I did lots of DIY projects for our wedding, but the one I'm talking about today was one of my favorites! I wanted candles as part of our table decorations, but I ran into a few issues. Our venue was a historic barn, so we weren't allowed to have actual candles. No problem, I thought. I'll use flameless ones! They make some realistic looking ones now, right?

Turns out those realistic looking flameless candles are pretty expensive! So instead of ordering them, I started brainstorming. How could I dress up the cheap flameless candles that were actually within my budget? Make my own votive holders for them, of course.

I didn't take many pictures while I was making these, because I was in full-on DIY bride and was only focused on getting them done! I actually knocked all 72 votive holders out in one evening, so this project wasn't too difficult. I did suffer from burned thumbs from the hot glue gun, but hey, that's the price of DIY, right?

Here are the materials I used:

72 Clear Votive Holders - Amazon, $35.99
72 Flameless LED Tealight Candles - Amazon, $34.90
Burlap/Lace ribbon - Hobby Lobby, purchased on sale $5 for two rolls
Various fabric & paper flowers - Hobby Lobby, purchased on sale $20 for all
Hot glue gun - already owned
Scissors - already owned

I started by estimating how much ribbon was needed to go around the votive. I didn't want too much overlap, but I later ran into the opposite issue of not having enough for the ribbon to hold. When I finally found the perfect length, I cut off maybe 5 at a time. (I found if I cut off more, my length would start to vary too much.)

When the glue gun was ready, I wrapped the ribbon around the votive and placed a pretty thick line of glue on one end of the ribbon, then placed the other end on top, holding it as tight as I could without burning myself. Some of the seams looked really great, so I left those flowerless. But the majority of the votive seams weren't perfect, so I added a drop of hot glue (small amount for paper flowers, more for fabric ones) at the seam and carefully placed a flower in the center. I let them dry on their side, then turned them upright and placed a flameless candle inside.

And that's pretty much it! I did find that a few of the ribbons didn't hold quite as tight as I liked. I simply pulled the ribbon back up where I wanted it and placed a little hot glue along the bottom of the ribbon to hold it in place. And then they were all ready to go!

They turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

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All photos except the second one were taken by Blue Elephant Photography.