First Kiss

September 2007, 17" wide by 22" high, Private Collection, © 2007, Maria Elkins, All Rights Reserved.

How do you plan a wedding when the bride is an artist and the mother-of-the-bride is an artist too? You spend a year brainstorming, creating, and obsessing, and the wedding becomes an installation, of course.

For Eric and Bethany’s outdoor ceremony and reception, the lawn was transformed into a whimsical flower garden by planting hundreds of crepe paper flowers in the grass. Large, poster-size flowers covered the sidewalks and the side of the church. Fantasy fondant flowers covered the cake. The bride carried a bouquet of crepe paper flowers.

And then what happens when the mother-of-the-bride has to make a journal quilt that reflects the year? Well really, what else could have happened during the year except wedding plans? So, she creates a composition using pictures of the bride and groom, along with prominent elements of the wedding décor.

Taking inspiration from the sheer organza on the wedding dress, I chose to experiment with sheer images. I started out doing photo transfers on silk organza. The results were dismal. After repeated failures with a variety of transfer techniques, I finally gave up and decided to use an inkjet printer to print directly onto silk organza, silk chiffon, silk habotai, and a variety of white-on-white cotton fabrics. Over that are layers of transparent ink, stamping, rubbings, colored pencil, and thread painting.

For more pictures from Eric and Bethany’s wedding, go to www.mariaelkins.com/thewedding/.