Setting Sail

244 pieces

Bryant and Amanda’s wedding didn’t just have a nautical theme; it was held on a boat in Boston Harbor. This photo was taken by the wedding photographer before the wedding as they walked along the Boston Seaport. I thought having flowers protruding from a puzzle edge worked well in Kim and Jim’s puzzle, so I decided to use that concept extensively on this one, with many roses of similar shape (but not quite exact clones).

The rose petals (which enable them to interlock with the puzzle) would normally be too easy to find matches for when compared to the rest of my pieces. So, to make that part more challenging, I cut pieces near the roses that use knobs that mimic the rose petals. Below that area I transitioned to my “soft curl” style.

For nautically-themed figure pieces, I cut a swordfish, a clipper ship, and an anchor. He is from Massachusetts and she is from Iowa, so I cut those two states as separate pieces that interlock with each other via heart-shaped knobs. I dropped out pieces of their names written in cursive. They don't know their names are cut into the puzzle until after they get all the surrounding pieces in place, making that area challenging but also delaying (and enhancing) their satisfaction of finding out what those dropped-out spaces form.