When it comes to having a unity candle, the sky is really the limit. You can find ones that are pre-made with a little plastic envelope in the front to insert your invitation or a poem into the space. You can also have them custom made in the colors of your wedding and featuring a special message.[/caption]
There really is no limit, except for price, when it comes to a unity candle. But let’s talk about price. If you are planning a wedding on a limited budget, you may be feeling the pressure of fitting everything into your budget. The dresses are expensive, the tuxes, the food, the venues, the flowers and it goes on and on.
If you are like me and find yourself with many people who are crafty and want to help, you may decide that the best way to cut some costs is to make things on your own or by enlisting the help of others. A unity candle is one of those things that you can make on your own and it adds a romantic element to the finished product.
What you need:
- Candles: You can go with straight white but I would try to match the white with the preferred white you are using. Don’t use ivory white if you are going with an eggshell white for everything else. You will need three candles. One tall pillar candle and 2 tapers. Try to find 3 candles that are very similar in height.
- Scissors
- Lace ribbon: this can be used for around the bottom of the candle and also as a decorative edging around the pillow
- Small bead pearls: The faux kind, not the real. Another way to make bead pearls and to make sure they stick in is to use straight pins with round, white heads. Trim the pins until they are ½ inch long and then just insert the pins right into the candle.
- Wire Edged Ribbon: This is for making bows and it is optional.
- Silk flowers: Again, any decoration you use is completely optional.
- Hot Glue Gun
- Heat Gun (optional)
- Invitation printed out on paper or a special poem
Directions:
- Start with your pillar candle first since this is the central candle and you will embellish the other tapers with only minor detailing.
- Print out your poem or invitation and trim down to a size that fits your candle.
- Cut out the poem and center it on your pillar candle. Before you do, you can decorate it with stamped images if you would like.
- I like to use a heat gun to melt the wax slightly under the paper. This will sink the paper into the candle and will help secure it to the candle.
- Now that your poem is on the candle, you can start decorating. It is very common to have bead pearls and/or lace around the invitation or poem. You can do this by cutting out enough lace to go around the invitation and then fastening it with the cut pins. If you are worried that the pins will slip out, you can place a little drop of glue on the tip of the pin before you insert it.
- Embellish the candle any way you would like using your glue gun and the flowers, bead pearls and any other embellishment that you find.
- After the unity candle is finished, decorate the tapers. I find that using a bow or a strip of ribbon and a silk flower around the center of the taper is more than enough decoration to tie it into the Unity Candle.
And that is all you need to do. On the day of your wedding, you and your spouse will have a beautiful unity candle to light made all the more special because you made it.
-MJ Plaster
