Posted by Eunice Moyle, whose wedding is featured in the Spring 2010 issue!
We wanted the whole wedding to have a joyful and festive air, and loved the idea of a rowdy parade out to the reception site from the main house of Wilbur Hot Springs. The animals were inspired by a vintage carnival aesthetic and were cut for us by Because We Can and painted and decorated by many of our friends in preparation for the wedding.
The shadow puppets were inspired by a Tim Walker photograph of children parading with animals on sticks. This was the photo that originally inspired the idea of a parade.
1 The parade took place just before the ceremony -- our guests gathered at the path to the field we were to be married in and were lead to the wedding by the band and Daniel and his groomsmen.
2 We also had people carrying parasols and oversized balloons to add to the festive mood.
3 Some of the animals, in their early stages.
4 They were all edged in gold and finished off with some additional detailing.
5 Here's Daniel painting the unicorn.
6 A few more of the animals.
7 Jillian and the squirrel.
We placed a miniature animal (each a smaller version of the shadow puppets) on a stick in each floral arrangement to identify the tables.
1 The smaller animals were sprayed gold too, like the shadow puppets.
2 The animal kingdom.
3 The frog table. Photo by Gia Canali.
4 A dragonfly atop the floral arrangement.
In addition to the props from the parade and the corresponding shadow puppet centerpieces, we also created several other props for the other portions of the wedding, including the photobooth from Magnolia Photobooth:
1 We have an extensive hat collection which we pulled together to use as props for the photobooth--including a marching band hat and a top hat I had augmented with velveteen rabbit ears and millinery bits for an Alice in Wonderland party. I also found some great animal masks and covered them in vintage glass glitter. Photo by Gia Canali.
2 We designed a variety of moustaches to be used as props for the photo booth -- inspired by the moustaches that were used in the cracker pull favors.
3 The speech bubbles were also made by Because We Can, for the photo booth. We spray-painted them with chalkboard paint and had them out with a box of chalk for guests for commentary.
4 Having all of the props on hand resulted in some hilarious photos and many shenanigans late into the evening. Photo by Gia Canali.
5 We found this megaphone at the flea market and thought it would be a brilliant prop to be used by Tom, Daniel's best man, to make announcements (very circus side show). It was plain white, so we spray painted it with teal stripes and decorated with silver pinstriping tape (meant for detailing cars).
*To see the whole wedding, visit this gallery.*
From: michael | 3/11/10 at 8:05 pm
I cannot tell you how in love I am with Hello Lucky, and your beautiful, creative, innovative, inspired wedding. These days it's hard to be anything but derivative, and your wedding is imbued with mirth and joy all around.... it's rare, it's exciting, and it's a boon to us. The downturn has hit all of us, and we are thrilled this will bring curious eyes and renewed interest to our humble little property!
A little bit swooning at your love (and remember my wedding which used Hello Lucky), a little bit stealing this to share on our FB page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Williams-CA/Wilbur-Hot-Springs-Historic-Lodge-Mineral-Baths-Nature-Sanctuary/93276970212?ref=ts)...
I thought the least I could do on behalf of Wilbur is say THANK YOU... and congratulations. Cheers to you and yours, and don't hesitate to share the page with your friends. BE WELL!
Sincerely,
Michael at Wilbur.
From: wedding speeches | 5/9/10 at 7:10 am
Last year we had a wedding parade for John from our Soccer team. We had great weather—great weather in December meaning 10℃ (50°F) with lots of pretty leaves blowing around—and amazing crowds wherever we went. This parade was smaller scale than usual—one convertible, eight Harleys, one X4, a Vulcan, and a big scooter as cameraman.
It being the last shopping weekend before Christmas, the streets were packed with people, so we had a great audience in a happy holiday mood, and we had some of the best crowd reactions we’ve ever had for a parade