wedding certificates
There are so many fun ways to present guestbooks at receptions, but one of our favorite ways to capture the names of guests in attendance is the Quaker-style wedding certificate. It’s better than many other versions of the guest book, in our opinion, because it can be framed and admired for years to come.
There are many ways to design a wedding certificate, from the very traditional, where the vows, date and wedding location are listed, to more modern versions that may only list the bride and groom’s names at the top in a decorative manner along with a quote or poem.
No matter how you choose to embellish your certificate, there are a few things that are standard certificate to certificate. Two lines are typically reserved at the top of the page for the bride and groom. Since in the Quaker tradition, the bride and groom marry one another in the presence of friends and family, there would not be a line for the minister on a true Quaker certificate, but you could add that line to yours just beneath the bride and groom’s signature lines. General signature lines follow and are often introduced by copy that reads, “as witnessed by our friends and family,” or some version thereof.
The design of the certificate above included details that were sentimental for the bride and groom: Montauk daisies to remind the bride of where she grew up and to nod to the groom’s proposal and dogwood blossoms for Virginia, where their wedding took place. It’s those sort of sentimental details that mean so much. Below, guests sign Alex and Paul’s certificate at their outdoor reception at Maymont.
certificate designed by Miss Pickles Press; image by Don Mears
Recipes for a happy marriage #4
derby day wedding inspiration
I just love these derby day wedding invitations and accessories designed by Miss Pickles Press for Kate and Matt who are being married today in North Carolina! {how cute are those coasters?}
Sweet as Pie
Be sure to check out our D.I.Y. up on The Brides Cafe today!
A Stitch in Time
A Stitch in Time {which appeared yesterday on Once Wed} was inspired by the true story of an engagement. We took the real life story and ran with it, breathing more and more inspiration and texture into the shoot everyday as we concepted.
I usually start projects with an inspiration board. Not every designer works that way, but they help me to narrow and focus. I also wrote a story that gave us a narrative to concept around. Then we got to work.
Kimberly at Chez Sucre Chez and Jen at Miss Pickles Press were the first people I called. I knew they’d be perfect for this project.
We found an amazing venue outside of Richmond called Amber Grove Inn. Amber Grove is a wedding venue operated by John McDermott. The barn {pictured above} was a dairy barn in a former life; now it hosts ceremonies and small receptions. There’s also a house on the property that John rents for events and a large tented area perfect for larger receptions.
Need Supply hooked us up with the coziest sweater for Jill to wear over her pink ruffle dress (found at H + M) and a pair of killer booties. We outfitted Chris with an assortment of things found, borrowed and purchased. His handsome bowtie came from Halcyon — an amazing vintage store in Richmond.
Check out that headband. It was designed by Lyndzee Ellsworth at Lady Vintique. All of Lyndzee’s pieces are one of a kind.
Janie made the prettiest bouquets full of red dahlias, and Miss Pickles Press hand stamped muslin bags. Each bag contained a special memory our fictitious groom scribed for his bride-to- be, which she found on her way to him at the end of the string of yarn, where he was waiting to “propose.”
Miss Pickles Press made signs that read, “will you marry me” and “she said yes” printed on wood veneer. Rumor has it that Jen will be adding signs to her shop soon!
Vintage spools of thread {found on etsy} along a fence at Amber Grove…
Drawer pulls collected at Anthropologie…wouldn’t this be a lovely way to display escort cards or pictures at a reception?
The talented people who brought this shoot to life are truly amazing. Big thanks to…
Jen at Miss Pickles Press
Ryan and Kelly at Kellan Studios
Janie Medley at The Brides Cafe
Need Supply Company
The Yarn Lounge
Erika Nixon at Makeup on Demand (contact Erika at makeupondemand@comcast.net)
Kimberly at Chez Sucre Chez
John at Amber Grove Inn
Moore and Giles (who loaned us the leather chairs)
and our models, my dear friends, Chris + Jill
Special Delivery
Look what I got in the mail today! Pretty postcards made by Miss Pickles Press.
Did you know that the now wildly popular, often replicated “keep calm and carry on” poster originated during WWII in England? Check out this article from The Guardian. It’s a classic turned pop culture phenom, and just couldn’t be a better expression of what we aim to embody as an event planning company. We put our spin on this old classic, developed nearly eighty years ago (can you believe that?), by replacing the British crown with the Merriment pom and by incorporating our own Merriment font.
Jen did such an amazing job on all of our printed materials and our site design. I just couldn’t be happier! But, really, how could you be anything but happy looking at those pom poms?
New work from Miss Pickles Press
Jen Mageau of Miss Pickles Press knows how to dress up a party. Not only does Jen
make beautiful custom invitations, her pretty paper details- cupcake flags, drink
stirrers, coasters (recently made for a Knot event in Atlanta) and custom cigar
wrappers (made for a wedding)- are, as Jen says, the details we all “go gaga for.”
See more of Jen’s work here.
{images by kristen alexander}
Jen + Richard’s Charming Southern Wedding
Jen and Richard were married October 5th on a farm just outside of Atlanta. Jen, of Miss Pickles Press, designed the invitations, guest favors (pumpkin butters, yum), cupcake toppers, cutlery envelopes, ceremony programs, bridesmaid gifts, gift tags, and s’mores packets. Jen said, “we had a BBQ reception with a bluegrass band, so i wanted all the crafts to reflect a ‘barn’ and ‘fall in the south’ kind of feel.”
Jen designed her dress with the help of Creations Bridal Boutique in Richmond, and seamstress, Jenni Crisci.
Flowers by Gloriosa Design.
Jen ordered the plain birdcage veil from Something Bold, and made the flower and feather fascinator that adorned it with floral and feather supplies from Michael’s!
“Chow Down” and “Good Grub” cutlery envelopes.
Custom made cupcake flags.
Guests left the reception with pumpkin butter in hand!
From top left:
The wedding invitation.
Jen gave her bridesmaids silk pouches that contained custom-made glass paperweights (see the paperweights on the last row on the right).
“Chow Down” and “Good Grub” cuterly envelopes for the reception.
On the far right, you’ll see custom made books (tied with orange ribbon) that contained Jen and Richard’s ceremony (for the minister to read from and for guests who did readings during the ceremony).
Paperweights for bridesmaids.
Detail of the wedding ceremony programs.
I just love Jen’s cake. Here’s what she said about the passage in the frame on top of it, “It’s a passage from Alice in Wonderland about Alice following the rabbit down the rabbit hole. When Richard decided to move to Virginia with me (we had only been dating for about 6 months), he said ‘let’s see how far down this rabbit hole goes’…of course meaning ‘ok – let’s see what this relationship has in store for us’…it was really sweet and was a huge leap of faith on his part. So I wanted some sort of homage to that. I designed a little old-timey graphic using the rabbit from the original illustrations, and found that little frame at Michael’s.”
Photography by Martha Manning for Missy Mclamb Photography and Ashley Blencoe of Studio Blencoe.
Thank you Jen and Richard for sharing your beautiful wedding with us! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Miss Pickles Press wedding designs!
Sneak Peek: Jen + Richard
I’m so excited about tomorrow’s post: the wedding of Jen and Richard. Stop by tomorrow for all sorts of goodies!
