Beeswax candles

When we were first researching venues, I ran a search on flickr for photos of other weddings to see what kind of feel the places had. The photos of weddings held at our venue looked vibrant, fun and casual, which is one of the reasons we ended up going with it. One wedding in particular had some evening photos with votive candles on the tables, and it looked so beautiful:

I started researching votive candles and votive holders and found that I could get the standard fare for pretty cheap! But somewhere along the way I was clued into the fact that those cheap paraffin candles are pretty terrible for the environment:

"Paraffin wax consists of alkane hydrocarbons and melts between 47°C and 65°C (around 120° to 150° F). It is derived from light lubricating oil distillates. When burned, the fumes can contain a number of carcinogens including Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins, Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Toulene."

- Green Living Tips. Woah, that's definitely not the kind of thing I want to expose my nearest and dearest to! Not only that a lot of the cheapo candles you can buy in bulk come from China where the industrial practices can be shady. A fantastic alternative is 100% beeswax, which is natural, renewable, clean burning and relatively inexpensive. Not only that, but you can often find beeswax candles from bees that have been buzzing around your own backyard!

Cost comparison:

• 100 paraffin unscented tea-light candles in metal cups: $9.99 (Amazon.com)
• 24 beeswax tea-light candles in plastic cups: $15.00 (Toadily Handmade)

So beeswax candles are more expensive ($.63 each vs. $.10 each) but not prohibitively so and the environmental offset is significant. Some other things to consider:

• if the beeswax is unfiltered it will have a natural yellow-gold color and mild scent. The ivory beeswax candles you can find have been filtered which removes much of the natural scent.
• Consider getting tea lights "naked" or without metal or plastic cups. If you're use glass holders, put a little water in the bottom which will make removing the wax easier.
• If you find a phemonenal deal on beeswax candles, make sure you're buying 100% beeswax before making your purchase. If they are cut with paraffin they will be cheaper.
• DIY option - buy cotton wicking and filtered beeswax to melt and pour your own candles into recycled jars, glasses or teacups

What about soy?

Soy candles are made of hydrogenated soybean oil and have a low melting point so are often contained in tins or jars. Soy candles also burn clean and have many of the same benefits as beeswax candles. But growing, harvesting and processing soybeans is far more land, water, chemical and fossil fuel intensive than beeswax production. However, if you're vegan, then soy candles are probably the right choice for you.

Resources:

• Toadily Handmade - 100% beeswax candles from Mission Viejo, California
• Hurd Beeswax Candles - Berkeley, California
• Candle Bee Farm - candles from a vegetarian beekeeper in Kentucky
• Sunbeam Candles - Created with solar power in upstate New York
• Chicago Honey Co-Op - totally cool urban apiary in Chicago
  

Tabletop trials and tribulations

I'm really pretty chill about most of our wedding details and decor. I mean, it just does not matter that much. We knew we didn't want it to look like a banquet hall or have everything really matchy matchy. Since the entire event is outside on a patio and deck, there's nothing to decorate except the tables anyway. Initially we thought we'd rent green tablecloths and have white antique tea cloths as overlays, with potted herbs as centerpieces. Then we learned that 1) the green tablecloths that the rental company had were a really yucky color and 2) our venue would provide us with white tablecloths and napkins FOR FREE!

So we changed our minds, and decided to use the free linens since that would save us approximately $120. But I still felt like there should be a splash of color on the tables, either in the form of a runner or an overlay or something. So I did some online research and dragged Dave to fabric and craft stores. I learned a lot:

• store bought table runners start at about $20.
• fabric starts at about $8 a yard, and eco-friendly (bamboo, organic cotton, hemp) is around $15 a yard.
• paper is LOVELY; it comes in a lot of patterns, colors, textures, and eco-friendly options; it does not require ironing or sewing, it can be reused and repurposed, and above all it's CHEAP!

I really wanted to use either a tree-free or recycled paper. There area lot of options out there. I found lokta paper, which is handmade in the mountains of Nepal from the inner bark of the lokta bush. Lokta is one of the strongest paper fibers, and since new growth regenerates quickly it provides a renewable resource. Works for me!

If you're thinking of going this route, I've listed some resources below for ideas:

Paper Source - Papers from Japan, Nepal, India, Europe and others. Chain of retail stores too.
The Paper Studio - a huge selection, and you can search by color!
Paper Mojo - A nice selection organized by type of print, and a great sale section
LCI paper - carries Japanese chiyogami paper in several sizes and a lot of solid colors
Hollander's - over 1,600 styles of paper including a wide selection of natural fibers

However, because the weight and color of paper varies so much, especially with handmade paper, I highly suggest seeing these in person before making a purchase. Also, you'll save shipping costs and minimize your carbon footprint if you patronize a local paper or art shop.

Photo Holders

Right off the bat we knew we couldn't do everything ourselves, because we both have very busy and demanding jobs and didn't want the wedding planning to completely take over our lives. But we wanted to retain creative control over the wedding, so we're doing all of the decor ourselves.Our first project was really designed and executed by Dave. We wanted to have photos of us and our families at the tables for people to look at and talk about, but we didn't want them to be just scattered around. So Dave made these clever photo holders from nothing more than wood and wire for just a few cents each.

Ingredients:

• Wood - either use a 4 by 4 or a square post, usually comes in 3 by 3


• Thick Wire -we found straight 12" lengths of wire about the same gauge as hangers in our local hardware store for. 20 each. You could also use wire hangers though.
  

Tools:

• Saw for cutting wood into cubes


• sander and sandpaper (or just sandpaper if you're paitent!)


• Drill


• Pliers

• measuring tape


• straight edge


• pencil

Instructions:

With the pliers, bend one end of the wire into a spiral.

This will take some muscle! You can do circles, squares, triangles, etc:

Alternative - use an aligator clip (arguably not as elegant).
Using the measuring tape and pencil, mark four inch intervals on the wood, then cut into cubes.

Source

On the cut end, use a straight edge to find the center by drawing diagonally from corner to corner:

Using a drill bit the same gague as your wire, drill a hole about an inch and a half or two inches deep, being careful to make sure its as straight as possible. (we used a drill press) Sand the cube until its nice and smooth. Insert the non-coiled end of the wire into the hole you've drilled. Stain or paint the wooden base.