Sometimes a bride goes above and beyond to create something truly magical for her wedding. With the help of friends, family and her 5th grade class, Laura brought a theme with personal meaning to life. Here’s her real Paper Source wedding story:

Jon and I had a long-distance romance between Seattle and Chicago, thanks to mutual friends who thought we would make the perfect match. The first time Jon came to visit he left behind a paper crane with a message written on the wings that summed up our wonderful weekend together. I left shortly after for a trip to Greece and took the crane along. While on the trip I decided to unfold the crane and discovered a secret message written on the inside as well! After 3 weeks of traveling, I came home to a mailbox full of letters; each letter contained a crane with sweet messages on the wings and secret ones inside. I knew he was a keeper!

We wanted to incorporate the cranes into our wedding because they were so special to us. With the help of a few friends, family, and the class of 5th graders I was teaching at the time, over 1300 cranes were folded. Most of the paper came from Paper Source, including the prints and solids. Our vision was to use about 1000+ of the cranes for a backdrop to be used during the ceremony. The cranes were attached to fishing line and each one was secured with a bead to hold its’ place on the line. My brothers constructed a wooden frame with lights to hang them from.

The result was breathtaking!

Wedding cake display

Wedding decor ideas

Wedding dessert table ideas

Wedding paper cranes

We also used the cranes for our dinner place cards. The cranes sat on beds of wheat grass with the name of each guest attached to them.

Paper crane place cards

Finally, we incorporated a little more origami into our wedding program by folding “cootie catchers” for all the guests. One of the flaps on the “cootie catcher” told the story behind the cranes. A special thank you to the Paper Source Evanston store where I frequented during the time I was buying paper for the cranes! – Laura

Thanks to Laura for sharing her story with our Bellevue store, near where she now lives.

–Jeannie, Paper Source Bellevue Store
PS colors: poppy & pool
Latest fave: Gerbera Daisy Flower Kit

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13 Responses

  1. Celeste says:

    Truly Special…I’ve seen many personal touches at weddings, but nothing quite like this. How wonderful that you got your family and students involved to create such a lovely backdrop..Stunning! Congratulations!

  2. Keri says:

    This is such a great story! I work at the Evanston store, and I know that the rest of the ladies will love to read about this. Thanks so much for sharing!

  3. Veronica says:

    I too love origami and I think your display of it at your wedding is just precious! Thank you for sharing your special day with us.

  4. Laura (the bride) says:

    Thank you for the sweet comments! We felt very creative during the process, but now I have 1300 cranes sitting in boxes and I need some inspiration. I put some of the cranes in glass jars on our coffee table, but I’d also like to make some sort of wall hanging out of them. I’d love some ideas!

  5. Kristen says:

    Maybe one day you can use the cranes to make a mobile for a nursery!

    My grandmother is Japanese and she’s been folding paper cranes for years (she has bags of them). My mom would love for me to incorporate cranes into my wedding someday. How you did this for your wedding was magical!

  6. Veronica says:

    You can use them for your nursery as well as in your thank you cards to your guests. This way they can remember the great time they had at your wedding, not to mention, sharing the great story with others! They are also great to send in your holiday cards for all your friends and family to place them on their tree! And who knows, perhaps you can hang them on your friends rear view mirrors, the options are endless!

  7. What a romantic way to celebrate your very first memories at the start of your new life and marriage together! I’m definitely going to be re-posting this sweet story on my blog!!!

    Congratulations to this lucky couple! I hope you have a lifetime of romantic stories just like this to share with your friends and family.

    ~ Alyna

  8. Wow, that gave me goose bumps!

  9. Alanna Backus says:

    This is SO beautiful… I love how all of the details—the story behind the cranes, the intricate place cards, and even the brothers-of-the-bride coming together to help construct it all— come together to create a beautifully engaging and meaningful statement. Bravo, and congratulations!!!

  10. Deborah R. Woodward says:

    My husband also loves origami. When our children were born, he created origami mobiles for each of their cribs. We also used Origami on our Christmas tree when they were little as it is certainly unbreakable and looks lovely and colorful.

  11. cyndy says:

    do you have a pattern for the cranes?

  12. Autumn says:

    Laura, I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate the japanese culture into my wedding and your curtain of cranes is so breathtaking that I would love to do something similar. Can you share some details -i.e. photos of the structure, paper size, etc?

  13. Laura (Not the bride but inspired by her!) says:

    I love Veronica’s idea! Send the cranes in Christmas cards to your guests to hang on their trees. That would be such a thrill to get in the mail.

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