Brown Wedding Details

In Bermuda, couples top their wedding cakes with tiny saplings, which are planted and grow along with the marriage. Here, a milk-chocolate figurine, formed in a replica of a 1920s mold, stands on a faux top tier of Styrofoam coated to match the cake. The flowering quince branches above were painted with chocolate (choose pesticide-free foliage). Chocolate modeling dough makes a balustrade and miniature roses. The rolled fondant is tinted pink to pick up the hue of the quince.

At a reception, bowls with floating candles, peonies, roses, and ranunculuses dot a boldly striped runner. Neutral linens give the eye a place to rest. The brown-and-pink color scheme is modern yet romantic. The pattern and colors are repeated in the simple handmade place cards.

A dramatic display like this is sure to draw well-wishers to the guest-book table. The vivid wreath packed with chartreuse santini mums and covered with tiny bows (secured with T pins) gives people something to admire as they pluck a colored pencil from the nearby cup to offer their sentiments to the bride and groom and sign their names.

Using ribbon is an easy way to work your color palette into many details of your wedding. Browse sewing and trimmings stores for ribbons and trim in lustrous fabrics and unique designs. Incorporate brown ribbons into bouquets and boutonnieres. At the ceremony, ribbon-tied garlands can mark seats for family members. At the reception, fasten menus to napkins with a dainty bow.

The sugary sparkles on these sweet little cakes are sure to be reflected in the eyes of your guests when they take their first bites.

Extend your palette with pretty favors in green and brown that are a delight to behold. Familiar materials -- paper bags, cardboard boxes, crepe paper, twine -- are easily made into sophisticated packaging with ribbon or decorative paper. Fill with soaps, candy, or any other little treat, and place on each plate, or group together on a favor table.

There are worse fates than getting lost in a box of chocolates, but a map naming each treat's filling is a thoughtful inclusion -- write it by hand, or have a rubber stamp made at a stationery store (for neat stamping or writing, lay the open lid flat on the edge of a table, and allow the box to hang off). A personalized ribbon is the finishing touch.

Blue-and-white packaging complements dark coffee favors. Chocolate-covered espresso and coffee beans are stacked in hexagonal boxes tied with silk ribbon. Use rubber stamps (made at an office-supply store) to identify the treats.

Echo a rustic wedding theme with chocolate "olives" bundled as favors for guests to take home.

Brown is an excellent complement to the softer lilac in these stationery picks.

Paper flowers invite guests to their tables. The leaves show the name and table number in easy-to-read white ink (write information yourself using a gel pen or give finished leaves to a calligrapher). At the wedding, set them out on a table draped in linen.

We chose light- and dark-brown engraving on ecru paper to give this elegant lily-of-the-valley suite, available from Crane and Co., its finely detailed look.

Three different leaves adorn these pieces. The icons and typeface were created by letterpress. Paper and ink in shades of brown enhance the autumnal feeling and further unify the group. To keep costs down, one folder was designed to house the ceremony program as well as the invitation and inserts. Printed stickers and tags decorate favor boxes and menu scrolls.

Adorn your stationery with images from nature, like the branches shown here, and the vista you send your guests can be a welcoming landscape rich with meaning.

Choices for motifs to adorn wedding invitations are almost limitless, but one option is to use an image inspired by nature. One image alone -- used once or in repetition -- will make an impact. Shown is a monogram fashioned out of logs.

Use this gentle, evocative color combination on your invitations to give guests a taste of the warm celebration to come, then repeat the colors to personalize other paper pieces and carry the theme throughout. Every element here combines the two hues of green and brown in ink or, more unexpectedly, in decorative accents, such as envelope liners and ribbon.

Thanks to its distinctive, natural vibe, you might say this stationery, crafted from sheets of veneer and paper-backed wood, goes against the grain. Calligrapher and stationer Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls created the letterpress invitation, and, for an envelope, she folded a paper-thin sheet around the card. The favor box, tied with waxed twine, is by Lenderink Technologies.

Show your ingrained sense of style with seating cards crafted from paper-thin wood veneer. These inexpensive sheets are pliable enough to fold and cut easily into delicate shapes -- the elegant graining makes a distinctive canvas for calligraphy. We used craft punches to create maple and birch leaves.