Groom's Best

When my friend Connie got married to her beloved Ewan, I was honoured to be a bridesmaid. Not knowing what to do as a gift I decided to make her a gift to give, for herself and the bridal party to remember the day. I've always adored heirloom keepsakes and knew their wedding was symbolized in red and ivory-white, and roses. They both have a love of traditions and history, especially since they met working at Fort York! I wanted to incorporate those and personal elements for each of the pieces that the bridal party could wear.

For the groom and his best men I ended up designing tie clips finely carved from aromatic cedar and accented with ink, paint, and goldleaf. Since the Fort and historical re-enactment was so meaningful for the bride and groom I honoured it with the regimental sword, it is included for the groomsmen as it also helped cement their friendships with the groom.

The groom's sword is twined with roses to match his bride's and to honour them both. The rampant lion both balances the bride's own unicorn, for dedication and strength, and ties to his family heritage as well.

I drew from this idea of traditional symbols to decide upon the final elements for the two groomsmen's clips. This was especially difficult because I had only met one of the two before, and then quite briefly. But with the swords fitting so well it fell into place to ask the gentlemen about their family heritage and what symbols it might suggest. It worked at last!

The fern is New Zealand's emblem gracefully backing the sword. Scotland's thistle just as elegantly frames the other.

The bride has roses matching the groom's in her design. They frame the finely embroidered scene of her unicorn emblem beneath an oak tree, it and her bridesmaids' pins can be seen here: [link]


I only wish I'd had an opportunity to photograph the set together before I presented them. These photos are ones my brother graciously took the very night I finished them all before I had to attend to my duties as bridesmaid! (Unfortunately the groomsmen clips were photographed upside down, though it has little impact on the design to anyone but me.)

It was an honour and a pleasure to be there as part of their wedding.