Mia & Aris: Celadon Green and Turquoise Blue Victorian Wedding Cord and Unity Candle Set

Kate Middleton’s marriage to Prince William sparked the Victorian trend with her lacy sleeves, classic long veil and traditional yet modern bridal gown. This royal wedding inspired brides all over the world to stage their own unique, elegant and extravagant wedding.

A Victorian wedding is all about class, grace and refined romantic atmosphere of an exquisite nature – most notably, elegant lace, dainty damask, and passionate roses.

Knowing all these facts, creating the wedding cord that will bind Mia and Aris and the candles that will light their path is as surreal as it can be. I want to make a cord and unity candle set that will blend well with their wedding theme yet memorable and unique. Here’s what I produced:

 The Wedding Cord

Charisse and Irvin's DIY E-session-inspired Wedding Cord and Candle Set

Like most modern brides, Charisse is very much attached to every bits and pieces of their wedding details. Together with her beau, Irvin, and with the help of some friends and relatives, she painstakingly personalized her bridal bouquet, the awe-inspiring corsages and bouquets for her female entourage as well as the boutonnieres for groomsmen (all of which are made of recycled fabric, lace, buttons, caps and felt cloth) just to name a few. To top it all, Charisse and Irvin held their engagement sessions by themselves – Do-It-Yourself (DIY) style! Cool, isn't it? The bride’s website translates the couple's love for each other and their passion for (vintage and retro) photography and their wedding. Their DIY e-session photos were featured in a number of websites abroad and we're very grateful that Charisse gave us the permission to publish some of these works of love. See for yourselves how amazing these photos are:

PDW Goes Green with PDW Eco-bags

Project Dream Wedding is celebrating our first year anniversary! How cool is that? :)

In line with this, we are giving out reusable eco-friendly bags for free together with your orders of wedding cord + candle set* package or other bulk orders. These muted brown and fashionable fuchsia pink reusable eco-bags are made of non-woven cloth materials, perfect for use not only during the wedding to carry your other essentials but after your Big day as well. Be it at the grocery store, shopping mall or the beach.

{PDW Eco-bags in muted brown and fuchsia pink}

{Free PDW Eco-bags with your orders of wedding cord + Candle Set}

Cathy and Jay-Ar: Purple and Gold Wedding Cord and Candle Set

Purple is one of the most popular wedding colors of the 20th century. When combined with gold, these two exudes luxury, royalty, wealth and romance. To further enhance this combination, Ms. Cathy and Jay-Ar will be hosting a vintage-themed wedding. Here are the unique ceremony accessories that I created especially for them to match their theme and motif:

{Their wedding cord is made of purple and gold crystal beads with matte gold trinkets and vintage brooch and pendant.}

Irene and Nestor: Wedding Cord and Unity Candle Set

Like so many, Ms. Irene is a hands-on bride planning her wedding from abroad. She booked most of their wedding suppliers online, including Project Dream Wedding. She wants a simple yet elegant cord and candle set. I like that she knows what she want for her wedding (owing to the fact that she enumerate the specific trinkets and design:)). The good news is that she’s happy with what we were able to produce. Yey for that! Here are some of the photos:

{Adding the couple's initials to further personalize the cord is one of the unique qualities of Project Dream Wedding wedding cords. For the record, we're one of the first people who did this (see also, my DIY wedding cord). :)}

Julie and Rafael: Vineyard-inspired Wedding Cord and Candle Set

When Ms. Julie contacted me to create their wedding cord and candle set, I was ecstatic to know that they are going to have a vineyard-themed wedding. That's another chance for me to explore my creativity. The sweet aroma of a vineyard should be evident in the design aesthetic while using the couple’s wedding colors, which is a combination of purple, charcoal gray and light blue. Let’s see what I came up with:

The Unity Candle Ceremony

The lighting of a unity candle is a relatively recent addition to the traditional wedding ceremony. It is performed to symbolize the pledge of unity between the bride and groom and the joining together of two families.

{The Unity Candle Set: unity candle, two taper candles and two matches}

Wedding Traditions: The Veil, the Lighting of the Candles and the Cord

The veil, lighted candles and cord -- they are all traditional symbolisms in weddings and represent the couple’s readiness to become one with God and life. The Secondary Sponsors, typically close friends or relatives who were chosen by the couple, are the ones who will carry out the ceremony. There are three pairs of secondary sponsors (one for each symbol):

The Candle Sponsors is the pair who will light the candles on the altar.

The candles symbolize the Light of Christ, the same light they received at Baptism and now receive again to lead them in their new life as a couple. Some couples choose to have their mothers or fathers light the candles in this ritual, which usually takes place before the readings. The candles may also be lit at the beginning of the ceremony.