To round out our Pride Month series, I asked Tim, my husband and co-owner of Alx&Co., to talk about projects he has worked on that were especially thoughtful LGBTQ adaptations of wedding traditions. Before I even finished the question he exclaimed “The Johns!” Read on to learn more about this sweet custom design we created for some New York-based clients who wanted a thoughtful wedding gift for their special day…“The Johns” are John and John, clients of ours who happen to have the same name who also happen to be married. When we met them, they were recently engaged and in search of wedding bands for their upcoming ceremony. We did much of the consultation over email because they live in New York City. They (happily for us) were referred to us by one John’s mother, who is a longtime client of our shop, and after an initial consultation we worked through different wedding band options, ultimately deciding upon elegant matching platinum bands.In the course of conversation, The Johns mentioned that they were searching for a thoughtful wedding day gift they could give to each other. We have created many wedding day gifts for couples and one idea was to adapt a traditional groom gift of cufflinks to them. Since their friends and family call them “The Johns,” they decided to create custom cufflinks with “JJ” intertwined as the cuff face. They opted for sterling silver for the cufflinks, finished with a high polish.Tim put together a few renderings to show the shape and style of the proposed designs. After a few changes back and forth, they were ready for casting. We finished and polished the cufflinks in-house and had them ready to be shipped to John and John in New York for their big day. On the day after their wedding, Tim opened his email to find the sweetest note from The Johns, thanking him for the design and including a photo of the cufflinks in action. We think they were an especially elegant adaptation of a traditional ceremonial element and we were so pleased to be part of their special day in this meaningful way.

photo credit Shu-ping Shen

Looking for a thoughtful card to go with your thoughtful gift? Check out Penny Post's collection!