Erin's paper garlands were one of my favorite elements of our wedding decoration. Erin reached out to me about doing this special project after hearing that I loved Anthropologie's visual displays (she works as an artist/visual display coordinator at a branch in Massachusetts). Her attention to detail was incredible, and when I first opened her box of paper garlands, I was blown away. She used a different vintage button as the center of each flower; rich textiles and ribbons as accents; and meticulously cut out, folded, and ruffled pieces of paper to create the three-dimensional flowers. They were the perfect touch for our bar tables, and they now happily sit on various surfaces in our home. (erin.a.heath@gmail.com, erinheathdesign.com)
I wouldn't have finished half of the decoration projects I did without my friend Julia. We happen to live in the same neighborhood, so she came over countless times to help me cut paper, fold things, and work on various wedding projects. I knew I wanted to do paper fans ("Georgia air-condition," as they're called in the South), and Julia was able to turn some hastily taken silhouette shots of Aaron, myself, and our cats into adorable little paper fans, done in green to match the wedding's colors. I walked into our wedding photographer's office the other day and saw one propped up on the shelf. It was such a sweet reminder of our special day. Printed by foryourparty.com
I'm something of a fabric nut, so I knew I wanted to use fabric as much as possible in the wedding decor. Julia and I picked out some fun coordinating green fabrics at Purl Patchwork (purlsoho.com) and had them turned into fabric buttons by the gang at Busy Beaver. I had originally planned to buy a button machine and make them myself, but their rates were so affordable that it was more cost-effective to let them take on the custom job. Once I saw the buttons pinned to the shrimp-and-grits favor bags, I was so happy -- the range of green patterns and prints looked so cheerful. (busybeaver.net to order online)
Getting to work with friends on wedding projects was the best part of the planning for me. One of our friends (and a talented Brooklyn artist), Sian Keegan, stenciled numbers onto a collection of vintage handkerchiefs (they belonged to my family) to act as our table numbers. When the paint was dry, we mailed them to Savannah and wrapped them around pretty green bottles of water for each table. siankeegan.com; you can buy vintage handkerchiefs on eBay or Craigslist and buy stencils at Pearl Paint)
When we decided to get married in Savannah, there were two people I knew I wanted to work with right off the bat: One of them was Katie Runnels. Katie makes the sweetest, most creative little vignettes from found objects, and I knew she'd design the perfect cake topper for us. She hunted around and found a vintage paper topper and then painted it to match our hair colors, added vintage millinery flowers to match the bouquet, and combined it with a decorative base that she embroidered our names on. It was so special and was such a treat to have a piece of her artwork for our big day. (To buy her work, constantgatherer.etsy.com or theconstantgatherer.com)
Cheryl Day is the other Savannah expert that I immediately wanted to tap. From the second we got engaged, I knew I wanted Cheryl to make my cake, and when we decided on Savannah, she was the first person I emailed to ask if we could work with her. What can I say about her other than that any bride would be the luckiest woman alive to work with her? We met a few times to talk about cake details, but ultimately I told her the details that I liked, and then just let her and Katie, who was making my topper, run with the look. As always, she created something even more perfect than I could have imagined. It was the perfect combination of homemade comfort and beautiful design. (backinthedaybakery.com)
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