Feathers make great wedding accessories, whether they’re in a bridal headpiece or in a bridal bouquet or even on a wedding cake! You can find feathers in every color under the sun, so coordinating with even the wackiest wedding color schemes is no problem. How else can you use feathers in your wedding? Here’s a bunch of pictorial inspiration to help you figure out where to integrate this easy to use wedding accessory into your big day:
The fabulous Rebecca sent me a link to this totally amazing quilled marriage certificate created by paper filigree expert Ann Martin. Glorious!
Now, paper filigree is new to me, and maybe to you, too. According to Wikipedia, “paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper is wound around a quill to create a basic coil shape. The paper is glued at the tip and the coil shaped, these shaped coils are arranged to form flowers, leaves, and various ornamental patterns similar to ironwork.” Zow! Sounds like one of those hobbies that’s time consuming but produces an amazing finished product.
And what a nice way to display a marriage certificate – it’s certainly a lot nicer than the one issued by the state. I have one of those, and it lives in my fire safe.
You can see more of Ann’s quilled marriage certificates in this little Flickr set – and from what she writers, it looks like she’s in the market for commissions. So if you love what you see, get in touch with her!
P.S. – Don’t forget to enter the yummiest giveaway yet!
Before I get to the meat of today’s post, I wanted to take a sec to tell you that all of the posts this week are going to focus on the groom and his concerns. Too many people still say that weddings are all about the bride and what the bride wants, but I think the groom should get to enjoy his wedding day just as much! Also, this week’s posts are going to include a lot of excerpts from my book iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net, which is a great resource for the busy bride who doesn’t have a lot of time to browse the shops.
Hey grooms, have you considered accessorizing your wedding day duds with a classic bow tie? They’re not just for waiters, magicians, and nerds, you know. But I understand that a lot of grooms (and groomsmen) find bow ties intimidating because, hey, how many guys know how to tie one?
If you’re a novice, you should know that bow ties come in two varieties, the bat wing and the thistle. The former model has parallel edges while the latter bulges twice at the ends, but the dissimilarities end there. You can use the same set of instructions to tie both varieties unless you happen to be tying the more unusual and much rarer single-ended variety of bow tie. Note: There are only handful of online shops that sell single-ended bow ties and no tying tutorials whatsoever that I could find in a quickie search. Should you accidentally buy this sort of bow tie, you may be able to solicit help from an older relative who remembers what to do with them.
If your rented tux happens to come with a clip-on bow tie – ewwwww – do yourself a favor and spring for a nice classic bow tie of your very own. Few people are capable of tying a bow tie these days, and your wedding day getup will be regarded as all the more impressive because you decided to put so much thought and effort into your attire.
Image: Unkommon Kolor, Excerpt: iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net
I love love love handpainted bridal shoes – especially custom jobs that fit in with the wedding theme or have some special significance to the bride and the person she’s marrying. Recently, I came across Nora Karen and her signature bridal shoes that feature a variety of motifs. But it’s pretty obvious that Ms. Karen loves painting peacocks, making many, if not most of her custom hand painted bridal shoes perfect for the bride planning the peacock themed wedding. Or maybe for the bride who isn’t planning a peacock themed wedding, but just loves peacock feathers and wants to incorporate them into her wedding day ensemble in some subtle way. Here are some examples of the shoes on sale now – most can be had in any normal shoe store size and the designs are completely customizable!
When it comes to bouquet alternatives for the bride or for the bridesmaid, fans tend to pop into my head first – mainly because we gave our wedding guests fans as favors at our summertime Florida wedding. Yes, I know it’s the dead of winter – at least here in frigid MA – but that means it’s the perfect time to be thinking about (or losing ourselves in thoughts of) summertime weddings!
Fans for the bridesmaids can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. Some brides choose rather plain sandalwood fans dressed up with ribbons or lace or even basic paper fans in pretty colors. Others go for something a bit more outrageous, like peacock feather fans or butterfly fans. Sound sweet? Under the cut you’ll find a taste of inspiration to help you choose the perfect fans for your bridesmaids.
As is the case with many great finds, I stumbled upon Dream Catcher Studio by accident and was hooked. For those brides who have chosen un-embellished wedding dresses but want to add a touch of old Hollywood glam, the design team behind the shop makes beautiful decorative belts and sashes. But what really tickled my fancy is the one-of-a-kind bridal headpieces that make great bridal veil alternatives. Here are four that caught my eye:
A pretty hand-beaded bridal head piece reminiscent of a lace handkerchief that might be pinned over a woman’s hair in church. Imagine it paired with a vintage wedding gown, maybe one from the 40s.
Cluster pearls and crystals come together in this pretty headband that is like the glamorous older cousin of the Roman civic crown. It works with a variety of bridal hairstyles and can be worn with shorter hair.
How about a romantic bridal aigrette made of elegant ivory Alencon lace instead of a veil? Perfect for the bride who wants something smaller in her hair, but still very striking.
Headbands are a great choice, especially for brides who aren’t sure they have enough hair to pull off a clip or comb. This lovely example is made of vintage beaded applique-medallion with vintage Swarovski crystals.
Yum! Are you opting for an alternative to the traditional bridal veil?
Remember this awesome picture of a bridesmaid in stripey socks? Turns out, it’s not just a bridesmaid who’s a little quirky. Those are the namesake socks of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Socks – a group of people who send around that very pair of tootsie warmers and post photographic evidence on Flickr. I’m not sure if the group is still active, but if wouldn’t matter much to me if it was. Turns out the Sisterhood is closed to new membership except to those with a contact already in the group.
