Wedding Vendor #2

Paloma's Nest

Caroline Colom Vasquez is the crafty lady behind the adorable Etsy shop, Paloma's Nest. She lovingly creates unique, one-of-a-kind pieces for her customers and notes on her site that "custom requests are always welcome." (Amazingly sweet, no?) Yesterday E and I received a beautiful package in the mail from Caroline. While we are including a few of her art pieces in our wedding, I will share the one with you that literally took my breath away, our ring bowl. To be honest when I was first planning the wedding I thought the idea of a ring pillow was silly and completely unnecessary. Not to the mention the fact that I had a serious doubts that our best friend could actually hold on to our rings without losing them (sorry, Neil). No, we would just keep the rings on our person until the time came in the ceremony to exchange them.

However, after discovering the beauty that is at the root of Caroline's shop, my mind started to re-think the ring pillow. A ring bowl is much different than a ring pillow. Like much better than a ring pillow. Bowls are so utilitarian, so user friendly, and not to mention completely aesthetically pleasing. Who doesn't like a bowl? I mean honestly, what are you going to do with a ring pillow after the ceremony? It will get dirty, collect dust, and probably go out of style before you're even able to reminisce about your wedding day. But as Caroline so fabulously points out under her description of her ring bowls, there are plenty of things to do with a ring bowl after the ceremony. Such as...

1. Later hold other jewelry, momentos or other treasures
2. Be hung on a special place on the wall
3. Be framed in a shadow box
4. Become a ornament for your tree

I'm kind of leaning towards #1 at the moment although the truly sappy side of me secretly wants to decorating our tree with a life time of ornaments purchased at each anniversary, commemorating a life spent together. (I know, I know, I just said it was cheesy. But also kind of like the cutest thing I could ever picture in my head).

So anyways, back to the ring bowl. It only took a few seconds before I knew what I wanted our custom message to be. As each bowl fits into the palm of your hand, I was concerned about the line's length, which stems from an even longer poem, but was assured by Caroline that she could make it work. The line comes from a poem we've asked to be read at our ceremony by our dear and wonderful friend, the insanely talented Alice W. Hacker, who in the last six months has acted as anchor to our ship. (She also happens to be the mastermind behind EchoLocations--check it out! Thank us-- or really her, later.)

There are so many reasons why I love this ring bowl. I love that it will cradle our wedding bands. I love its functional integrity and its simplicity. I find its shape, color, and texture comforting. I love that it holds text that will be read by one of my oldest friends, who knows the story of E and I backwards and forwards and sdrawrof dna sdrawkcab. I love that this bowl was undeniably crafted with two loving hands, and that it has instantly become a treasure in our lives. So for these and many other reasons, I am humbled to be able to include Paloma's Nest in our list of wedding vendors. Thank you Caroline, for giving my words a place to rest. Thank you Goobies, for giving my words a voice. XO