over the hearth. Secondly, if the newlyweds do get married in a church, then a modest, discreet, but stylish decoration is also prepared for the wedding candles. Thirdly, candles can become a key detail in the interior design of a banquet hall - in this case, you also need to prepare a special decoration for them.
When to light up
The family hearth is a spectacular composition of three candles. Two of them are thin and tall, located on both sides of the larger, central one. A massive candle symbolizes the hearth of a newly created young family.
It is lit by the mothers of the newlyweds, each from her own. In this way, a symbolic transfer of the warmth and comfort of the two houses in which the newlyweds grew up to their newly created family is carried out. This beautiful ceremony can be held either at the beginning or at the final stage of the wedding celebration.
You can hear different opinions and advice about when it is best to perform the lighting ritual. Those who recommend doing this at the beginning of the wedding argue: the family has already been created, it’s time to light the fireplace. Moreover, at the beginning of the banquet, guests are more attentive to what is happening (and are not tired of various competitions) and the ceremony will be more memorable and impressive.
Those who recommend performing a ritual at the end of a wedding also have compelling arguments. At the final stage of the banquet, they plan the ceremony of removing the bride’s veil. Many believe that it is logical to connect the ritual of lighting a family hearth with this ritual and carry it out after it. The bride is now a full-fledged young wife and she should have her own family home.
The time for the ritual of lighting a home fire is chosen by the newlyweds together with the organizer of the wedding celebration. Each banquet has its own scenario, so everything is individual.
Interesting! You can also replace this tradition with a more modern option. The decision is up to the young.
Symbolism of wedding candles
In addition to the aesthetic satisfaction that candles provide, they carry a deep meaning. A family hearth made of wedding candles, decorated in a special way, is a symbol of fertility, parental blessing and the emerging spiritual fire of a new family.
There is another belief that says that a man should burn a candle at a wedding to show his beloved what kind of fire burns in his heart
In ancient times, it was the woman who was the keeper of the hearth , and brought fire from the cave of her parents. Therefore, the bride must light the candle.
How to make candles with your own hands
Each wedding salon offers beautiful compositions of three candles intended for the ceremony of lighting a family fire. But not all brides are satisfied with the design of the family hearth for the wedding. And this is not surprising: all accessories for a wedding celebration should be subordinated to a single style and have the same decorative elements.
In this case, the ability to make and decorate candles with your own hands will help out. Such a family hearth will fully comply with the requirements for the design of a specific banquet. The process of casting candles is simple and entertaining.
To decorate the family hearth for a wedding with your own hands you will need:
- paraffin or wax shavings;
- decorative elements (beads, seed beads, satin ribbons, lace);
- sewing needle;
- threads to match the satin ribbons;
- a plastic bottle of such a diameter that it corresponds to the desired thickness of the central, large candle;
- wick;
- 4 long regular candles.
The process of making a wedding candle is further on the list.
- Take one thin candle and cut it lengthwise so that it is convenient to remove the filter. Clean it of excess paraffin.
- Do the same with the second candle.
- Grate pieces from two candles on a coarse grater. The shavings are placed in a convenient container.
- A mold for casting is made. Using a simple pencil or felt-tip pen, mark the desired height of the base of the future central candle on a plastic bottle. Half the diameter (radius) of the bottle is measured up from this mark. A straight line is drawn along this mark along the circumference. Take a knife or scissors and cut off the top of the bottle.
- Starting from the top cut of the bottle, the teeth are cut so that they swing at the bottom mark, which indicates the height of the base of the central candle.
- Cut off the bottom of the “cup”.
- Bend the teeth towards the center of the mold and wrap the structure with a paper napkin. You can use masking tape with an adhesive side.
- Insert the wick into the casting mold and remove its tip from the top of the cone made of paper.
- Take a container of suitable size and place the casting mold in it with the cone-shaped part down.
- The free end of the wick is tied to a pencil, which is placed on the edge of the container.
- Melt paraffin in a metal cup over low heat and pour it into the prepared mold.
- After the paraffin has hardened, the finished product is removed.
We use decoupage
A small master class on decorating candles using the decoupage method. For MK you need:
- candle;
- decoupage napkins;
- glue;
- paint-contour;
- spoon;
- matches, lighter or candle for work;
- scissors.
Decoupage napkins are usually purchased in craft departments, but interesting options can also be found in hardware stores.
Let's look at the decoupage process step by step.
To begin with, decide on the drawing. Typically, a wedding uses a print of hearts or flowers, or both. The selected picture is carefully cut out and the upper part of the napkin is removed.
The cut out elements are glued with glue. If the glue does not stick to the candle, then you can try doing it differently. Light a working candle or use a lighter, take the cut out elements and apply them to the selected area.
It is better to apply everything at once and evaluate the entire type of product. Next, heat the spoon over the candle and very carefully run the spoon over a fragment of the napkin. You need to wait until the candle melts and the drawing goes into it a little. If you do not move the spoon evenly enough, the element will not stick evenly. When the candle cools, the fragment will remain in the candle.
A small nuance of the work: in order not to spoil the pattern with soot, the inner part of the spoon is heated, and a convex one is drawn over the element.
Contour paint of a suitable shade adds volume to the drawings; it can also be used to apply patterns. Apply shiny paint to the product and decorate the free space.
With any design option, you need to know that you cannot attach decorations and accessories close to the wick, because even glue can be highly flammable. By inventing a unique decor, you will end up with a unique hearth that will bring pleasure to the newlyweds for many years.
Related article: Followers on two knitting needles with description and video for beginners
How and what to decorate candles with
The main decorative element of the central candle is a heart-shaped figure. It will be a little difficult to draw it by hand on paraffin. Curved lines may result.
Therefore, it is advisable to first draw a heart on a piece of paper. Cut out and attach to the candle. After which you need to take a needle and circle the heart so that a sufficiently deep, visually noticeable mark remains.
Beads or seed beads are pressed along this line. Stores offering handicraft products always have a wide selection of decorative elements. Instead of beads and beads, you can take very small flowers and decorate a heart with them. You can also make a double edging: the first line is beads, at a distance of 3-5 mm from it are flowers. Here is more information on how to choose candles for the ceremony if you don’t want to do it yourself.
Basic rules for decorating candles
Care must be taken that when using the candle for its intended purpose, the decorative elements do not come off, catch fire, or melt. Therefore, they should be closer to the base. The style of decoration of wedding candles should correspond to the overall style of wedding decoration. Let glasses, bottles, garlands, bouquets, baskets of flowers look harmonious with candles.
For them, it is necessary to use the same style solutions with the design of glasses, champagne bottles, balls, tablecloths and other elements.
How to make satin flowers
To decorate family candles for a wedding, you can make beautiful satin roses. To make them, you will need two thin satin ribbons (you can take braid), one of which is slightly darker than the other.
Making flowers
You can decorate the family hearth for a wedding with your own hands with beautiful buds. Cut a piece of ribbon 3-3.5 cm long. Thread a thread of the appropriate color into a needle and run small stitches along the edge of the ribbon. They tie it together with a thread.
A larger “skirt” is made in the same way. They put a small one in it and secure it with either thread or glue. You will get a beautiful flower, the middle of which is decorated with a bead.
Several satin flowers are made for central and thin candles. These decorative elements can be attached with super glue or using short metal pins with a small eye. The flowers are randomly placed along the entire length of each of the three candles. For thin ones, small decorative elements are used, for the central one - large ones.
Decor of the bottom of the candles
The lower part of the candles can be decorated in different ways. The easiest way is to wrap it with a lace or satin strip. But there is a more interesting and spectacular solution: decorate with a thread of beads or seed beads. The coils of this decor are wound close to each other. So that you get a single canvas consisting of beads. In this way, decorate 1/3 or 1/4 of the candle.
You can make three lace semicircles in the form of a fan, one large and two small. And strengthen them at the base of each candle. A bow of colored ribbon is glued to the “fan” at its lower central point.
Interesting!
What materials are beneficial to use?
In fact, this process is particularly fascinating and will be able to interest the author creating the necessary candles for a long time.
For decoration, you can use many types of materials such as chains, satin ribbons, gift wrapping paper, shells, fabrics, lace, cold porcelain, coffee beans, polymer clay and more.
According to the method of decoration, this process is divided into modeling, painting or decoupage. Already existing versions can be seen in the photo of wedding candles.
Decoration of the composition
To create a harmonious composition, it is not enough to decorate only candles. It is necessary to create a design that matches the style of the place where they will be installed. This is the “family hearth”. It is decorated in a laconic style.
Option #1
The newlyweds must decide for themselves how to decorate the family hearth for a wedding. To create a stylish, laconic design, you will need strips of decor: lace, satin ribbons, beautiful paper. One strip is attached to the middle or lower part of the candles. Then they tie thin ribbons in these places, forming beautiful bows.
Behind the candles there is a wide lace “fan”. It should be of such a size as to create a background that sets off the candle composition. The fan can be made from thin transparent fabric, after starching it. This way you get beautiful, wrinkle-free waves. At the base of the fan, at its central point, attach the same bow as on the candles.
Option No. 2
Let's consider another option.
- Three roses are formed from white satin ribbons.
- Cut off several small green leaves from artificial flowers or aquarium algae.
- Large white beads are glued onto the candles.
- Wrap each candle at its bottom with white satin or lace ribbon.
- A bow of thin ribbons is glued to it, and leaves are placed on top.
- A rose is glued to the center of the composition.
A laconic and impressively decorated family hearth will decorate a wedding celebration and emphasize its individuality.
Anastasia Belozerova
Wedding planner
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Decorating candles for a wedding using fresh flowers
Fresh exotic flowers are a very bright and beautiful decoration. So decorating a candle in this way is very simple - just attach a bright flower matching the wedding colors to the candle using a glue gun or regular glue. An example of this design for wedding candles is shown in the photo:
However, more often flowers are used to create compositions for candlesticks or wreaths into which candles are inserted. Artificial flowers made from fabric and ribbons can also perform the same function.
