Medieval seating chart - Bow and arrow

I came across this very medieval seating chart idea by Tammy from Uniquity Invitations / Cora's Photography /via Ruffled. It is something you can do yourself and it's a fun way to direct your guests to their seats.

It's worthy of a Robin Hood wedding to plant an arrow in a target board and have a couple of lists hang down from the arrow with the names of each guest at each table.

Best way to make sure it's stable is to use a big round slice of wood, drill a hole in it for and arrow-like long cylindrical stick and make the stick look like a real arrow by adding fletchings in the other end. The target board can be painted with concentric rings in shifting colors.

The table number notes can be printed on parchment paper to give it a medieval feel.

Medieval Favors

I am not sure how common it is to have a little gift, or favors, for your guests today, but Americans does it and some danes as well. I am not quite sure how long it can be traced back through time, but I do know that amongst the vikings your wealth was not measured by your riches but by your generosity.
With what I've read it was normal in the 16th century to offer your guest some sort of gift when they came to a wedding, especially in Italy and France (in France called: bonbonniere). It was a combination of a sign of gratitude and a way to share the couple's fortune with their guests. Mostly the gift of five Jordan almonds are mentioned. Each of the almonds would represent wellwishes: health, welth, fertility, longevivity and happiness.
These gifts of almonds were used by the upper class of the medieval times, along with other exclusive confectionary. Obviously this would make a fine favor for a medieval themed wedding.

Find a great step by step recipe to make them yourself on tastykitchen.com.

Edible favors in general are a good idea for this kind of theme. You can make or buy jam, mead, mustard and honey, or maybe include a genuine medieval recipe that your guests can try out at home. It can also be things like spices, herbs or salt, that had great value in medieval times. Chocolate hadn't arrived in Europe from South America at the time, so sorry guys - no wonderful chokolate favors.

Honey was the sugar of the Middle Ages

Salt was both for seasoning and conservation

Jam made from berries tasted as good on bread then as it does now

Of course there is the nonedible favors as well, such as pouches of lavender or rose petals used in medieval times in drawers with cloth and linnen to keep it smelling wonderful. One can give the guests biwax candles, flowerseeds, replica medieval coins or a medieval poem.

If you have a wax seal - then seal the gift

Coins may make a memorable favor

A seed favor can be done easily and rahter cheap

 I hope this quick list of ideas can inspire you to find the right favors. I must admit I had never heard of the tradition until I started planning my own wedding and I probably wouldn't have spend the money on it, if it wasn't because I got this amasing offer. I've made crests for both Robert and me and so because of a sale, I had them made into pin backs for the family, so wheter they come in costume or not, they are wearing the (new) family shield of arms. - in case any of my guests are reading this - Look the other way ;-)

"All Green from the Forest"- Centerpieces

Forest scene
1230 AD - The Carmina Burana manuscript

Summer has come to little Denmark and I have been enjoying the sunny weather by riding my bike now and then.
I decided that I wanted to make a couple of easy examples of flower arrengements, that I would make from simply going through the forest and fields on the outskirts of the city. This means that it's something you can do yourself they day before the wedding (or enslave some family member to do it). It's a cheap and beautiful solution and probably more authentic than going to the florist.
At this time of the year the fields are sprinkled with small flowers in lavish colors and wild grass or grain can also be used. I was lucky to find this little piece of heaven - a field wrapped in flowers. It might be a good idea to check out the area you want to go plucking from a week or so before the wedding, so you know what you have to work with.
The first boquet I made I used the wild flowers from the field. There were poppys and chamomile and some yellow and purple ones I don't know the name of. I put them in a green glass vase. In medieval time glass was valuable, but if there ever was a time to impress your family and friends with how wealthy you were, a wedding is definatly it. So glass vases are alright to use, if you care about getting it historically accurate.

It took me 5-6 minuts to put together using wild grasses, the cornflowers, rushes and grain. It's colorful, natural and really brightens up a room.
The next arrangement was more forest inspired, using ferns, oak leaves, a few of the purple cornflowers and a pinecone. Finally I had gathered thisles last year and dried them and they look great - like litte brown spiky maces.

A lot of the plant that grow in the woods and are considered to be weeds, can actually be rather beautiful when put into a bouquet. This one I saw on a danish blog - www.heltsimpelt.blogspot.com - and she called it a tribute to her garden weed. I think it look great with grass, goutweed, buttercups and what I pressume are chive flowers.

 What I am saying with this post is, that it doesn't have to be overly complicated or expensive to make a sweet flower or leave arrangement and that is how we are doing it at our wedding. The forest is filled with beautiful greenery that will fit a medieval wedding just perfect.

Maypole

I regret that I have been absent from the blog for most of this last month. My finals at the university is taking up most of my time, and I am looking forward to the holiday when I can go wedding-nuts. :) My own wedding is now in less than 4 months and I still haven't got my dress...
Anyway I wanted to at least write one entry in May and the olde symbol of this month of growth, is the maypole. Of course I failed to get it done in time, but I'll post it anyway (even though we are in June now, hush hush ;-) )
The maypole is an ancient way of celebrating the spring, often associated with festivals of fertility. Young unmarried boys and girls would dance in a circle around the pole.

Midsummer is another time where poles where included in celebrations, probably it represents fertility with it's phallic shape which goes well with a wedding that is sometimes followed by a baby or two ;-). It has also been argued that it can represent the tree of life, Ygdrasil from the Norse mythology. Dancing around the tree of life doesn't make it any less fit for a wedding I think.

It probably derives from ancient times, when the germans and scandinavians weren't yet christians. I really like this idea because it's festive, fun and slightly heathen.

The poles with bright ribbons can be used both for a reception activity and decorations like in the first picture. The strings can either be attached to a wheel that can turn so the dance can go on and on, or just be bound to the top, so the dancing will result in the pole quickly being wraped in a colorful braid.
This picture I found on Flikr, from a medieval wedding, where the guests participated in the dance around the pole, intwining the colorful bands.

LINK

Have fun dancin at you wedding whether around a pole or not :)

Medieval Seating Chart / Map

I made a seating chart so that the guests wont have to search all the tables to find their name card. As each of the 6 tables will be represented by an animal I drew 6 scrollshaped papers with the animals above. As if the guests have to find their way to a fortress, forest or mountain I sketched a map behind the scrolls with land and sea, mermaids and rivers:

Even though I have borrowed several elements from medieval maps I should probably tell you that the map I made only faintly resembles some of the known medieval maps. In medieval time the maps were far from acurate and some where even only conceptual. Most of the maps I was able to find actually dates to the earliest years of the renaissance (from a South European point of view).

There were a difference between the maps supposed to be used for navigation and maps simply made for the artistic purpurses. Others were plastered with religious symbols, like angels.
The so called wheel or T maps weren't accurate. They portraid the world as divided in 3, Asia, Africa and Europe. Jerusalem was at the center of the world and as you can see Asia and Arabia are drawn like they are the northern part of the world. If you twist your head to the left you get a "normal" idea of the world.

Nordic map from around 1300.

Maps are known all the way back to the roman empire and as the medieval and renaissance explorers traveled the world the maps became more detailed.
Here you can see the Danish peninsula Jutland and how it develops in the maps:

Ptolemaius 200 AD

Nicolaus Donis 1482 AD

Olaus Magnus 1539 AD

The arrival of book printing technic in the 1400's in Europe was of great importance to the the map production. First they used wood to make and duplicate maps and later they were etched in cobber. The details of the late medieval maps are amasing, and it's those maps who inspired my seating chart:

Seamonster detail from map by Jacob Ziegler, 1532

1300's Matthew Paris



1492, same year as Columbus discovered America. It's part of a world map by Martin Behaim. I love this one, with the heraldic flags and little details like the ship to the left.

Most of the maps were very colorful, so it's a little sad that I couldn't find more of those, but you will have to go hunting yourself if you want the inspiration. The last map also gave me some good ideas, I like the mountains and the little cities.

1491, Nicolaus Cusanus - Northern Germany and Denmark

I have a little fettish with medieval maps and you can use these to inspire DIY projects, like invitaitons, road directions and seating charts. Enjoy :-)

Christmas Wedding

In the spirit of Christmas I want to give you a little collection of photos of what a christmas wedding might look like. If you have collected rosehips in the autumn you can dry them and stick them in hollow pieces of birch trunk. Like in the picture below, a raw wooden table might be enough to give a medieval feel, if you prefere modern plates and utensils. Red fabric napkins will look well with the rosehips. Any medieval wedding will be complete with candles and in the darkness of winter the warm glow will be soothing. Naked branches from the garden may also decorate the venue.

You can spread things like apples, cinnamon, nuts, pine cones, spruce along the tables. I also found this wedding dress for groom and bride from Historic-costumes.eu in true christamas colors:

Junam Flaming Design

A couple of golden rings with a red stone would be appropriate and perhaps a floral wreath with red flowers:



The Honey Comb

Have a very merry chrismas you all :-) 

Card Box

Weddings have become international now because of the internet and so many new traditions are made when brides from all over the world come together with their massive amount of creative ideas. I particularly like the Offbeatbride.com because it embraces untraditional brides from all cultures.
Anyway the new thing is to make boxes for the cards that the guests always bring along with the presents, and I like the idea. Obviously it got me thinking about what a medieval wedding would use as a card box when a fellow medieval bride showed her wonderful cardbox, this cool wooden chest that her fianceé brought home:

It made me think that I actually have a little wooden shrine of my own that I got at a flea market with red velvet fabric inside. Right now it's holding my crystals - yay sooo shiny :-P but they can get another home while it acts cardbox at the wedding.

Finally - I don't remember where I got this photo, but I think it's kind of cute, and probably more in line with a medieval peasents' wedding cardbox would look like (not that they had cardboxes in medieval times!):

If you like the idea as well, just go searching for wooden trunks and chests :-)

Medieval flowers



Le Jardin d'agrément 1480-85



Today we have such a variety of flowers to choose from when we make our bouquet or decorate church and reception venue from all over the world. In the Middle Ages they had a lot of plants too, some growing wild and others imported by the monks from southern countries of Europe. During the Middle Ages the term 'pleasure gardens' appear. These are gardens made, not for practical purposes, but for the joy of the beauty and smell of the flowers.

A few written sources have survived. For example, in 1260 Albertus Magnus wrote 'De Vegetabilis et Plantis'. It contains a description of plants used in pleasure gardens. He was a monk and wrote much about botany, philosophy and Theology. 

Roses where a part of the medieval pleasure gardens and used as a Christian symbol of Jesus and his suffering. A couple of roses can be traced back to the Middle Ages like the Rosa gallica var. officinalis also known as the Apothecary's rose. Presumably it had been brought to Europe by the crusaders returning from the Holy Land. It was used for medicine or perfume and grown at first in the monasteries. It is a beautiful historical flower that would look beautiful in the hair of a bride or on the tables in your venue.

Another known rose is the Rosa Alba, or the White Rose of York. Both of the roses were adopted as heraldic symbols by the houses of York and Lanchester who were rivals. The rivalry ended when Henry Tudor became king and united the two houses along with the two roses to make a new symbol. Perhaps a suiting wedding symbolism, the two roses together to indicate unity and peace.

Other flowers or plants I could mention are:
The lily: Often seen in religious paintings or in relation to France (fleur de lis).
Iris, Marigold, Daisies, Foxgloves, Cowslip, Peony and Snowdrop.

Herbs had significant usage in the Middle Ages. They were used to season the food, make medicine and as amulets against evils. Their pleasant smell could also be used in the houses to disguise less attractive aromas.

Amongst these decorative plants you could find:

St John's Wort:                                                                       Chamomile 

Rosemary                                               

   

So you see there are plenty of beautiful medieval flowers you can use in your bouquet or when decorating your venue. It may look a bit more wild than today's neat flower arrangements, but that is definitely also a part of the charm.