Quilled Quaker Marriage Certificate

This past summer I had the pleasure of creating a marriage certificate for a September wedding. The organized bride had contacted me months earlier which was ideal... it can be surprising just how much planning goes into a certificate - there's the overall design, calligraphy style, wording, and colors to consider. It's all handled easily via email though, and causes me to marvel at what a slow process it would be without the internet. Come to think of it, the bride wouldn't have even found me without this website!

She loved the style and colors of the chandelier certificate and wanted something similar, but not identical. The couple's vineyard wedding had a green, gray, and red color palette which might sound a bit like Christmas, but trust me... having seen their amazing photos, the end result didn't make one think of December in the least.

For the quilling, the bride requested muted, natural greens - I used forest and moss - along with shades of gray and touches of silver. Once again calligrapher Riva Brown of Living Letters Studio did the lettering and mounting of the certificate. She placed rich red ribbons at the corners which worked well to tie the certificate in with the wedding colors.

Instead of a chandelier, the bride expressed interest in a swirled design as the top motif... she said she would leave it up to me to make something pretty and wanted to be surprised when it arrived in the mail - a dream client for sure!

One major difference with this certificate is that the guest signatures were placed on a separate sheet along with the couple's favorite quote. This way the quilling is completely out of harm's way during the signing. Also, framing can be less expensive if the signature sheet is placed back to back in the frame with the certificate, and of course it can be framed or stored separately.

If you enjoy reading about wedding details, the bride is Mrs. Pony on the popular site, weddingbee.com, where she blogged (delightfully, I might add!) throughout the entire planning process. Mrs. Pony even included posts about marriage certificates in general, and their decision to commission one.