A new Medieval Bride network

I have just made a new network and forum as an extention of the medieval bride blog. It's meant for all of you who likes to read this blog and are planning your own weddings. You're very welcome to join and under the forum My Wedding Plan, you can start your own topic where you can post pictures and share stories. :)

http://medievalbride.wall.fm/

It's still new to me and I have never been the admin of a network before, so there's still a lot to be done in there. I will love any ideas and I hope to see you there all you future Medieval Brides.

Woodcuts - inspiration and decoration

Woodcuts was a way in the Middle Ages to make a picture that could be easily copied and they fill the pages of books of the period. If you are to make an invitation or a program the woodcuts could be a mean to make them look really cool and authentic. I have already used a couple of them for my program and it really sets the scene for the day.

It can be difficult to find what you are looking for but you can always google them. Otherwise there's this site: GoodCookery that has a very fine collection of woodcuts from books. Amongst these are this classical depiction of a medieval marriage:

Spiegel des menschlichen Lebens, 1475-76

 I loved it so much I used it both in the program and the save-the-dates. I already posted the std's but I'll show you them again along with the back and front of my programs:

The STDs

If you find these illustraions beautiful it's just a matter of getting started. To finish this entry op here's a few woodcuts from the GoodCookery collection:

 

1480

1505



A medieval wedding

Look at these stunning photos of a medieval wedding by Thomas F. Berger from Flickr:

I love the attention to details in this handfasting photo. The groom has a magníficent sword, chainmail and bracers along with his royal blue tabard. The golden handfasting cord that binds the couple together is also very reagal.

The bride is probably a bit more on the romantic than the medieval side although the shape of the dress is very celtic medieval. The fact that it's white isn't so important because look how beautiful she is, that soft floating fabric combined with the delicate lace and the baby's breath flowers in the buquet and hair!  

The knightly prince embraces his princess. I think this is why a lot of couples likes this theme so much. It's all about fairy tales and old-old fashion love. Notice her loose hair with the simple ribbon and flowers.

The officiant looks great and see how shiny the shield is. I reckon this was a great wedding. It's just a pity that the photografer hasn't posted more from the day. The rose buquet is lovely too, I should really have liked to be a guest at that wedding.

A centerpiece fit for August weddings

I haven't written much about decorating your venue yet, but I am working on a general entry on the subject. Until that's done I had to share this idea with you, that I have seen in several harvest inspired weddings.
These days the grain stands golden and ripe in the landscape dancing in the winds. A drive through the countryside is a true visual pleasure and of course an August medieval wedding could benefit from these inspiring settings.
This is a very simple centerpiece that only requires dried wheat, and a pretty ribbon.

You can buy these simple decorations from www.drieddecor.com and the pictures in this entry are from that same website. You can also attempt to make them yourself. One good thing about working with dried centerpieces is that you can make them weeks in advance easing the stress in days up to the wedding.
Whether or not the medieval weddings included such decorations is not possible to say, but as the tradition of throwing rice comes from throwing grain for fertility wheat might have been a relevant choice for decorating the halls.

I think it's very pretty and you can use whatever ribbon that matches your color scheme. I am guessing they can last even into the winter-wedding-season when they're dried. Then there's the option of mixing the grain with dried flowers like in this picture with lavender.

Have fun finding / making your centerpieces.

To Be or Not to Be Authentic

So this blog is about how to make your wedding as medieval as possible. BUT as with most theme weddings, the theme can be seen in elements of the wedding rather than the entire setup. This blog is meant to inspire you to have some great medieval details to complement your own personal details that may or may not have anything to do with the Middle Ages.



A Gothic medieval - mix wedding

If you have chosen a medieval wedding, it's most likely that you somehow have an interest in history, SCA, role-playing or fairy tales. This will also often resolve in mixed themes like medieval-fairy wedding or knight - gothic wedding. These combinations can make it difficult to be truly authentic, but most brides will rather have a personal wedding then completely authentic one -  myself included.

My own wedding will probably be one of the more thorough theme parties. There isn't much modern tradition about our wedding and I won't be compromising with the color of the dress, the food or the ceremony. But still we want modern music and we will send out written invitations rather than walk door to door and deliver a verbal invite like they would have done in the Middle Ages.
Obviously it's important to know what you want to prioritize. Few brides would want to wear another color than white, but it is possible to combine the medieval and the modern, like with this dress from Temptations By Design 's medieval collection:

You will have to compromise. It might be hard to find a proper location for example. This Danish couple had their wedding at Horsens' medieval festival. A lot of the wedding was amazingly authentic, like their stunning clothing, the ceremony and they even had a parade through the city - a very medieval tradition. But the reception was held in some pretty rooms that had more of a 18th century look.

I have also seen some really cool medieval weddings that had this fairy tale - medieval theme, with cute little bride's maids with colorful wings, which is obviously not authentic ;-)
It takes a lot of work to make a wedding authentic medieval style, and truth is you can only get so close to they way they did it.
In the end it's all about finding your own style. :)

- The Medieval Bride

Dress of the Month - August

This month's dress is made by a very skilled costumes company: Viona-art.com
They don't specialize in medieval clothing but they made this one dress inspired by Rogier Van Der Weyden's painting of Maria Magdalene Studying (1445 AD). It's called: Olive green velvet Houpelande gown.

Look at that lovely amount of fabric and the accuracy of detail based on the original painting:

The veil around her head might not be your preferred wedding veil, but you have to admit the dress is beautiful. I have a soft spot for the color green, so that does help a lot, but still.. :-)
Here's one more picture of it from the website, where the model is standing up:

The skirt is quite big, but then that was a sign of wealth i those days. The dress hardly reveals any skin although the neckline might be a bit more daring. You must keep in mind that the medieval times was a period of strong religious influence and a woman ought to be chaste and virtuous.