40 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding

written by Greta Sharp

1.    Get on everyone’s calendar now—send a “Save the Date” magnet incorporating your wedding design—snowflakes, beach chairs or even a simple monogram. It’s a great way to let friends and family know about your event especially if they live out of town.

2.    Test the depth of your creativity--make your invitations reflect the wedding’s theme. Use your colors, fabrics and photos, even quotes and song lyrics.

3.    Keep everyone on the same page—send out a bridal party newsletter with names, dates, places and other important information. Including photos will help the out-of-town members of the bridal party feel more a part of the action.

4.    Enough with the same old party games. Play bride and groom trivia at a couples shower and see who really does know you best. You design the questions based on your lives and see who can come up with the right answers.

5.    Design a wedding website. Include photos of you and your husband-to-be, how you met, wedding details, out of town guest details, registry links and your contact information for before and after the wedding.

6.    Create a welcome basket for out-of-town guests with local maps, tips on where to eat, local sights to see and, of course, a few local snacks like pralines and cheese straws.

7.    For an outdoor late spring or summer wedding, keep your guests’ comfort in mind. Serve lemonade, sweet tea or ice water before the ceremony to keep everyone cool. Don’t forget the parasols and fans, which can also double as programs.

8.    Embroider a special message around the hem of your wedding dress or slip. It’s a wonderful memento to pass along to the next bride to wear the dress.

9.    Keep it in the family. If you don’t want to wear your mother’s dress, use part of it for a ring bearer’s pillow or even the flower girl’s dress.

10.    Tuck something memorable in your bouquet—your great grandmother’s prayer book, his grandmother’s rosary, or the beautiful broach your mother wore on her wedding day. Don’t forget to save a cutting of ivy out of your bouquet to grow into a plant.

11.    Have beautifully laced handkerchiefs to give the special women at the wedding—mothers, grandmothers, aunts and close family friends who have played a special part in your life.

12.    You know you need something old, new, borrowed and blue. But add your style to it. Sash your dress and bouquet in a Tiffany-blue ribbon, and have the colors echoed in the pew bows.

13.    Select a rehearsal dinner location that’s part of your history together; perhaps where you and your husband-to-be had your first date or where he proposed. Share that special memory with your guests on their individual menu cards.

14.    Walk down the aisle on a hand-painted aisle runner custom designed with your monogram.

15.    Lighting is a great way to add a favorite color to your reception site. Even something as simple as white Christmas lights strung in the trees creates a magical feel to the evening.

16.    Add a pop of color—wear shoes with red soles.

17.    It’s a sign of the times: if your best friend is a guy, have a man of honor or bridesman.

18.    Make your event the hot ticket—have admission passes printed up for your reception, marking the date, time and location of the special event.

19.    Let the reception site reflect who you are. Love art? Check out museums and galleries. Is your groom a sports fan? Many sports facilities are available for rental as well. Other places to consider are historical sites or buildings and botanical gardens.

20.    Capture the moment. Put faces with the names in your guest book by hiring a photo booth and encouraging guests to leave a photo and a personal message.

21.    Enter the reception to your favorite team’s fight song. Or you could be introduced for the first time as husband and wife by your team’s mascot.

22.    Have a signature cocktail created for your reception.

23.    Scatter family photos on tables and mantles at the reception. Consider using family wedding photos and mixing older prints with more recent snapshots.

24.    Customized cake toppers can reflect the bride and groom, their interests or professions.

25.    Let your theme dictate your place cards. A sandy wedding at the beach? Use shells. More formal? Try silver-plated mini-frames that double as favors. Somewhere in the middle? Origami with personal messages from you and the groom inside.

26.    Name the reception tables after places important to you and your new husband. Use hometowns, colleges, vacation spots, the honeymoon destination and especially where he proposed.

27.    I’m with the band! If you have some talent, get up and sing or play along during a favorite song.

28.    Write your own vows. Incorporate special memories, song lyrics and poems.

29.    Have a professional family tree designed and displayed at the rehearsal dinner and reception, showing the joining of your two families. Make sure to leave room to add a branch of your own new family.

30.    It’s a perfect match—the tried and true personalized favor: the matchbook embossed with your names and wedding date.

31.    Have childhood photos of you and the groom tucked into the folded dinner napkins at each place setting.

32.    Put your best foot forward—take lessons to prepare for your first dance with a waltz, foxtrot or even the tango.

33.    Everyone can have their cake and eat it too with individual miniature wedding cakes—either one per table or one per guest.

34.    Use ethnic foods to celebrate your heritage—tapas, shrimp and grits, baklava or Italian wedding cookies.

35.    Indulge your sweet tooth - stock a candy table with lollipops, gumdrops, gummy bears and jawbreakers at the reception. You can even order M&Ms in your wedding colors with a special message. Need more? What about an ice cream cart with ice cream sandwiches, popsicles and other frozen treats.

36.    Write a short, personal note inside everyone’s place card.

37.    Is your wedding at a waterfront venue? Leave the reception via a boat. Instead of birdseed, have your guests toss fish food as you dash to the vessel.

38.    A butterfly release as you leave the reception makes a spectacular show.

39.    Send thank you postcards—personalized with a honeymoon photo of you and your new husband. Take it a step farther with photo stamps!

40.    Have your bouquet and his boutonniere preserved and framed, or use them to create a beautiful centerpiece for your new home. Either way, it’s a wonderful way to remember your special day.