Your wedding day is not only a ceremony to join together two people who love each other, but also an opportunity to show the world what the two of you can create when you put your minds to it.
Many wedding ceremonies follow the same pattern, with the same influences and the same expression. While there is nothing wrong with that, nothing at all actually, a wedding can be the perfect way to express yourselves as a couple. It is that we’re going to discuss today.
Adding little personal touches not only stamps your ownership onto your wedding day, it also makes things interesting for your guests and makes your wedding album that little more fascinating. For those reasons alone, we think every bride and groom should add a little personal touch to their wedding day.
Here are some tried and tested ways to make your wedding day truly your own.
Switch it Around
Convention says you should have the wedding ceremony first and everything else comes later. However, with the increase in venues other than churches holding weddings, there is nothing to say it has to be that way.
How about having a meet and greet first? A mini reception where you can meet the guests, have one drink with your family and then go on to the ceremony. You’re more relaxed, the groom would be more relaxed and so would your guests.
Welcome Packs for Guests
Weddings are expensive enough, but putting together a welcome pack for those guests from out of town wouldn’t cost much at all. Include quick routes into and out of town, details of restaurants and a small gift to make it special. It would make them smile and offer some useful information on what’s on in town and useful local phone numbers if they are staying overnight.
Truly Personal Table Settings
If you share a common hobby or interest with your intended, why not express it in your table settings? Like books? Use some hardbacks to stand flowers on. Like movies? Add some film memorabilia to the tables. Like making your own wine or beer? Add a bottle for guests to share at the reception.
If you have a hobby that can be expressed in this way it’s a great opportunity to personalise your big day for relatively little expense.
Taking it Further
If you have a real passion for something like books or movies and have a definite favourite, why not use it as the wedding theme? As long as it’s realistic, not going to offend anyone and easily achievable, using a book or film as inspiration can work amazingly well.
We have seen Great Gatsby inspired weddings, The Alice in Wonderland style receptions and many more!
Napkin Notes
If you’re having a sit-down dinner after your wedding ceremony, why not add a handwritten note to each napkin? You could say thanks for coming, add a fond memory and tell them what they mean to you. It’s a small but very effective way of bringing even more emotion to your day.
Charity Favours
Wedding favours are great, but they tend to have very limited appeal. Instead, why not donate the money to charity? Many will send little badges or cards to use in their place to tell everyone what they are doing with the money. In these austere times, charities appreciate all the help they can get!
DIY Favours
If you’re having a big wedding, buying favours for everyone can become very expensive. If you’re into making things, why not make the favours instead? Depending on what you’re good at, you could make mini bottles of spirits, jam, pickles, soap, candles and a thousand other things.
All will mean more to your guests if they know you made them.
Flower Crown
Instead of a traditional wedding bouquet, why not have a floral crown? It means you don’t have to carry anything into the ceremony but you will need to practice walking upright. You could have your bridesmaids in complementing crowns too.
Host a Quiz
A pop quiz about the newly married couple is a great way to break the ice of a formal dinner and add some brevity to an often serious occasion. You could split the tables into teams and the best man or groom could be the quiz master. Ask questions related to the couple and offer a silly prize for the winner.
Use One Liners on Place Cards
If you’re mixing tables or have a lot of family who don’t know each other, ask each to write a one liner about themselves on the back of their place card. Not only will this offer a little information, it will spark conversations as others want to know more. It’s a great way of getting people mixing and talking.
Signature Cocktail
Offering cocktails instead of champagne at the reception is a good idea all round if you like cocktails. You could mix your own and name it, choose a signature cocktail for the evening, or just have a mixologist there to make them on request.
This is also a good way of keeping the under 18’s included in everything as non-alcoholic cocktails can look just as good as real ones!
Photograph to Remember
Have you seen the wedding photograph where the wedding party is being chased by a dinosaur? It’s amazing and has created quite a stir. While we wouldn’t suggest copying that idea, we would suggest considering your own version of it to make your wedding album something to remember.
Those are just some ideas to make your wedding day truly original and truly yours. Feel free to pick and choose, mix and match and make them your own. Above all, have a great day!