Saturday, March 5, 2011

Get Personal for your Wedding Day.

One of my bridal couples in 2009 took personalization very personally! This bride and her groom came up with some of the best ideas for making their wedding all their own. Even as a trained wedding planner, I was so impressed with their ideas that I feel compelled to share with other brides. Here are just some of the amazing ways they expressed their individuality on their wedding day:

Reception table personalization – Brides and grooms are always looking for ways to name their tables in a unique way that brings out the couple’s personalities. This bride and groom decided to name their guest tables after pets they had owned during their lives and after states one or both of them had lived in. This may at first glance seem hard to pull altogether, but it really worked. They had tables for a horse, a childhood pet of the bride. There was a table named after their pet cat as well as Washington state and New York state tables.

Menu Cards – Each table had a different menu card even though the menu was the same at each table. One side of the menu card gave the details of the salad, entrees and dessert. The other side of the menu card listed the name of the table, either a state or a pet. Then a short paragraph followed telling a story about the pet or the significance of the state to the couple. Then there was a section about the centerpiece which was a two tiered mini wedding cake. There were instructions to have a designated person at each table to cut the table’s cake right after the couple cut their own cake. Each table had a different flavored cake and guests were encouraged to visit other tables to find their favorite cake slice.       

                                                                              





Favors – Can you guess what the favors were? Think states and pets! Each table had cookie cutters in the shape of that table’s pet or state. How cool is that!! It gets even better when you know that on top of each table’s centerpiece cake was a cookie in that shape with either the state’s abbreviation or the pet’s name. On the head table was the Washington state cookie cutters as favors with a cake topper cookie in the shape of the state and labeled “WA”. Such attention to detail!


Flowers – The wedding flowers in general were the picks of the bride and what she loved in her color scheme. One special touch was two free standing arrangements of a specific pink flower which held significance for the groom’s family. A member of the groom’s family had passed away way before her time. The pink floral arrangements were first placed on either side of the ceremony arbor and then moved inside by me to either side of the wedding picture table. This touch meant a great deal to the groom’s fam
ily and included in memory a missing family member. Very touching way to honor loved ones who could not be there!

Wedding picture table – The final idea that I found so wonderful was a table of framed wedding pictures of family, friends and other relatives. The parents of the bride and groom had pictures from their wedding day along with grandparents, aunts, uncles and close family friends. This was done to honor and recognize the many long term marriages that this family had. The pictures were all dated and had the names of the wedding couple pictured. Some pictures dated back to the 1940s. One of the pictures even caught the eye of a random person staying at the same resort where the reception was taking place. This lady told me she recognized a woman in one of the pictures. She gave me the name and I checked my guest list. Unbelievably, this person (not a guest at the wedding) knew this wedding guest from two decades ago. After checking with the named wedding guest, a reunion ensued between the two women. This story still touches my heart.

This couple took their story and their history and artfully incorporated these aspects into their wedding ceremony and reception. Think of special moments in your lives and share these stories with your wedding guests. These memories will create new moments for you as a couple and make lasting impressions on your guests.