Thirty-three years ago, I got married on a warm and muggy day in July. Looking back, I realize how young and naive we were. We planned a backyard wedding celebration, on a deck we had built for the occasion. On July 1st, Connecticut was at the height of mugginess and mosquito season. We woke to a steamy, overcast day so uncomfortable that we joked about using the garage rather than the deck for the ceremony. However, with help from my family, we spent the morning cleaning the house and washing windows. Under a tent on the lawn, the tables were arranged and decorated with flowers, cans of mosquito repellent, and bottles of sunscreen.
Our wedding was small and lovely. Afterward, with toasty temperatures and humidity in attendance, caterers assembled the chocolate mousse wedding cake so the photographer could take a quick picture, and then they disassembled it to avoid a melted mess. We had a wonderful time eating, drinking champagne, and dancing the afternoon and evening away—me in the wedding dress I made—on the deck we built.
We didn’t have a wedding registry, so our gifts were a complete surprise. Most people gave us beautiful things that I still love bringing out for special occasions: silver salad servers, a silver bowl, a cake plate and server, and a woven picnic basket. Whenever I use them, I think of the person who gave us the gift on that crazy-sticky-wonderful day. If you’re wondering, we did not receive anything homemade, which I would have loved to receive.
Any newly married couple would love to receive Nicole McKenna’s Birch Bark Tea Towels from Handwoven March/April 2020!
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed making and giving a few doubleweave blankets and a good many towels as wedding gifts. For upcoming weddings, I plan to weave sets of white linen towels for gifts. Linen is traditional and beautiful, timeless, and practical. Nothing dries wedding crystal (or, for that matter, a coffee cup) like linen. Linen washes well, and although it does take some ironing to look pretty, it improves with age—just like a good marriage.
If you are looking for gift ideas to weave for upcoming weddings or other special occasions, consider towels. If you’re short on time, with perseverance, you could finish a couple of rigid-heddle towels in a weekend. Weaving towels on a multi-shaft loom will probably take more than one weekend and linen towels more than two, but I guarantee you will have woven something that the recipients can cherish over a lifetime of wedded bliss.
Clockwise from top left: Happy Shuttle and Stars Linen Towels, Peaceful Rhythm Towels, Baltic Hearts Tea Towels, Bespoke Wedding Towels, and Sweet Little Wedding Towels.
Looking for more inspiration to weave for that couple tying the knot? Here are a few of my favorite projects from the Handwoven library:
Happy Shuttle and Stars Linen Towel Pattern
Baltic Hearts Tea Towels from Handwoven Nov/Dec 2014
Bespoke Wedding Towels from Handwoven Jan/Feb 2024
Sweet Little Wedding Towels from Handwoven Nov/Dec 2016
Weave well,
Susan
Susan E. Horton is the former editor of Handwoven.
Updated June 29, 2022; updated February 21, 2024.