Whitcomb Wedding

Art direction, design, curation, groom

Everyone is their own harshest critic. Which is why art directing your own wedding can be a blessing and a curse. Every detail looks exactly as planned, but you're left wondering where the last eight months went.

We started with a few simple ideas. We set a date for right before Christmas, so it needed exude a warmth to fend off a midwest winter but not overplay the holidays. Our rings we designed were square and we wanted it close to home, downtown Cleveland, among the historic architecture of the city. Once the big items were out the way the rest just followed suit.

Our invitation set looked like it had seen years of love by the yellowing sun, aged like the 1820 church we were to be married in. Even the website created for out of town guest maintained an historic feel, making it seem like clicking through an old manuscript. Upon entering the restored church turned art gallery where our reception was held, guests were met with personalized Christmas ornaments displayed on a fresh cut tree. The ornaments functioned as seating arrangements, keepsakes and even secretly indicated meal choice to our caterers. The square shape of our rings were subtly carried through in our invitations, tables and place settings, feeling cohesive without using it as a theme.

Eight months of crafting every detail. Worth every second.

Photoshop, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, X-acto, Christmas ornaments, Hacksaw // 2009

Photographs: Genevieve Nisly