Designing Wedding Heirlooms: Folk Art, Folks

I searched and searched for a cake topper for our wedding and somehow I never really got around to getting it done--that is, until last week.

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Murphy's work (I have one of her little mice) and Ann Wood's (I have a sweet gingham bird but couldn't get two--they sell in a heartbeat's time!), but, in all the planning, I wasn't sure if I could budget for either artist to make a custom piece for us. To do the wedding within our graduate student means, I needed to choose exactly which heirloom pieces I wanted and so I opted for the special hairpin and wedding certificate. Plus, I was concerned that I would be spending money on such a beautiful thing that would in the end get covered in sticky icing and cake...!

Then, last week, it came to me--what if I bought one of Jennifer Murphy's licensed designs (they can be found here) and modify it a bit. Well, they're currently on sale (yes!), one is on the way here and I'm just going to stroll over to the craft store for a round wood block, some rickrack & some white paint to build a taller pedestal and raise the piece up a bit. I might even tack a little red heart on there somewhere. It's hard to beat a $15 cake topper. Here's hoping it works. If not, I have a little keepsake for my office. I think the strawberry pedestal is adorable.

If you're still looking for your topper, I stumbled upon Middleburg Folk Art Studio today. I think these would be so sweet for a wedding at a country estate or even just at home. I can just imagine some fresh flowers behind the two statuary birds!

Don't you just love the groom's stance? There's a sweetness about how stiff they're standing, like loving nervousness.