Weddingbee Blog

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

Butterfly in the sky; I can fly twice as high. Take a look, it’s in a book… reading rainbow (reading rainbow..bow…bow…bow). -Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir

I’ve cherished butterflies since about the sixth grade. I don’t know why, but something about their colorful wings and flittering flights really appeals to me. I still sign cards with a little sketch of one next to my name. Friends and family are often kind enough to gift me with scarves, handbags, and broaches featuring my fluttery little buggies, and I’ve had a tattoo of one long before (well, not long before, but maybe right before) they became infamously aligned with “tramp stamps“.

But because the wedding isn’t all me-me-me (boooooooo—kidding, kidding), I didn’t want to insist on too many butterfly touches. Butterfly invites, butterfly decorations, it could all add up and be overkill. Regardless, around the time we got engaged, in cold, raw January, a now-famous, whimsical, light-as-air cake graced the cover of Martha Stewart Weddings. It was our first wedding magazine purchase, and we both loved the easy simplicity her butterfly cake design evoked, particularly this one, which was featured inside the magazine:

Source: Martha Stewart Weddings

We immediately purchased with a dozen or so critters from Floraltrims.com. However, we’ve recently discussed not having a traditional cake at all. (But that’s a story for another post!) I still want to incorporate those butterflies we purchased so many months ago. So that is why, one summer afternoon as I sat outside sipping iced coffee and flipping through the Summer 2009 Martha Stewart Weddings, I gasped when I saw this kick-butt alterna-bouquet:

How cool is that? It’s kinda quirky and off-beat and chic and perfect. I’ve already discussed bouquet options with our florist, and I might not get rid of the flowers entirely, but I love the idea of incorporating the butterflies we bought in this way.

Do you or your partner have a “thing” you love, be it butterflies, stars, ladybugs, dragonflies, ninjas? How are you incorporating it into the wedding? Holla if you have a butterfly tramp stamp too! Testify!!