Tips for Personalizing Your Wedding

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, and you want it to be a unique, special, and wondrous celebration. You want people to remember your wedding. The best way to make any wedding stand out from the rest is to add personal touches that reflect the bride and groom and their love for each other. Here are a few fun and creative ways you can do just that:

1. The Wedding Invitations

Everything starts with your wedding invitations. This is the first glimpse your guests will see of your wedding, so go the extra mile to show off your creativity and the style you have in mind for your wedding day. This can be done in a myriad of ways. For example, if you’re having a themed wedding, be sure your theme shines through in your invitations. Say you’re having a beach wedding—add a tiny envelope of sand to each invitation packet. Perhaps include a listing for out-of-town guests that details where favorite restaurants, bookstores, and the like are located.

2. The Wedding Vows

If your officiant will allow you to, consider writing your own vows. Personalized vows add a level of intimacy and beauty into the promises you will make on this day, both for you and for your guests. If you don’t feel up to this task, but love the idea, choose a favorite poem or verse that you can read after the traditional vows are exchanged. Another great idea is to have your personalized vows written on the wedding programs, so you and your guests have a lasting memory to cherish.

3. The First Wedding Dance

Your first wedding dance as husband and wife is a moment you will remember forever. Take time in selecting the song you’ll dance to, and if you have the courage, you might even want to take it a step farther. Consider enrolling in dance lessons before the big day and show off your ability to groove—either in a fun, fanciful dance, or in an elegant, romantic one. Many brides and grooms state that their dance was the one moment that their guests talk about years after the wedding.

4. The Menu

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to serve food that your guests will remember. Consider ways you can personalize your reception menu. Perhaps you can tie in the theme of your wedding to the food and/or beverage served. Or maybe your family has a favorite recipe—chocolate chip cookies, brownies, etc.—that can be served (along with the recipe) to your guests. Also, consider choosing one signature mixed drink, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, to serve.

5. The Wedding Favors

Too often, wedding favors are the same from one wedding to the next. Rather than give your guests the same-old/same-old, why not give them something that they’ll use, cherish, or both? The recipe idea mentioned earlier is a great example. Or what about a packet of flower seeds your guests can plant in their gardens at home? Mini-photos in engraved frames are another terrific idea.

The key to personalizing your wedding is to never forget that it is your wedding. Be creative, have fun, and plan the wedding that is right for you.