The Guest Quilt

As many of you know, our wedding has a 1920's theme that is partially inspired by our mutual love of the television series Boardwalk Empire, and we've incorporated many elements of the show into our wedding reception. Instead of a champagne toast we've decided to do a Pimm's Cup, a British drink popular at the time that was also mentioned in one of the early episodes of BE. We're also making the boutonnieres to resemble the ever-present carnation that the main character, Nucky Thompson, wears on the show. We tried to figure out a way to work the theme song into the reception, but that hasn't really happened.

When it came to the guestbook, I was reluctant to make it an actual book. I have many memento books from various events of my life, filled with signatures and well wishes of classmates, friends and colleagues... that I never look at. Rather than a book that sits on a shelf and is forgotten, I wanted to have a more visible and viewable representation of all the people who were there and who we love and who care about us. I had seen an example of a "guest quilt", a table set up with squares of fabric that guests sign, which are then sewn into a quilt. I've even seen elaborate versions of this, where the handwriting is embroidered onto the quilt afterword. I would guess that this is a task that would take many, many, many hours to complete. One very important aspect of getting married is to know thyself first. I know myself very well. I am not that diligent. So I talked to my mom (who is very diligent) about it. I thought it might be possible to add a Boardwalk Empire twist to it. During the opening credits of the show, the main character is shown standing on an Atlantic City beach where there are hundreds of bottles floating in the water. We decided to make the guest quilt look like those floating bottles, with each "bottle" being signable by the guests. My genius of a mother worked up the design, found the right materials, assembled them, and even provided a posterboard with instructions on how to sign the bottle.

The guests will sign a piece of writable fabric, which will become the label on the bottles! I can't wait to see how this turns out. We're going to have such a unique and beautiful memory of everyone who was there, hanging on our wall every time we pass by.