Part of my wanting our wedding decor to be as earth-conscious as possible will include the use of various knick-knacks and keepsakes from both Richard's family and my own. Not only will our centerpieces and displays be fun and unique, we will have not go buying anything that will be thrown away afterward.
Richard and I have been collecting various little treasures and things for years and it will feel so much more personal on our big day to have objects that we have grown up around incorporated into the atmosphere.
While I was taking a few things to storage today, I couldn't help but pull a few of our treasures out to photograph and start getting ideas about.
Unfortunately, it's been a few weeks since I've been to the storage unit and my loving, always meaning-well fiance managed to bury not only most of my wedding stuff with camping gear and ice chests, but also my winter clothes. Hopefully this autumn heat wave will wait to break long enough for me to do some digging.
The dog belonged to Richard's grandparents. While looking through photos from the 1970's during Richard's childhood, it's easy to spot him in the corner. In the family photos from Richard's dad's childhood in the 1950's , sure enough, he's there too. It makes me so happy to know that he will be be spotted in the background of my daughter's childhood photos as well as a wedding photo or two.
Luckily, Richard's dad is just as nostalgic as he is and has managed to hang on to a lot of Nanny and Poppy's old things. The Aunt Jemima belonged to Nanny and she used to have Richard paint it for her every year as a little boy.
The phone was in my little vintage clothing store, Hungry Heart Recycler, during the short, fun, overwhelming time that I had a physical shop as well as an online one. We thought it would be so fun to have a vintage phone in a vintage shop...but man it sucked to dial out!
The great thing is, every little thing at the wedding will be filled with memories like these.
Nothing will be mass-produced and everything will have a story.
What's even more amazing is that nothing will have a price-tag and nothing will be going into a landfill afterward.
How cool is this sign? The electrical doesn't work anymore but I'm pretty sure one of the little lamp kits at Michael's will do the trick. It's low on my to-do list simply because like my dad, I seem to get shocked every time I attempt any sort of electrical handy-work.
And how awesome is his old cigar box? Richard's last name is Hawley and it's fairly uncommon. We found it for a cool $4. Can't beat that with a stick!
Project to BeThis was the top of our used CD rack at our old record store. I have at least four of them and could not bring myself to just throw them away. They were made by a local finishing carpenter and are super smooth to the touch. I stained them with some black wood stain to match the decor of the shop but since they are no longer in use, painting them wouldn't be an issue. I could even decoupage them! I want to figure out a use for them. I thought maybe putting them on a table and filling them with rice or uncooked beans or something and using it to hold place cards. What are some other ideas?
On a side note...
According to Good Morning America this morning (haha!), (faux) fur is in this fall. If you want the real deal without the guilt (the fox would have been dead by now, I promise) check out these awesome vintage pieces, to be added to my etsy shop first thing Monday. If you can't wait until then, I listed a to-die-for detachable beaded collar just this afternoon.
