another installment of: CREEPY OR AWESOME?

The faces are cut out of Victorian photos, but never fear..... Crystal does custom!

I found your cake topper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The good news: It's one-of-a-kind and fully functional!

The bad news: It's $1000.

Michael Leavitt for {far4}

Abby + Ted's Adorbs Berkshire Wedding

Abby was an early reader of ESB (long before she was engaged....) so it's super fun for me to be featuring her real live wedding photos. Super. Fun.

Here's what Abby and Ted had to say about their sweet little mountain wedding:

My rocker BF gave me a twist tie instead of a diamond, and it was perfect. In his music studio, surrounded by about 20 of his closest guitars and synths, Teddy proposed to me with a black twist tie he had fashioned into a ring -- a twist tie that a minute before had been holding together some cables. I wore it for about 24 hours, and then we picked out a stacker set by Rhode Island jewelry artist Heather Guidero. We had the original twist tie engagement ring cast in silver to preserve the spontaneous and totally metal nature of the proposal.

Teddy is an experimental sound artist and electronic musician, and I’m an architecture librarian, so we eloped in the mountains in an introvert’s paradise. Our wedding was a quiet, private, DIY celebration of us and what we've built and will continue to build. We got married in the Berkshire Mountains in Williamstown, Massachusetts with just our immediate family and a few friends, 12 people including us. We chose the Guesthouse at Field Farm as the venue because it’s one of our favorite places. It’s where we come to get away, read, write and be happy.

The Guesthouse at Field Farm is a mid-century 6-bedroom home that once belonged to a librarian and American art collector. There is a library, American paintings, books in every room, and original mid-century furniture. It's now a B&B on a nature preserve, so we rented the venue for the weekend, and had complete privacy. Design is important to us, and our venue was a place designed and built with love and an eye for minimal beauty.

We held the ceremony under a tree in a field, surrounded by mountains. Most of the flowers came from my Mom’s garden, including poppies which we put in the boutonnieres. My brother Pat walked me down the aisle, and my brother Brian was my MOH (Man of Honor). There was a flash storm, high winds, heavy rain and black skies for about an hour before the ceremony. But, just before, the sky opened up and the birds were freaking out. All I could hear was birds chirping, and I had so much fun during the ceremony. That surprised me. I was so present, in the moment and content. The ceremony was my favorite part.

A close runner up for favorite moment is the photo/skate sesh we had just before the ceremony. We hiked out to the main road, and my brothers tore down the hill on their skateboards in full suits, laughing like crazy as they just barely missed me. At one point, I had to wear Pat’s skate shoes to tromp into the muddy woods for photos. There I was in my Sarah Seven dress, holding my Jeffrey Campbell wedges and stomping into the forest in my brother’s huge, skate shoes. It was awesome.

After the ceremony, we had an intimate dinner at the Guesthouse in the dining room. We designed a minimal woodland chic tablescape, including a burlap runner, animal place card holders with library place cards, menus hand-typed by the groom, and airplants. We got a rad custom cake topper from Melabo, which was our first wedding purchase. The cake was a DELICIOUS gluten-free chocolate cake by our caterer, Wild Oats, a local farm co-op.

Following dinner, Teddy performed an original work called “Ceremony” in the garden. Here’s how he described that: 

“Ceremony, a site-specific sound installation created for our wedding day consists of 3 different instruments (acoustic guitar, sampled piano and modular synthesizer) each recorded onto their own cassettes. Each instrument was recorded in varying lengths and then looped at different intervals, each only repeating 1-3 times. The effect is somewhat hypnotizing as familiarity with each part is only partially established before the overall feel of the piece changes over time. The 3 cassettes are played in unison in their own individual players, each placed around the area where we were married.”

When the sun set, we celebrated with drinks and watched an entire field of fireflies blinking like nature glitter. It was one of the most incredible things I’ve seen.

Our photographers Jamie and Michelle of Rad + in Love were amazing. Like better-than-I-ever-could-have-imagined incredible. They helped us choose our ceremony and photo locations. They were fun and flexible, and guided us through the day. It was a privilege to have such talented, cool and stylish ladies be a part of our celebration. The energy they contributed to the weekend ended up helping to shape one of my most favorite weekends ever, and I can never thank them enough for being part of it.

We live in coastal Rhode Island, so we had a big post-elopement picnic with about 100 friends and family at the Meeting House in Tiverton, Rhode Island the week after our ceremony.

In the end, our wedding was exactly what we wanted, we shared it with people we love and made new friends in the process. And, WE’RE MARRIED. Seriously, it’s the best.

-Ted and Abby

Photos by Rad + In Love! Go see more over on their blog.

BHLDN is pissing me off

Hey ESB,

I'm Allyson, your Lady X, and THANK YOU for the rings you pulled online on your site. We love the ruby red ring so much! Anyway, I appreciate your time, so mahalos.

So. Are you familiar with BHLDN? It's Anthro's sister-wedding site. They launched their decor line today. Did you know you can purchase a 20 ft garland for $1500? Or a paper bouquet for $224? Or a freaking cake topper for $598?

Who the hell do they think they are?! The mark-ups on these items are disgusting. Weddings are NOT financial blow-out opportunities for commercial conglomerates.

*****

Actually, the press release I received was for BHLDN "décor." Perhaps that explains why they're charging roughly $5/paper petal?

(Photos courtesy of BHLDN; Layout by cevd, obv.)

paper mache caketoppers

Made from 100% recycled newspaper by Middleburg.

The doves are looking at me like, "C'mon, buy us just to have around the house."

Via Polka Dot Bride.

Ashley Anna Brown's Fern Animals

I saw this real wedding post on eco-chic weddings and had to investigate the birdie cake-topper. The Indie Wedding Guide led me to Fern Animals by Ashley Anna Brown, and her etsy shop.

Ashley does custom. What about a non-avian cake topper, people? You could get dogs or cats or lions with antlers!

(All images from Ashley Anna Brown's blog)

Birdie Love: Lauren Alane

Oh Joy! did this simple little bits post yesterday featuring Henry the Owl by Lauren Alane. Which led me to thoughts of cake toppers... Or gifts for bridesmaids!

Lauren says she doesn't do custom (although the owl in the apron was done for a friend's kitchen) but she puts current projects on her blog. And new birds will be available on her etsy shop this Thursday (March 20th) at 9pm EST. (Oh Etsy.)

(All images from Lauren Alane)

Abby Glassenberg: Too big for a cake topper?

I think these have more personality than the Ann Wood owls that are all over the f'n blogs.

Bird sculptures by Abby Glassenberg via Design*Sponge. See more pics at artstream gallery.