Amy at Button Empire , an Etsy shop based in Alberta has a thing for love: “Basically, I love love. It’s a delight to be included in the sacred days when couples come together and jump the broom,” she wrote to The Wedding Co.

When we came across Button Empire’s “I’d rather be Smooching” and “Nerdy Fiancé/Fiancée” button sets a few weeks back we were instantly smitten; Amy’s current fave is this, perfect for the gal who loves her phone.

Though they may seem simple, it’s amazing just how personal a set of customized buttons can be. When we asked Amy if she’d done favours for weddings her answer was a resounding “yes” but here’s the nitty gritty if you’re wondering: “We’ve done custom orders based on wedding colours, the couple’s general vibe, their love of nature, or their love of words. We once did a huge set of 245 buttons made with a really nice old dictionary.We pulled all the words to do with love and it made an amazing set that they used at their reception as favours for all the guests. We also search out the neatest of vintage papers and collage little sets for brides and grooms with pictures that resemble them. Oh yeah, we also do buttons for the gay and lesbian brides and grooms. We’ve made several same sex couples custom sets (bride and bride picture type buttons) for their special day as well.”

"Mighty Oaks" collection of 100 buttons for a couple who gave them to guests at their wedding

Prices vary depending on number, materials and (I presume) anything that’s obscure to source but from $5 for a pair to $85 for 100, the button is definitely a budget-worthy find!

Since we’re on the them of ‘fasteners’ this week, I thought I’d post an item from Etsy which just popped up for sale: I just love this board from Old Crow Farm as a starting point for a handmade seating card arrangement. The magnetized clips would do just the trick for adding everyone’s names and their table locations — they could also serve as something to take away with them if you personalized them with a button, or other simple DIY. For $48, you can’t go wrong!

I have the great pleasure of owning my own button maker, it’s a wonderful tool and what you can do for your wedding with it are endless.

For this particular button DIY, I chose to make buttons from an old Vogue pattern book I bought years ago. I always loved the sketches and colours in the book but didn’t really know what I was going to do with it until this project came along. These buttons are the perfect inexpensive favour or name tag, you can even match the sketch with the personality of each guest at your shower, engagement party or rehearsal dinner, or use a specific colour palette to identify which table someone belongs to.

Real photos of your guests are a great idea as well especially if they’re gathered from over the years: high school yearbooks, summer camp snapshots or university pictures. You do not have to use the original image, photocopies work just as well and don’t be afraid to experiment by selecting details or parts of an image for a button — the space is fairly small so cropping can be creative!

The button-maker at Toronto's Workroom

Materials:

Button Maker: Available for rent ($30 overnight) from The Workroom in two sizes: 1” & 1 ¼”. They sell the button parts $10.00 for 100 buttons and the rental includes professional circle cutter

Magazine or pictures, fabric, decorative papers

Tags, available at office supply or specialty paper stores

A visit to The Paper Shop yesterday had Catherine yanking her camera out to snap these gorgeous hand stitched buttons by Bookhou.

Super sweet, they would make a great addition to name cards as a little takeaway favour, or pin them to your ushers and ring bearer as alternatives to the usual boutonnière. In the blog, Bookhou at Home, designer Arounna writes: “some people like to buy shoes – I like to buy equipment. My new favourite machine – a button maker.”

Bookhou’s beautiful products are available at all these places.

Love this ring pillow from Etsy seller, The Blooming South.

As beautiful as the pillow itself is the designer’s write up of it, who notes that it’s one of her favourite designs, possibly because it reminds her of her days as an equestrian: “The pillow is made with Belgium Burlap Linen tied with a French Velvet bow. Centered in the pillow is a monogrammed button in pale pink Italian Crepe Linen. Initials available are: T, S, R, N, L, K, H, and D. A sweet chocolate brown and ecru gingham check ring ribbon finishes the look as well as keeping your rings safe as the pillow makes its way down the aisle.”

The eco-friendly pillows are approximately 5 x 5 x 2 inches and filled with premium, buck wheat hulls for maximum fullness.

The Blooming South also sells sweetly simple covered button cufflinks in six colours and all of the items come gorgeously packaged in handmade boxes and pouches.

‘Brooch’ the subject of an alternative bouquet. Consider something that will last a lifetime and become a true heirloom.

Amanda Heer creates ‘brooch bouquets’ from 50-60 brooches and posh pins. You collect them from grandmothers’ collections, neighbours, thrift and antique shops, ship them to her and Amanda will make you a completely custom bouquet for about $350.

Collect like-coloured, shaped or textured brooches for a specific statement or mix and match for a more eclectic feel. We love the idea of using family trinkets; this has to be the best ’something old’ idea we’ve come across in a long time {just don’t toss it, it might be lethal}!

Looking for their contribution to the bouquet.

A lovely subtle colour palette.

To find Amanda’s work, check out her website and her blog.

Over at GroomGroove.com, it’s known as “the one flower the groom is responsible for” and their sage advice warns that seatbelts (and presumably many activities such as hugging and jacket-removing) can easily decapitate the delicate boutonnière. But aside from getting it to the church on time, and in one piece, what rules are there when it comes to the bloom on a groom’s lapel?

I love this boutonnière because it incorporates (presumably) a little of the groom's Scottish heritage into his modern wedding attire: This kind of creative use of tradition never fails to impress!

10 important things:

1. Boutonnières/Buttonholes are worn on the left lapel, over the heart.
2. While a groom’s bloom can be different, everyone else should match.
3. Boutonnières or buttonholes should be provided for all key family and friends at a wedding, including ushers and the ring bearer.
4. As a guest, a man can wear his own subtle buttonhole to a wedding in honour of the celebratory nature of the day.
5. Traditionally, buttonholes are a single white or red rose or a white carnation, daisy or gardenia. The groom’s may also be selected to match the bride’s bouquet.
6. A buttonhole flower slots into the buttonhole on the lapel of the jacket and is best secured with a stem loop, often included on the suit by the tailor, but a pin can work too.
7. The words buttonhole and boutonnière are often used interchangeably but generally, a buttonhole is a single flower, whereas a boutonnière is more of an arrangement.
8. A lapel vase, hooked over the buttonhole and hidden beneath the lapel, holds a tiny bit of water to keep buttonholes fresh.
9. Boutonnières are often too large to slot into the buttonhole (and equally too large for a lapel vase) instead, the buttonhole should be used as a location marker and the flowers should be pinned to cover it up.
10. Pinning must be done carefully in all cases as the pin should never go through the stem of the flower, but over it, and any pin marks left on a satin lapel will leave permanent marks.

Notes: Photograph by Tara McMullen Photography and etiquette guidelines compiled with help from a few excellent resources:  Robert Kennedy, Harry Rosen’s Bloor Street location’s made-to-measure expert, Hersey Silversmiths, The Wedding Book by Mindy Weiss and Lisbeth Levine, GroomGroove.com and A Suiteable Wardrobe: Will’s thoughts on dressing in style (blog)

When Jordyn and Bradley married last year in Alabama, they wanted to incorporate their personal lives into the event as well as celebrate their shared Southern heritage and some of the links that tie them so closely together. In an email to The Wedding Co., Jordyn wrote: “The general inspiration for our wedding decor was our Southern family roots…  We are very proud of our heritage and the opportunities we have been given in such a small town near our families. Both of our grandmothers are seamstresses and handmakers, and our mothers are quite crafty themselves. Most of our decorations came from family members or local antique shops.”

What we noticed and loved immediately were the sweet piles of sewing notions {especially the BUTTONS!} in pictures from the day, which we thought made a gorgeous and colourful addition to a beautiful DIY wedding — that they both work for fashion designer, Billy Reid as well as photographer Robert Rausch made their decorative choices even more fitting, and in a way the sewing notions are immensely telling about the lifestyle they’ve chosen and their commonalities.

“We borrowed old spools of thread, buttons & yarn balls from our grandmothers’ sewing rooms full of neat vintage patterns & supplies,” Jordyn wrote. “My mom, Bradley & I were making the boutonnieres at my grandmother’s house and she brought out jars upon jars of old colorful buttons. We used her buttons on each groomsman’s boutonniere and also kept the old mason jars full of buttons for decor in the wedding and in our home afterward.”

We also asked about putting together a DIY wedding and Jordyn wrote: “It was very important to Bradley and I that we incorporate our families, jobs & creativity into our special day. We coordinated the entire wedding ourselves with the enormous help of our lovely family & friends. We drew inspiration from blogs, local artists & designers, and our own sense of style and decor. It was full of simplistic elegance, vibrant colors, & most importantly genuine love. It was just a good ole southern shindig!”

Notes:

The photographs are courtesy of Tec Petaja Wedding Photography and Jordyn has recently opened her own Etsy shop, Darling Darlings, selling her own handmade boutonnieres for which she has used her grandmother’s buttons on each one.

This week we’re obsessing over buttons as a decorative element. We love the creative, homespun feel they inspire in us when we see them arranged in colour-coded piles, or when one or two are used to add an extra splash of originality. And with so many designs, materials, sizes and colours, buttons are sure to complement any decorative style minimally or to the maximum.

Looking ahead, and taking the theme of ‘buttons as fasteners’, this week we’ll bring you a gorgeous alternative bouquet, a cute-as-a-button wedding and a host of buttons at work, alongside brooches, pins and other button cousins that also fasten on a practical level but add, equally, a decorative element when used in just the right spots!

One bride has put a spring in her step with these gorgeous red shoes, photo courtesy of Tara McMullen Photography.