Signs, Letters, "Thank you's" and "I do's"

Using text and words at your wedding ceremony and reception is a nice touch to use in photos later, or use as thank you notes for your guests. It shows that you thought about them even before the wedding began because you planned ahead and while you were focusing on each other you still took the time to remember that special moment when you thank your guests. Text in your photos is also helpful when you put an album or display of photos together later. The text adds a moment of pause when looking at the photos and engages the viewer. 

Text for your guests at the ceremony engages them as well. For our ceremony our ring bearer carried a sign that said "Here comes the Bride!" and translated in Portuguese for our non-English guests. Even if we didn't have guests who didn't speak English it was a nice touch to bring the two cultures together. Our sign had a small lace/fabric bag hanging from it  so the ring bearer didn't have to carry two things at once. We also put fake rings inside the bag just in case! 

hand made boutonnieres

Can't forget about the guys! For all our grooms, ring bearer  fathers and grandfathers of the bride and groom and our officiant my mom and I handmade these adorable boutonnieres. Each one starts out with a circular doily which we folded into a cone shape. In the top of the cone we stitched in different fabrics that matched the clutches for our bridesmaids. All the grooms had different colored fabrics inside their boutonnieres and each had a flower made from ribbon. There are tons of tutorials on how to make flowers from ribbon online but you can also just add a touch with the wire edged ribbon that ripples and folds easily  we also added a bit of tool, a pearl, and the blue fabric in the front is left over fabric from the girls dresses that was removed from the bottoms of the shorter gals. To differentiate the Groom's his was the only one with a white lace flower on the inside rather then colored ribbon and fabric to match the clutches.

Vintage display and lace inspired cake

I have always been attracted to the delicacy of lace and its vintage quality. I wanted to use lace but not have the wedding feel old so I used it in places like my cake to add a touch of detail, or as the ribbon on signs, and around bottles. However, my grandmother has many beautiful items from her life, old gloves, vintage purses, and gorgeous vintage lace.  I wanted to display all of these items not only for their symbolizm but I wanted to display photos of generations in my family on their wedding day as well. We have a photo of my parents on their wedding day as well as both sets of grandparents and my great grandmother. It seemed like a great way to show comparison of weddings over the years and those precious moments being captured each time.
       The Wedding cake came out so beautifully and the flowers tied it all together again. Chickadee Hill Cakes made it exactly the way I had explained and it tasted delicious!

Photos by Kyle Hoffman Photography

Just in case peopl forgot which ones were getting married! ;) My dad had a box full of molding samples so I picked out two that I liked and painted them white, added the letters and drilled holes for the lace ribbons. Voila! Using what you already have in your house is the cheapest way to make crafty ideas come alive!

Ceremony touches

photos by Kyle Hoffman Photography

  











Our ceremony being right outside of our reception space we definitely had to tie the two together and the best way to do that is with the flowers and special touches for your guests. We had flower petals down the whole runway, along with flowers in mason jars tied to the end chairs with lace/ribbon to tie into the mason jars and vintage bottles on the tables inside.
  
   There are cheaper ways to decorate a gazebo rather than doing the typical wrapping of tool up and down the posts. Our florist (Suzannes Flowers) added this special touch keeping it simple and not distracting.

Marrying a Brazilian native I wanted to bring our two cultures together and symbolize the joining of two lives from two different places. He brought sand from the beaches near his home in Fortaleza and mine from Rye beach NH. After mixing them it was nice to actually see the different colors of sand layered together. (NH sand was much darker and coarser than the beautiful beaches of Brazil)!

Alterations to fit your style!

Photos by Kyle Hoffman Photography

This necklace and earrings were transformed from a necklace that my grandmother had in collection I got after she passed. The original necklace had a large pendant in the middle of a silver fillagree flower shape with three tear drop shaped crystals hanging from it. For my wedding I wanted something a bit more simple with matching earrings. I took two of the crysals off of the necklace and made them into earrings and removed the pendant from the necklace to have just a simple chain with tiny crystals for my special day.

For my headpiece I had an idea of what I wanted and my mom and I were going to try to make something. While shopping for the materials we came across this beautiful bridal headpiece at new boutique called Accessory Appeal in Exeter NH. Lucky for me the bride who had it personally made for her never showed up to get it so it was the only one in the store!. To help it fit me even better I bent some of the feathers so they fell closer to my head instead of sticking up and out. Added a few antique pearls with the already white pearls so it pulled in the pearls on my necklace. I also added a peacock feather to the back. Although Peacocks or their colors had nothing to do with my wedding I do have a pretty good sized peacock tattoo on my back and it was sure to be shown off. Just to let everyone know that "Yes I know I have a tattoo" and "Yes I like it there!"

Leave an impression and help them fly away!

As a guest book I loved all the different versions I'd seen on this idea. I decided to make one of my own, so I draw this old fashioned car for us to "fly away" in or float away with the help
of the balloon thumb prints. My husband loves old fashioned bugs and I even added the little detail of the headrests to look like a brazil flag and american flag for our international marriage!

Unfortunately, most people did not get the "balloon" idea and printed below/all around the car. None the less it came out really cute with little smiley faces, drawings, and messages next to many of the thumb prints. This was a great way to interact the guests with the guest book.
Coming up...another great untraditional guest book and keep sake for years to come!
Photos by Kyle Hoffman photography!

hand painted seating cards and table cards

DIY seating cards and table cards. I took a large sheet of Bristol Board which is pretty sturdy and painted the large heart with water colors so its still light enough to write the names and tables on. After the watercolor dried I cut the sheet into 2x2 inch squares. With this type of seating cards you have to be careful when you write the names on. If you mess up you can't just write a new one because each peice is part of the backround picture! Also make sure to write them in alphabetical order!!

To tie the seating cards into the tables we had the table cards handpainted as well. These are just on watercolor paper 8.5x11 painted as a flat sweep of color with a little variation in color. We had our tables named after cities in Brazil  (seeing as I've now married into the Brazilian world!)

Nana's vintage bottles on all the tables too!

Photos by Kyle Hoffman Photography

handmade clutches vs. bridesmaid flowers!

Instead of having all my bridesmaids carry flowers that will be put down right after the ceremony and forgotton for the rest of night, I decided to make them clutches! They looked great next to my flowers and with the flowers in their hair as well. The lace doilies,pearl and touch of ribbon and fabric peice on top also match the boutineers for the guys!

I picked out the fabrics to match the color scheme of my flowers all in
different patterns. Each Clutch has a clasp sewn into the inside as well as
message to my bridesmaids written on the inside.

I also added a few little goodies to the inside including, mints,
chapstick, hairties, and deodorant!

 

Photos by Kyle Hoffman Photography!

One of a kind bridesmaid necklaces - 6 girls 6 designs!

One of the best parts of planning a wedding is planning what everyone will wear. Not only did I get to pick out all the dresses but I had the pleasure of making all of the jewelry for my wedding party as well, along with clutches for the girls instead of flowers, and all of the boutonnieres for the men!

Each necklace is hand peirced out of copper and stamped with a lace texture. Each necklace is unique in design and pattern to the next. All 6 necklaces have a patina and fresh water pearls placed throughout the necklaces.

 

            Necklace Photo: Kyle Hoffman

For the Maid of Honors (my sisters) their necklaces were powder coating with a white paint and brushed back through to see parts of the metal.

 

 

 

engagement rings, bridesmaid jewelry, and wedding creativity!

I have been soo busy these past few months and Im so sorry to leave my blog hanging! I've been so busy this summer with family and friends but also planning my wedding!!

I wanted to create as many unique attributes for my wedding as possible, some related to jewelry of course and some a bit more of my creative side!   I'll be posting quite a few right in a row to catch everyone up on what Ive been up to!!

First off, Being a metalsmith I couldnt stand the idea of wearing a ring that was most likely mass produced. I do appreciate it the ring I got from my fiance very much and it certainly was beautiful! However, I really wanted to add my grandmothers diamond too it and a bit of my own personal touch.

(sterling silver, gold accents, diamonds and a yellow sapphire)

Photography: Kyle Hoffman Photography

Our wedding took place at Zorvino Vineyards in Sandown, NH

July 27th 2012

Not only did I re-design and re-make my own ring but I also made my Husbands ringas well!

Both rings have a lyric written on the inside...

Hers: it's always been...
His: there's no end...

 "You and me" by Soja
It's you and me, it's always been
And how I feel about you, there's no end, end
But you make me chase you around, all around
And then you need me there when you fall down, down
And when this dance is done,
You and me are still the only one
Well since our time begun
And I'm still with you even when your gone
When this dance is done,
You and me are still the only one
Well since our time begun
And I'm still with you even when your gone

Significance of the Yellow Sapphire

Happily married couples give credit to the Yellow Sapphire for its presence in their lives. The yellow sapphire is also said that if you seek to sort all marital problems, then it is the solution for you. The Power of this gem is such that the girl that you desire will be yours forever and if a girl will wear this gem then she will get married early!