Eastern European Wedding Scene

Handmade by Beryl Meuli, Bill Meuli, & Kim Meuli Brown

On October 1, 2011 we took a class at Castle in the Sky in Berkeley on how to create miniature food out of polymer clay. The plan was to create a Polish wedding scene to surprise my son Cullen and his new fiancé, Tory. My sister's had borrowed a Ukrainian wedding scene that was displayed with the guest book at their weddings. So my Mom, Dad and I set out to create one of our own. Everything you see is handmade, with the exception of the figures, silver vase, and candlesticks. A great deal of love and research went into this project.

We presented it to Cullen and Tory at their engagement party on January 21, 2012. They will hold on to it until the next grandchild of Beryl and Bill Meuli choose to use it on their wedding day.

Close up of food, even the candles we made. The silver vase was part of a collection my mom had as a young girl. She also created the table cloth which is linen with embroidered cross stitch.

We wanted the scene to appear to be in the country, and went to work researching what a Polish barn might look like. Anything made of wood, Dad constructed.

Here is a close up of the bride and groom. The musician in the back is in traditional costume you would see in Krakow Poland.

The hanging flowers in the back were hand cut out of paper in a stylized polish design, we created. Embroidery thread was braided to create the garland.

In the background you can see a photo of Cullen and Tory on 11/5/11, the day Cullen proposed in Central Park. Look closely and you can see braided rolls, the Meuli family has a tradition of making these at holidays and weddings. My Dad made the table and fashioned it after a doll house table that Holly played with over at Grandmas.

Here is a shot from the party, which gives you some idea of the scale of the barn at least.