Posted by Eunice Moyle, whose wedding is featured in the Spring 2010 issue!
I briefly mentioned part of our favors yesterday, when I shared the mustache cards included in the crackers at each place setting. So here's the rest!
We made crackers inspired by the British tradition of Christmas crackers and placed one at each plate to act as place card -- the guests names were written in gold calligraphy by Michele Papineau on bands that wrapped around each cracker. During one of our many "craft nights," my sister and friends wrapped toilet paper tubes in striped paper and added "cracker snaps" (little caps on a bit of paper that snap/pop when you pull on them). We then wrapped them in purple and fuchsia crepe paper, and tied them at either end with sea foam or pink seam tape.
The idea was for each guest to grab one end of a cracker in each hand (sharing the other end with the guest next to them, so their arms are crossed), then everyone pulls at the same time, popping open the crackers.
Each cracker was filled with treats and silly bits, including tissue paper crowns (these are a traditional element in crackers -- we actually made ours by hand so they'd be in the color palette), stick-on mustaches, mints, and a felt heart-shaped badge made by Daniel (he's famous for wearing homemade felt pins and badges on a regular basis). The idea was to have the guests interacting with each other and being silly right from the get go -- it was a great way to break the ice. Even the most staid guest ended up with a ridiculous mustache and crown ensemble.
I found pale pink and blue pillow mints (delish!) at Groovy Candies. We packaged them in glassine envelopes with vintage inspired labels. These were included in the crackers.
I also designed the playing cards to be part of a welcome gift for our guests who stayed with us at Wilbur Hot Springs. The deck was a collaboration between myself and textile artist, Joel Dewberry. Joel provided an original pattern, which was used on the back of the deck, and I illustrated the face cards and designed the deck. Each face card was a woodland creature inspired by Joel's design, with regal finery inspired by classic playing cards. They were left in each room along with a novel from Penguin's cloth-bound classics series and some fresh baked cookies from Anthony's Cookies in San Francisco. The card decks were printed and packaged by Your Playing Cards.
1 This is the proof for the design showing all the lines for cutting and folding it into a box.
2 My sketch of the Jack.
3 The actual Jack of Hearts.
4 My sketch of one of the Queens.
5 The Queen of Clubs.
6 Another Queen, in sketch form.
7 The Queen of Hearts.
8 The King.
9 The King of Hearts.
10 Here's a sea of cards contained in the deck.
And that's it! I hope you've enjoyed reading about the making of my wedding as much as I've loved recounting it!
From: Alex | 1/18/11 at 4:17 am
Thanks Eunice, I enjoyed reading this article. I just wanted to share to others reading that I used to use the company called 'Your Playing Cards' to print the playing cards which I offer as part of my wedding photography service, but recently I switched my supplier to a company called 'Printerstudio.com'. Their online cards builder is more versatile and the quality of the cards printed are great. The main difference is that the cards they use are completely bendable from end to end without creasing in the middle. Although their website is a retail store, I contacted them and they will quote you on a per customer basis as well.
From: lynn | 3/24/11 at 11:14 pm
their website is http://www.printerstudio.com for those who want to find them
From: lauren | 4/15/12 at 5:56 pm
Hi! I love the idea of having poppers at my wedding and yours are so beautiful! do you have more info on how you made them?
thank you!
L
From: Sean | 12/17/12 at 12:02 pm
I was actually interested in the playing cards and the i saw your adorable post about the wedding!!! Looks like it was amazingly fun! But, wondering... I'm a card collector and the design you made for those cards is stunning! Specially the KQJ ones, wondered if it's possible to buy a deck of them or if there's a way to get them...