Roots and Vines: A Wedding Mirror

Foreword

This mirror was designed using classical principles of proportion and composition, rooted in centuries of artistic tradition. At its foundation is the Golden Ratio, a mathematical proportion of roughly 1.618 to 1, found throughout nature, art, and architecture. From this ratio emerge four key positions within any rectangle, known as the Golden Points. These are not centered but slightly offset, about 40 percent in from each side, where the eye is naturally drawn. Artists and designers have long used these points to hold visual or symbolic weight within a composition. The frame of this mirror emphasizes those points physically, the story flowing from one Golden Point to another, reflecting their importance and inviting closer attention. There is a macro level, in which the entire mirror and frame follow this proportional structure, and a micro level, applied to the carved top panel. Each has its own Golden Points and its own narrative elements placed in alignment with them.

The design also incorporates two traditional diagonals that guide the viewer’s eye and introduce movement. The Baroque Diagonal rises from the lower left Golden Point to the upper right, suggesting upward flow, growth, and aspiration. The protagonist of the story appears at the upper right Golden Point. The Sinister Diagonal descends from the upper left to the lower right, creating a natural counterpoint that introduces tension, challenge, or weight. The antagonist is positioned at the upper left Golden Point. These lines follow the way Western eyes typically scan a page or image, and when used together, they allow a design to carry not just visual balance but a sense of narrative structure.

Across this framework, the carved roots and vines provide the flow, guiding the story along its path. They cross diagonals, encircle figures, and connect opposing elements, tying moments of growth to sources of strength. This movement softens the geometry, turning structure into story and proportion into meaning.

Other classical principles also help shape the composition. Larger elements carry greater symbolic or emotional weight. Foregrounded elements feel more immediate and present, while background forms suggest memory, longer term, or lesser possibility. Repeated shapes and flowing lines create rhythm, leading the eye and building harmony. Movement through the piece is shaped by curves, diagonals, size, and light. It helps connect symbolic elements and invites the viewer to follow the story, not just look at it.

With these elements in place, the mirror becomes more than a frame. It becomes a vessel for meaning, anchored in time-tested design.

The Story

The Top Panel: A Microcosm of Marriage

The top panel sits above the mirror like a crown. It is both a decorative flourish and the narrative and emotional heart of the piece. This small space holds a symbolic tableau that tells the story of this marriage from before its beginning.

At the lower left of this panel, two symbols appear in distinct circles. A sword, angled upward, represents Brandon, the groom. Its meaning is layered. On one level, it stands for the struggles he has faced and overcome on the path to this moment. It also reflects his lifelong fascination with swords. From foam-fighting battles in the backyard with his legion of friends, to fencing, to visiting a sword maker in Scotland, to rolling through Chicago on a one-wheel with a real sword strapped to his back on his way to the sword fighting guild training, the symbol is as personal as it is archetypal.

The sword itself is no ordinary blade. Its edge is carved from Rainbow Kyanite, a stone of clarity and alignment, suggesting truth cutting cleanly through confusion. The hilt is Rutilated Quartz, with golden threads running through it like veins of light, symbolizing guidance, insight, and the strength found in life’s challenges. The handle is Epidote, a crystal known for transformation and perseverance, speaking to growth and the ability to turn difficulties into opportunities. Together, these elements create a weapon, not of war but of resilience and vision. The sword is brilliant, sharp, and tough, like Brandon himself. It speaks to his courage, imagination, and persistence.

Just below the sword, a butterfly represents Nicole, the bride. It is a symbol of transformation, vitality, and expressive strength. Like the butterfly, Nicole moves through the world with energy and color, shaped by discipline and growth. Before taking flight, the butterfly passes through stages of development, deliberate, demanding, and full of change. In much the same way, Nicole’s path, from years of study and performance at the piano to earning a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Notre Dame, reflects both focus and resilience. But she is not all stillness and study. She brings laughter, joy, and momentum. The butterfly does not signal fragility. It signals emergence, the kind of brilliance that takes root, then arrives in full flight.

The butterfly’s form is alive with color and meaning. Its wings are studded with bright blue lapis lazuli, a stone long associated with wisdom, self-expression, and the clear communication of truth. It speaks to Nicole’s ability to convey both logic and feeling, intellect and warmth, in perfect balance. At the lower edge of each wing rests a round natural blue apatite crystal, a gem of focus and manifestation that transforms inspiration into tangible progress, much as Nicole turns ideas into achievement. The twin antennae end in small red garnets, stones of vitality and passion, radiating energy and love into everything they touch. At the butterfly’s center, the head is a Herkimer diamond, clear and luminous, amplifying all surrounding energies while symbolizing vision, clarity, and pure intention. Together, these stones infuse the butterfly with the powers of communication, focus, vitality, and insight, a reflection of Nicole’s bright spirit and steady strength as she takes flight into this new life.

To the right of each circle a vine begins to grow, one from the sword, one from the butterfly. They curve toward each other, then inward, tracing a slow spiral as they wind together in an intentional dance. Their curves mirror and answer one another, creating a rhythm that draws the eye forward. At each point where the vines cross, a small sphere of moss agate is set, like a living seed captured in stone. Moss agate is known as the stone of new beginnings, grounding growth in patience, balance, and enduring connection to the earth. Its green inclusions resemble tiny forests, reminding us that strength comes through steady, natural expansion rather than sudden bloom. As the vines continue their intertwined journey toward the first golden point, where a sapling stands, the moss agate marks their crossings as milestones of unity. By the time they reach that point, they have become inseparable strands, each strengthening the other. There, their union marks the beginning of what they will build together.

The sapling rises at the first golden point, a place where the eye naturally comes to rest. Its slender trunk and fresh leaves speak of beginnings, of something planted with care and meant to endure. It is young, but already reaching upward, drawing strength from the intertwined vines that lead to it. Placed on the golden point, the sapling becomes both anchor and promise, marking a moment when two lives, now joined, set down roots together. It is a quiet reminder that growth is not instant, but steady, shaped by seasons, nurtured by shared effort, and guided by the balance and harmony that the golden point represents.

Across the Lovers card from the peony stands a rose, its beauty tempered by a single copper thorn. This is the antagonist, resting at the top of the sinister diagonal. The thorned rose reminds us that even the deepest love carries challenge and requires care. The copper catches the light, a subtle warning and a quiet reassurance. Copper conducts energy and encourages healing, joining strength with warmth and showing that endurance and tenderness are often bound together. The thorned rose does not threaten the story but gives it depth. It is the tension that shapes resilience and the reminder that love grows stronger when met with understanding. This is not an omen but a truth, a reality that must be recognized.

At the lower right golden point, beneath the peony, faint carved tendrils spread across the background. This is the base of the sinister diagonal, a place that hints at what can wither when love is left untended. In front of these vines rise three steady columns, symbols of the strength Brandon and Nicole have built through their own lives. Together, these columns uphold the peony, guard against the creeping vines, and make success inevitable. With such grounding in place, the warning becomes gentle counsel rather than threat.

From the base of the three columns, the eye follows their lines upward to the peony they support. The flower’s strength comes not only from its own roots but from the foundation beneath it. Flowing outward to the right, oak leaves extend from the scene, a symbol of endurance and lasting growth. Their changing colors suggest the passage of time and the quiet beauty of a love that will surely mature with it. This is the path of their marriage, a living affirmation of the strength and constancy on which it stands.

From the top of the peony, a grapevine begins to grow, its stem curving back above the Lovers card before turning downward to encircle the mirror. This vine represents the family that will grow from this marriage—not only children, but the wider circle of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and all those whose lives will be touched by their union. Along its path, grape leaves gradually grow larger, each one marking the expanding influence of love as it moves through generations. By the time the vine reaches the mirror itself, it has become full and abundant, a living emblem of the circle of life and the enduring legacy that flows from the bond at the heart of this story. The vine continues around the mirror and ends back on the far-right side of the panel, symbolizing love’s return—how what begins as two lives intertwined eventually comes full circle, feeding and renewing the very roots from which it first grew.

The grapevine itself is formed from a blend of different grapes—cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and syrah—each distinct in flavor and depth. Together they suggest the diversity of people whose lives will be joined through this union, and the strength that arises from difference woven in harmony. The leaves are attached to the vine with small round crystals of flame yooperlite, their subtle glow suggesting the spark of connection that binds families together. As the vine matures, other crystals appear along its length, each representing the shared values that sustain a growing family—patience, compassion, curiosity, and joy. The natural openings in the leaves, called fenestrations, are filled with crystals as well, their light marking the spaces where life’s trials and imperfections allow grace to shine through.

The Macro Story

The macro story begins when the eye moves from the carved panel to the full frame. A new set of golden points and diagonals emerges, following the same proportions that shape the entire piece. These lines guide a second, larger narrative, echoing the harmony and balance found within the smaller scene above. Each golden point is represented in a small box set just off the frame, since they cannot rest upon the mirror’s surface itself. Together they form a constellation of meaning, framing the greater journey of love, time, and endurance.

This larger story unfolds as a three-card tarot reading. It begins in the lower right, at the base of the baroque diagonal, with The Empress, Major Arcana III, rendered in relief upon a small wooden plaque that projects gently from the mirror’s frame. The Empress embodies fertility, abundance, and creative power. She stands for the nurturing energy that gives life form, a fitting beginning for the early stages of marriage. Her presence anchors the story in love and beauty, grounding it in growth and the promise of renewal. On her shield rests a green aventurine crystal, known for prosperity, vitality, and the gentle confidence that encourages new beginnings. At the tip of her scepter gleams a herkimer diamond, clear and radiant, symbolizing vision, spiritual connection, and the pure light that guides creation. Together they express the balance between earthly abundance and higher purpose, between the tangible and the transcendent. The shape of her plaque, a subtle trapezoid, lifts the eye upward along the baroque diagonal, guiding the path that lies ahead.

Following that line, the eye rises to the upper right golden point, the top of the baroque diagonal. Here rests The Two of Cups, Minor Arcana, carved in relief upon a wooden plaque shaped like a trapezoid, its lower left edge angled upward to carry the gaze along the same ascending line. This card is the protagonist of the macro story, the conscious and hopeful joining of two souls. It speaks of partnership, balance, and shared vision, embodying the choice to build together with intention and trust. Set within the plaque is a piece of pyrite, a stone of strength, confidence, and protection. Pyrite reflects light with quiet brilliance, reminding us that true partnership shines not only in joy but in mutual courage, honesty, and resolve. Together, the form and the stone express the upward motion of commitment—steady, bright, and enduring.

Across the frame, at the top of the sinister diagonal, stands the antagonist, not a card but an hourglass carved into a rectangular plaque, not forming an arrow like the other two plaques. Its stillness contrasts with their upward motion. The hourglass measures the passage of time and the certainty of change. It reminds us that even the strongest bond must exist within time’s flow and that impermanence gives love its urgency and depth. In place of sand, each chamber holds a piece of opalite, a stone of transition and calm that captures shifting light and turns it toward renewal. The opalite’s soft glow suggests that change is not an ending but a transformation, part of the rhythm that gives love its shape. The lower left golden point at the base of the sinister diagonal remains empty by design. Its silence affirms that success is inevitable, that endurance and understanding will overcome whatever shadows the hourglass implies.

The third card in this reading is The Lovers, Major Arcana VI, the emotional and spiritual apex of the composition, set at the center of the upper panel. Here the deeper narrative blossoms into full symbolic form, weaving classical tarot imagery with personal meaning. Traditionally, The Lovers represents union, harmony, and choice, the merging of paths into something greater than either alone. The card appears not as a flat image but as a living scene, with two figures emerging from it. Though not placed on a golden point, it holds the center at the top of the frame, linking the micro story of the panel to the broader arc of the mirror. It serves as both culmination and connection, uniting the intimacy of the story above with the enduring geometry that shapes the whole.

In Closing

May this mirror be more than a reflection. May it live as a quiet thread woven through the fabric of their life together. In its depth they will see not only who they are but the story still unfolding—a vine that continues to grow, drawing strength from deep roots; a peony in bloom, bright with joy and promise; a sapling reaching upward, steady and sure. Within it lie the seasons of their journey, the storms they have weathered, the sunlight they have shared, and the days that unfold in quiet rhythm. Let it hold the glow of their beginnings, the fullness of their present, and the promise of all that lies ahead, so that each glance reflects not only their image but the life and love they build, moment by moment, year by year.