Photo by Jessica Claire Photography
It’s June, and that, my friends, is wedding season! Today, we are celebrating the tying of the knot with our top 10 picks for literary-themed weddings. Now. There are zillions and zillions of bookish wedding ideas out there, and add another gabillion Pinterest boards. Type “literary themed wedding” in Google and you’ll get 989,000 results. “Literary wedding cakes?” 924,000. We did, however, turn up only 1 literary bachelorette party (you go girls)!
So we went with couples who dedicated their entire special day to books. We also ruled out the plethora of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones weddings in favor of the more obscure. Here they are, in no particular order. Definitely click on the links, because the details are AMAZING.
#1 THE NIGHT CIRCUS
From Offbeat Bride
First, they pick a cool book. Then, they have their wedding in Los Angeles’ famous Last Bookstore. Her nail art rocked, there were silhouette cake toppers, AND they had a stage magician. I can’t handle the awesome.
#2 PETER PAN
From Ruffled
White with pops of hunter green, floating fabrics, and simple elegance. Add some golden crocodiles and the cutest Tinkerbell you’ve ever seen and you’re off to Neverland!
#3 SHREK
From The Daily Mail
Technincally, Shrek was a picture book before it became a movie. And while this couple definitely went with the Dreamworks version, they are so darn adorable, we couldn’t resist including them here.
#4 THE LITTLE PRINCE
From Ruffled
I do believe the cake says it all. And that gorgeous color palette! But click on the link to see what has to be the most adorable ring-bearer of all time, rocking a pair of purple boots.
#5 ALICE IN WONDERLAND
From Rock n Roll Bride
The original blogger titled this “Margaret & Edi’s Incredible ‘Blows-Everything-Else-Out-of-the-Water’ Gothic Alice in Wonderland Wedding.” And it delivers. What’s cool is that the couple actually had a very simple ceremony at the groom’s parents’ house. But then they totally blew the top off the reception.
#6 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
From Publisher’s Weekly
A beautiful, thoughtful, and touching wedding. I especially love the childhood trinket boxes at the tables. Also, oversized ham costumes are mentioned. My heart is won.
#7 THE PRINCESS BRIDE
From Offbeat Bride
Another wedding that draws more on the movie than the book, and this one is full of joy. And that kiss? Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most the pure. This one leaves them all behind.
#8 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
From Green Wedding Shoes
Prepare to be transported. The ceremony was in a redwood grove. The reception was in an exposed-rafter barn blooming with lush ferns and gorgeous flowers. The bride handmade animal masks for each and every guest. Oh rapture!
#9 THE WORKS OF DR. SEUSS
From Green Wedding Shoes
This couple didn’t choose one book. They chose many Seuss books and perfectly nailed the color palette to boot. Especially nice touches were whimsical directional signs, opportunities for the guest to doodle, and Bar 1 and Bar 2.
#10 SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
From Rock n Roll Bride
Two film-makers, joined through their mutual love of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel, transport their Los Angeles friends to a jovial Gothic carnival in the bride’s childhood hills of Montana. Laughter, love, costumes, music, and fire breathers. I don’t even know these guys, but I’m totally bummed I missed their wedding!
Q: What books inspired you to do the creative things you do today?
I would look at this book for hours. I would slowly flip the pages, eagerly anticipating the arrival of my favorite section. Can you guess which one it was? Yup. “Cookies, Cakes, and Other Desserts.” Here is the cake of my childhood dreams:
Oh where do I start? I was wholly enthusiastic about cake (and those pink pillow mints – wow, do they even make those anymore?). But even more, I loved that someone had taken food and sculpted it into something imaginative and fantastical. Then fearlessly added non-edible items (such as the toothpick drawbridge chains) to complete the picture. Also, they didn’t just photograph the cake on a table. They set the scene with grass, a shiny moat, and a blue sky with cotton ball clouds. And how about this beautiful creation…
It’s an “Ice Cream Flower Pot.” A waxed paper cup, ice cream and crushed cookie “dirt,” candy leaves, and a frigging lollipop flower! You can put lollipops and ice cream together and make it look like a flower pot? My mind was officially blown.
Those wild and crazy Betty Crocker bakers even used holiday-specific candy…on cakes that were totally unrelated to that particular holiday! Like candy canes on a 4th of July “Drum Cake”:
This taught me that you could look at an object, even a familiar one like a candy cane, and see it used for a different purpose or in a different context. That, my friends, is a pretty abstract lesson to be learned from a cake. I still want to eat those cherries too.
When it came time to dress my toddler for Halloween 2009, what costume did I choose?
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
“Check this out!” Katie said to me one morning, holding up her phone. “My friend just posted this to her Instagram!” It was a board game, based on the book Hatchet, designed by Quinn Densmore, a 5th grader in New Mexico.
The goal of this game is to get rid of as many gems as you can before reaching the finish line (i.e. the “Pennies for Potions” square). No small feat considering that each player starts with 50 gems! As you travel the board, you can either gain or lose gems depending on the space you land on and the cards you draw.
Based on The Phantom Tollbooth, players begin at the tollbooth but soon encounter the Doldrums. If you roll a 1,3, or 5, you get stuck on the Doldrums. If you roll a 2,4, or 6 you take another path. The game continues to move forward in this quirky fashion, and also includes directional cards that make you stop or allow you to roll again. Waiting at the finish line, of course, are Princesses Rhyme and Reason.
The object of this game is to get rescued from the wilderness. As you move around the board, you acquire different cards. If you get a fire card you are immune to 1 hypothermia card. If you get hit by a disaster, you must do what the card instructs (move back, lose a turn, etc.). If you get a rescue card, you are safe from the next attack card. Collect 5 rescue cards, and you win!
I’ve been a Daniel Pinkwater fan since I was 9, so I was thrilled to see this classic book turned into a game. Players race each other to Hokoben City Hall. Along the way, they must follow the directions on each space (if they land on a blank space, they just wait until their turn comes up again). The winner gets to take home a little Henrietta as a pet!