something old, something new...

its been a very hustling and bustling week here at the crepe confectionary. i've been quite busy assisting my in-laws plan and throw my wonderful sister-in-law's wedding. it was a beautiful, romantic affair held at Asbury Hall, an old methodist church that has been renovated by our own Ani Difranco. its all dark, ornately carved woods and gothic stained glass. the candlelight, together with the great blues band and the merriment of the guests, combined to create such a special atmosphere.

as if my plate were not already brimming, i had this crazy urge to create a little keepsake for the bride and groom...just something that they would put away and maybe pull out one day. perhaps they will stop to look through a memory box full of wedding momentoes as they are cleaning out the basement, and they will find it and recall how magical their wedding day was for them and their family. i stumbled upon a bunch of vintage wedding cake topper novelties when out at the Country Living Fair in Ohio, and it got me to thinking about how sweet custom made wedding cake toppers once were. now, i've only ever really come across them all tattered and worn in an antique shop somewhere, but somehow, they look that much sweeter showing their age. this was the sentiment i wanted to create for my sister-in-law, courtney, and her new husband, mark.

so sometime between maintaining orders and business in the shop, putting together wedding wish trees and carving pumpkins for the reception, and creating 9 bridal shower gift ribbon bouquets (all color coordinated and affixed to handmade bouquet forms) for the bridal party to have for the rehearsal dinner, i put together this charming little cake topper to gift to them the eve of their wedding day. i used a small round paper mache gift box as the base of my topper, covering it with vintage sheet music for a song that was actually named, "i'm glad i'm getting married". i was so excited to have found this in my pile of scrap sheet music, and this really got the fires burning for me.

on the rim of the box top, i applied an aqua satin ribbon and some large gold dresden trim. in addition, i added an extra, smaller layer to the box top, a 'stage', if you will, for the lovebirds. i really wanted to add an arch or something vertical out of wire for the birds, so i began playing with white pipe cleaner and floral wire, twisting and playing with shapes. i finally realized that i really wanted the two lovebirds to be flanked by trees that arched over them. so i wrapped the pipe cleaners in white floral tape, shaping them into trees with branches. just then, i remembered that i had also picked up a really neat little ribbon at the CL Fair (i told you it was that good!) that was simple little leaves. i wrapped it around my tree shapes and voila! i had some sweet little trees for my lovebirds. the birds were bought at Michael's, and i simply covered them in a fine crystal glitter to make them appear more 'vintage'. after adding a few small floral embellishments, i finally added a handsewn crepe rosette with a golden horseshoe dresden to the front of the box. i hung a small banner reading 'happily ever after...' in the trees and another small banner with their names behind the horseshoe.

if i had had the luxury of more time, i would have posted pictures of my steps through the creative process. needless to say, i was very pleased (nearly giddy!) with the outcome, as were the bride and groom. i can't wait to see how it will age with the passing years. i'm thinking of adding a custom version of this heavenly little cake topper to the shop...