A Children's Book Becomes a Wedding
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10:34AM 
Let me begin by saying that I was an intolerable bride.
I tried to do everything myself, including trying to put my oldest and dearest friends into a dress of my own design that made them feel, as one of them put it, as though they "should be holding a giant lollipop". It may have been the ruffles. I was so consumed with the desire to use my good friend Michael's beautiful little orange Kharman Ghia for my photos, that I ignored his cautionary warning that the stickshift occasionally popped out of it's socket, and drove it the three hours from his house to my venue in the middle of the night over dirt roads, stopping frequently to secure the shifter into place with two rubber hair elastics and an empty Skittles bag. My cake, made directly from a sketch from white chocolate fondant made to look like peeling bark, cost more than my first car. By the time I heard myself utter the words " the delicate nature of dew covered Sally Holmes Roses" to this genius, I knew I was far past the turning point. I had turned my wedding into an elaborate design project, perhaps the most consuming of my career.
It started out innocently enough. I had fond memories of a book that I had loved as a kid called "Frog Went A-Courtin", which I suppose might have been the only visual reference to a wedding that existed in the house I grew up in. My parents had married young, built a geodesic dome, fled to Canada, rolled a volkswagen bus, and split before I was three. In fact, I think the only detail I know about my mother's own engagement was something I heard her say one summer afternoon when we were having a party and a college friend of mine showed up with a bag of fresh salad greens that she had grown and picked. "I brought fresh Mesclun" she said, holding up the sack of lettuce-looking stuff. "Oh God", replied my mother, "I haven't had any mescaline since the day I got engaged to Heather's father." No Mom", I heard myself say, pointing to the enormous bag of lettuce "Mary brought salad greens. From her garden. NOT illegal hallucenogenics. SALAD greens."
Anyway, Frog Went A-Courtin was to my young mind exactly what wedding should be. The illustrations, by Feodor Rojankovsky, mimicked the rural Vermont landscape that was were my surroundings exactly, with an eye for detail that was as close to the ground as a child's. As I consulted this book for design ideas for everything from my invitations to my table settings, I shoved that book under the bewildered noses of every person involved in the event. And while most of the responses were kindly meant to humor me, I think the results overall were pretty successful, annoyed bridesmaids aside. Here are some images from the book, which can be viewed online here, plus some shots of my invites and my wedding.
I made the invitations on my dining table using my GOCCO printer, John Gruen, who also shot the pictures for Weekend Sewing, was my photographer, and the wedding was held at Blueberry Hill Inn, in Goshen Vermont. My birch bark cake was made my this wonderful shop in Montpelier, Vermont, and my dress was made by Ghost Tailor of New York City. And no, the idea of making the map (to my extremely rural wedding venue) that was included in my invitations "look like it was made with branches, with towns being depicted as leaves" was NOT a good idea. Several people never found it, and one couple drove around on dark dirt roads for hours trying to follow the scent of bonfire until the fear of running out of gas drove them back to the safety of their Inn. The chocolates are made by a company called Caffarel, but the source I used isn't selling them anymore. Just as well, as due to the fact that I had forgotten to provide my wedding party with brunch the morning of, they were forced to feed on them. Its still sort of a sore subject.
Reader Comments (27)
SO beautiful! You really managed to translate those great illustrations into a wonderful wedding! I too did every detail of my wedding on my own (from designing/printing the invites to hemming the table runners - I was setting tables the morning of...) and I truly think that it made the day so much more personal. Not to mention cheaper!
that makes me feel better about the fact that I met with my musician while making my flower girls dresses... at 7 am the morning of my wedding...
Do you have a Gocco? Its the bomb.
i think i created bigger expenses by doing everything myself, I was so posessed!
ok - this is going to sound dorky but that post blew me away. Totally and completely the coolest. The map is amazing! The whole things is magical and I totally got swept away just reading along. Thank you so much for sharing.
I have to say those are the coolest wedding invitations I have ever seen!! And I cringe when I think of what I picked out for my bridesmaids (you know, with the thought they could wear them again of course). Love all the little details including the mushrooms at the table settings!
where were you when planned my wedding? Beautiful....even if you were being a control freak! :-) I'm so jealous of your tent set-up. That's exactly what I wanted, but it most definitely was not in the budget
wow, that looks like it was a seriously wonderful wedding- you know what they say, it is *your* day, and it sounds like you really did make it your own in the most magical way (any accusations of control freakishness aside). i can't think of any better guide for planning your wedding than a children's story about frogs, either.
Looks like a great wedding to me! I hope your marriage is just as storybook.
I love all the details. The peeling bark cake is genius. I think that getting wrapped up in all the details and bringing them to fruition, though admittedly an adventure, is what makes something really great. I am sure that your guests took things home from that day that they still think of. Well done.
What a great story! Funny! And gorgeous! gorgeous! - those are the coolest invites I've ever seen. Kharman Ghia's are my all time favourite car so I can completely relate to your insistence on having one for your photos.
Super funny and super cool! You really had quite the wedding, looked wonderful with lots of memory making. Me, I chose to elope with my parents there to take the children home afterwards and one of my sisters there to take pictures so that I wouldn't have to worry about details.
I love reading your blog!
Oh my, your cake was amazing! So beautiful! I love how you took the book and translated it in to your wedding. You did such a wonderful job.
Wow! That is the most beautiful wedding that I've ever seen! I hope you had lots of fun, too, once all of that planning was done! I just got a gocco printer and I can't wait to try it out. If I can make anything that is even vaguely as nice as your cards, I'll be thrilled!
What a wonderful wedding. Just lovely. Love all the details.
Ha ha ha, "salad greens not hallucinogenic drugs" My mother recently went to a luncheon reception where the caterers didn't proofread the menu cards, and the lunch supposedly included "mescaline with raspberry vinaigrette". A little spellcheck is a dangerous thing, if not supervised...
I don't even get a mention about having to follow your sorry orange karma ghia butt in a rental car going 12 mph at three in the morning on dark dirt vermont roads listening to old NPR shows on your ipod with one ear bud so I wouldn't fall asleep and drive into a tree - really? Not one mention?
Hi Heather, Your wedding photos and invites are unbelievable! I had to do everything myself for my wedding, too, so I know what that's like! I think my best friend was going to be married at that same Inn about 10 years ago! They didn't get married (thank goodness for HIM) and she's no longer my best friend, sad story... but her sister is getting married this September (in Hawaii, not VT) and I attended her bridal shower yesterday, speaking of weddings and all... ANYWAY! Your blog is so much fun. I don't normally read blogs because I don't have time to waste, I mean, spend reading about other people's lives, but yours is great!!! SO I'm going to put the link on my desktop so I can check it every week. XOXOX, Alison
Ok, first, that is the most amazing wedding cake ever. Worth whatever you paid for it! Who needs a car? :)
The invites, the tables, the Karmen Ghia, all of it.....STUNNING!!!
HoLY COW! This is completely awesome!! :) What a beautiful wedding. I love your attention to detail. The location is truly stunning.
amazing... every bit of it i saw, i love!!
I love, love, love, love LOVE everything about this post. And even though the map gave you trouble, it's still my favorite element to the whole invitation ensemble.
I heard & saw even more from your sister - what a magical & memorable wedding, Heather! My other favorite story was where your Dad stayed, or didn't stay, his first night!
What a beautiful wedding party you had! Christie's daughter's look absolutely adorable!
Wow, I just stumbled across your blog & this post in particular! I love the "white" theme in your wedding party; only the Maid Of Honor wore a pale blue? I think an all white wedding is a great idea! Cheers, Julie
brilliant. I love using children's books as inspiration. perfectly dreamy
What an unbelievably gorgeous wedding! I love the fact it's tied into a children's book, and all the super attention to details! That cake is amazing too!
I can't get over how much I love that map. I've gotten lost on far less beautiful direction maps from wedding invites. And the raccoon who looks like a japanese rice farmer in those sandals !! But why does that frog need a gun in his belt to go a-courting?! Ha! If I had it to do over (and didn't have a mother who took over), I think I'd use your idea of a storybook wedding with a Trina Schart Hyman book I had as a kid. WHAT a terrific idea. You rock.