Brenda's Wedding - and a home made gift!

Brenda is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We've known each other since we were....7 or 8, we met at Brownie Camp and were inseparable. We used to write each other letters - convinced we lived miles apart. Or parents never had the heart to tell us we lived 10minutes away! (I think they found it amusing) It was only through a mutual friend in SECONDARY school that we realised!

She got married over the May Bank Holiday and it was even more extravagant, beautiful and fun than I could have imagined. They are Sikh and it was a traditional affair although still very Brenda. Personally I jumped at the chance to dress up in Saris and suits and apparently I pulled it off very well.

Brenda looked STUNNING! Seriously, I have never seen her look so beautiful - I almost cried when I walked in and saw her before the ceremony. Likewise I have never seen her so happy, and her new hubby didn't take his eyes off her and was clearly beaming with pride.


She and her husband are now living in Birmingham and it saddens me that she's not just around the corner any more. But then I realise with our crazy schedules we were only managing meet ups every couple months or so and now at least we will make an even bigger effort to make them more regular because of the distance.

 

 

The Gift

So I'm pretty broke at the moment, but after my recent Pinterest addiction I became inspired to make a gift! Especially as Brenda also said that the families were basically taking care of all the household stuff so I needed  sweet, original gift. I then remembered seeing on a Wedding Board last year a gift of candles, with a poem that goes with them and after a bit of Googling I hunted it down. (You can find it here this is also a link to an American site where you can buy a set ready made) I printed it out in a nice font on fancy paper at home. 


Next problem...where to find the candles? eBay as every provided the answer and I highly recommend this seller who was very helpful, super speedy in the shipping and sent excellent quality candles that I would not have been able to find locally. 

The candle sticks were a super lucky find in a local shop that are common in East London. I call them "toot" shops and they sell everything from kids toys, to home storage, to party supplies to rain cagouls! I was actually looking for a basket and stumbled across the simple modern chic candlesticks which was great luck!

The basket, cellophane, lace and ribbon were all easily found (way easier than I expected) in Little Ilford when I was getting my suits and Sari altered. I was so chuffed that it matched the Indian "theme" and for the price I couldn't've found anything better. Fun fact: Red is the Bridal colour in most Indian weddings.

I think Brenda's Mum also then used the basket during the ceremony! (Or coincidently bought the same one)


I added in some Gift cards to allow them a date night as a married couple, and to get something for their home. Nothing too extravagant but a little extra. I designed the backing cards and printed them out at home. 

To put it together was a bit of an architectural genius (if I do say so myself) - I would be travelling with it quite a bit and I wanted it to stay together. The candlesticks I tied in a bow to the handle of the basket, and then stacked the candles inside like building a brick wall. This meant that once the cellophane was on - short of tipping it upside down - the furthest it moved was rolling slightly back and forth by a couple of mm's. RESULT!

I'm pretty proud of my gift - especially as I'm not generally a very crafty person :)