They were married first

I started to find inspiration for the wedding from looking through flower arrangements. And I don’t know if you know it yet or not, but I love mid-century design. ;) All the pictures I kept saving had the same kind of vintage feel to them and so I decided to embrace it all.

I started to research mid-century everything. Mid-century flowers. Mid-century invitations. Mid-century tablescapes. You get the picture. And I researched mid-century cakes. I’ll do another post later on our final cake design. As a spoiler, I’m not getting one from Publix (like I thought because they were cheaper), but cake from Costco with a “cake dummy” and more icing from Michael’s and flowers/greenery from our garden. But I digress… while searching for cake designs I found this image with a dreamy cake topper.

Dreamy, right? To be honest, while I do find this stunning, here is an example of how my tastes have changed. I am not sure that the 22 year old me would have even wanted to use a cake topper, much less a used one. But I am older and wiser now, and have way better taste. haha. Ok maybe just older, but I do love the look of this cake.

I set out to find a true vintage cake topper that would watch over me as I pulled this mid-century reception together. I looked all over Etsy and eBay and finally found the one that I truly love on eBay. Isn’t it even more dreamy? I love how it is from the 1940s, but looks like they could be a modern couple. I love how he has a tie and not a bow tie (Jonathan will be wearing a tie). I absolutely loved her dress, and proved my love by spending an exorbitant amount of time looking for it. My mom and I looked through vintage patterns. I contacted vintage wedding dress shops. I looked at current dresses. I looked for vintage dresses, but alas I could not find this dress. [That is OK because I found a stunning dress instead - eeek!!] But it proves to you how much I love this cake topper. It is perfect in every way.

After I bought it I was afraid that it would get here and I wouldn’t think it was authentic. So I messaged the seller more about it. Here is what she said: I’m so glad you are excited about this cake topper. I just love finding little treasures like this one and finding them a new home. I found this at an estate sale. The couple were married in the 40s. I am not sure of the year? I was thinking early 40s maybe even late 30s is when it was made.

Isn’t that wonderful?! I love that we are using something from a couple that I hope were happily married until the end of their lives. Maybe we are the second people using it after the original owners? And even if none of that is true, I love bringing life back into something that could have been tossed away. I’m so thankful to let this couple shine again.

This topper is Chalkware. Chalkware is usually sculpted out of plaster of Paris and was very popular with mid-century design. My cousin’s husband paints figures and I asked him if he could repaint this for me. He said that this figure was probably hand carved and he was nervous about trying to repaint it and match their colors. Also, we want to retain its vintage history and we don’t want it to look new - since it isn’t. So we are keeping it looking the same with all of its bumps and bruises.

I think this couple is like a lot of us. Looks really great, perfect even, from a distance, but when you really get a closer look you start to notice all of the imperfections. I think that makes life more interesting. I am who I am today because of my faults and mishaps. I think I am more approachable because of these bruises - at least I hope I am. At least I want to be. I hope you find me that way.

Enjoy this beautifully, perfect couple from afar and closer with all of their imperfections. I sure am.