There is something about 'making things with my hands' that I love - decorating cookies, making cards and journals, scrapbooking, painting, gluing, etc. For me, handmade anything communicates inspiration of some measure or significance (I will admit that I not a very creative person, but I am easily inspired – by coffee mugs, by trees, by words, etc.) There is thought and attention in handmade things; there is love in handmade gifts. My husband made me an ‘I love you’ sign for Valentines Day and hung it from balloons in our bedroom; it meant MORE to me than any gift he could have bought with all his money. What I love most about handmade things is the little details that either reflect the artist or have great significance. My wedding had lots of these little details...
[You will notice most are unconventional twists on traditional wedding concepts: boquet, pew bows, ring bearer and flower girls, etc.]
Some handmade with LOVE details:
My very beautiful and cherished bouquet was made by a very special and talented friend, Chele, using BROACHES [and some jewelry] from relatives, friends, and thrift stores. I wanted something uNiQuE... that had significance.. that I could KEEP! Some of the pieces first belonged to my great grandmothers and grandmothers. A very dear friend - who had a significant role in helping my wedding "come together" - bought me the green butterfly in Florida. My favorite broach, the pair of elephants (near the bottom,) were a gift from a stranger online who was moved by my story. Chele and her husband and their 7 children even enjoyed the 'adventure' of browsing local thrift stores to "fill out" my boquet, which now sits on a dresser in my hallway, and I admire it every day.
The wooden 'R' above was an alternative to the traditional guestbook; it hangs on the wall in our living room and is a visual reminder of all the people who came to support us and to celebrate with us on our wedding day. Lying on the same table are the 300 wedding programs that I finished and printed around 10:30pm the night before the wedding.
My handsome"ring bearer" "sign bearer" carrying what I believe is the best wedding planning choice I made: a handmade with love sign that reads: "Here comes the bride" on one side and "Happily ever after" on the other. I really think my guest loved this too. Ashton walked in right before me revealing the side that said Here comes the bride, and he walked out right before Titus and I revealing Happily ever after. My friend Dale cut this and the 'R' for our guestbook; one of my bridesmaids painted both bronze; and my art teacher/family friend did the calligraphy. This sign is also in our living room. LOVE IT!
My centerpieces for the reception tables... 10 months before my wedding, I knew exactly what I wanted these to look like, and I was so so so happy when they were finally put together on each of the tables. All summer I collected sticks (and they had to be just right) and kept them in a huge pile in my parents' garage. For over two years, I collected Starbucks frappucino bottles, thinking I could do something pretty with them. I spray painted the sticks bronze, put river stones in the bottom or the bottles for weight, and arranged perfectly all the sticks in the glass bottles. I put gold, bronze, green, and blue silk scarves (from Cambodia) around the bottom of each bottle, and hung our matted engagement pictures from each of the centerpiece "trees".
My beautiful wedding cake - sky blue for my groom and gold for Cambodia with an indian-inspired henna pattern (which I love.) The two "kissing" elephants are symbolic of a two things: first, in honor of my granddad, I collect elephants from my worldtravels (the story of my elephant collection); elephants are a symbol of "royalty" in Camobodia. The dragonflies are also symbolic; when Titus proposed on a rock beneath a waterfall, there were many gorgeous blue dragonflies flying.
Finally, for our card box, (because I couldn't find Granddad's green antique suitcase) I used my great grandmother's (now grandmom's) antique sewing machine case. I had a sign that read "Cards & Love Notes" pinned to the lid (which apparently fell off in this picture) and put our traditional Cambodian engagement picture in, and the renowned elephant (which now belongs to me) that granddad bought in India.
[You will notice most are unconventional twists on traditional wedding concepts: boquet, pew bows, ring bearer and flower girls, etc.]
My very beautiful and cherished bouquet was made by a very special and talented friend, Chele, using BROACHES [and some jewelry] from relatives, friends, and thrift stores. I wanted something uNiQuE... that had significance.. that I could KEEP! Some of the pieces first belonged to my great grandmothers and grandmothers. A very dear friend - who had a significant role in helping my wedding "come together" - bought me the green butterfly in Florida. My favorite broach, the pair of elephants (near the bottom,) were a gift from a stranger online who was moved by my story. Chele and her husband and their 7 children even enjoyed the 'adventure' of browsing local thrift stores to "fill out" my boquet, which now sits on a dresser in my hallway, and I admire it every day.
Five friends and I spent two entire evenings cutting and folding more than 80 of these tissue paper pommanders. Thank you, thank you, thank you Suzanne, Andrea, Janna, Jessa, and Hayley!! While the first two hour were very stressful and involved visiting four stores (on opposite sides of town... during a HORRENDOUS thunderstorm,) I really enjoyed this time of planning, decompressing, eating homemade crepes, and laughing with these girls.
My handsome
My centerpieces for the reception tables... 10 months before my wedding, I knew exactly what I wanted these to look like, and I was so so so happy when they were finally put together on each of the tables. All summer I collected sticks (and they had to be just right) and kept them in a huge pile in my parents' garage. For over two years, I collected Starbucks frappucino bottles, thinking I could do something pretty with them. I spray painted the sticks bronze, put river stones in the bottom or the bottles for weight, and arranged perfectly all the sticks in the glass bottles. I put gold, bronze, green, and blue silk scarves (from Cambodia) around the bottom of each bottle, and hung our matted engagement pictures from each of the centerpiece "trees".
My beautiful wedding cake - sky blue for my groom and gold for Cambodia with an indian-inspired henna pattern (which I love.) The two "kissing" elephants are symbolic of a two things: first, in honor of my granddad, I collect elephants from my worldtravels (the story of my elephant collection); elephants are a symbol of "royalty" in Camobodia. The dragonflies are also symbolic; when Titus proposed on a rock beneath a waterfall, there were many gorgeous blue dragonflies flying.
Finally, for our card box, (because I couldn't find Granddad's green antique suitcase) I used my great grandmother's (now grandmom's) antique sewing machine case. I had a sign that read "Cards & Love Notes" pinned to the lid (which apparently fell off in this picture) and put our traditional Cambodian engagement picture in, and the renowned elephant (which now belongs to me) that granddad bought in India.
Anyways. That's all for now. I hope I didn't bore you with the little details.
Love love love,
Jewel
Jewel
1 comment:
Jewel, I have never seen ANYTHING like your bouquet. It is astounding!! That Chele, she is an artist too????
Wow.
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