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I hope this thread takes off! Ive been thinking a lot about how I'd like to personalize my wedding and have been having a hard time.
I was thinking of putting our parents' and grandparents' wedding photos on the table near the guestbook...
I will hold a cut piece from my grandma's veil with my bouquet.
Other than that, I'm hitting a brick wall.
EDIT: We are also filling our out-of-town gift baskets with local Greek products and an explantion of the Greek Orthodox ceremony.
@Evie19: Oh yes my father passed away so I'll have his ring sewn into the inside of my dress near my heart : ) And my brother (who is giving me away) is walking me down the aisle and we're dancing to There You'll Be by Faith Hill which is a nice subtle tribute to my father.
We're also doing the handwashing ceremony as part of our ceremony http://www.afceremonies.com/handwashingceremony.php which will lead into our vows.
We're saying each other's names in the vows. LOL I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but we're just not putting a lot of effort into DIY and stuff like that. It'll be a nice wedding, but nothing groundbreaking.
@ohheavenlyday: I'll admit I haven't put a ton of effort into DIY but I think this weekend there will be a lot of that. I still have to do my flower girl's tissue paper pomanders and the paper stuff...escort cards, programs, table names, menus, drink menus etc.
For some people having it be YOUR wedding is enough and I think that's great. After all, no one is going to mistake someone else for the bride and groom lol. I'm just a big crafter and wanted to put some personal touches on things.
@sit1010: That is so touching. Im sure your father will be with you on your special day. :)
@Evie19: Yes he definitely will be. It was important to have him with me but not throw it in everybody else's face. I really wanted to show off FI's heritage though and as cheesy as it is when I think Cuba I think cigars. It works out though because he loves cigars lol. And you can't really get anything "Cuban" here so it was the easiest way to tie it in.
Personalizing our wedding was very important to me since it seems like way too many people go the cookie cutter route these days...
I’m sure there’s more that I’m not adding but that’s all I can think of right now.
How are we personalizing our wedding?
Well, we are pretty much making/doing everything ourselves. From writing the ceremony & our vows to self-catering to a ridonkulous amount of DIYs (from paper to wood to fabric).
Not only that but we're
a) having the ceremony & reception on the banks of one of our fave lakes/summer spots.
b) Keeping everything laid back, think summer heat & sipping lemonade on the porch .. yeah we are very mellow low key people and hope to infuse our reception with that vibe (no glitz glam ballroom high society shindig for us).
c) will probably end up cracking jokes and making some people laugh while other people feel awkward (we're both jokers and love to kid around).
d) trying to be as eco conscious as possible. Pretty much all paper products used are at least 60% recycled (and of course acid & lignen free), we've bought as much as possible locally, growing our own flowers, and many of the items used for the wedding will be recycled, upcycled or can serve a dual purpose after the fact.
e)the music will be reflective of our tastes and personalities.
It's all little things really, but when it all comes together it will be good. Like PP's said, nothing groundbreaking, but we will be happy with the results :)
We are utilizing "friendors". Still thinking of other ways to personalize, but here's a start:
1. Offiant- i work in local government, so our officiant is our judge...we work together on several projects throughout the year.
2. Musician- our friend is playing piano for the ceremony and cocktail hour
3. Invitations- are being designed by one of fiance's oldest friends (oldest as in longest)
4. Favors- fiance's family owns and italian bakery and are making italian wedding cookies for us
5. Out of Town Bags- for our visitors from afar we are putting in lots of our local favorites, like tastycakes
Hmmmmm..... just about everything screams "us" in our wedding, lol. From the theme (fantasy) to the dress (definitely me) to the fact the wedding party will have weaponry (definitely my FI's influence, lol).
We have a logo that is now "ours" that will be used from now till our death (yeah, we love it that much, lol).
There will be guitar picks involved with the bouts (my FI plays and teaches)
The food will DEFINITELY reflect my FI
Candy! (I'm the chocoholic and candy nut....everyone knows this...)
Favors are gonna be shot glasses (FI is the 'bartender' amongst our friends)
Paper mache' Dragon eggs (we're both gamers and I'm crafty and love all-things fantasy)
Cake topper is gonna be dragons entwined to form a heart (we're fantasy nuts...)
The whole thing is gonna be more a party than a wedding (my FI's influence and he's known to throw awesome b-day parties)
the DIY stuff is definitely me.
I'm sure there will be lots of other stuff, but I'm drawing a complete blank at the moment! LOL!
So far :
Anyone who knows me knows I have the biggest sweet tooth so a candy buffet is a MUST!
It's so great to see everybody's personal touches for their day. Everybody has a different styles and personalities are really coming out.
We're having a Greek ceremony, but I'm not Greek and neither is my family, so we found a priest that would do the ceremony in English so that I could participate as fully as my FI. Also, I'm going to be wearing my late grandmother's jewelery, and I'm having a photo display of family wedding photos from my side and my FI's side of the family. We also picked our music really carefully so it reflects our personalities. It doesn't sound like much, but to me it's just enough that no one could ever replicate our wedding even if they tried.
Oops, I forgot! We're also giving away traditional Cypriot cookies as our favors as a nod to my FI's heritage.
After college, we took a backpacking trip through Europe together, and our most favorite place by far was Italy, so we decided to centralize our wedding around this theme.
1. Firstly, the music just overall represents us well.. We have spent SO much time deliberating over the perfect song for each part of the wedding.
2. We are having two ministers for the wedding. One is the pastor of my church, and one is an ordained bishop who has mentored FH for several years.
3. Asian themes throughout the reception-- We met in Japan! We are having Oriental parasols throughout the wedding- our escort cards are hanging down from them on ribbon, and in the middle of the dance floor their is a chandelier of parasols with flowers cascading down. Also! we are having a candy buffet (HUGE sweet tooth) and we are having custom chocolate covered fortune cookies as part of this. So excited!
Not one thing in particular is necessarily 'personalized', but it is definitely all about FI and my style. We are laid back people but still have style...we wanted the wedding to feel like 'us'. So we're doing a lounge reception with tons of food and drinks and dancing, but it will be tasteful and well put together.
Lets see, centerpieces I am making with flowers from dollar tree and ball mason jars. As well as some floating butterfly candles in dollar tree bought fishbowls.
Bouquets we are making with flowers purchased at dollar tree and hobby lobby, with a few brooches thrown in.
Cupcakes we are buying from Sam's Club. And a cupcake tower will be made with them.
Food is potluck that my cousin is organizing.
One of my bridesmaids is actually putting together the bouquets for me, and she does great work as she did them for my first wedding 24 years ago. She will also be singing during the ceremony.
My MOH daughter is playing piano during the processional for us.
Cocktail hour, Dinner and Dancing music will be on the laptop/ipad. Between my playlists and my MOH music we have over 10,000 songs, should not be hard to find something to play. I have been collecting music listed on different wedding sites as great songs for different times of the reception. We will be narrowing down as it gets closer for what we want. I am actually sending out a song request card to be sent back with the rsvp to get the vibe for what others might want.
My dress is being made in China. I am buying a long slip and FMIL is going to add 6 in of camo to the bottom to wear under my gown, as well as making my garter. This is a surprise for FH.
Rehearsal dinner will be at the resturaunt where we had our first date, which is going to be fun. We are all going to have matching guys and girls tuxedo tshirts to go out in that night. With matching black pants.
DOW I will wear my gown, the girls will wear their dresses that they have picked out, and the guys will be wearing black jeans, ivory shirts and a tie to match the color of the dress the BM they are walking with is wearing.
It may sound odd, but something that makes our wedding personal to us is having a traditional church ceremony with the traditional vows. The other main thing is the fireworks - we both work for a firework company (a weekend job). The fireworks will be setup by our friends. I did consider firing them myself (in my wedding dress), but I don't really want to be covered in burning debris and I'd like to watch and enjoy them!
@RainStorm: Yes our ceremony will be "ours" too. Not many of our friends actively participate in the Church so having a religious ceremony is going to set it apart for us. It's also important because neither of us was very religious until we met each other.
Pretty much everything about our wedding was personalized. lol
I know I am about 4 months late on this one but it is such a good thread I hope it picks up again.
1.) the chapel we are getting married in has gas lights. You can sponser the lights for $10 (pays the gas bill I guess) in honor of someone. FI doesn't know I am doing this but as you walk up the gravel walk way to the chapel there will be signs saying " The Gas lights are lit today in honor of Mr and Mrs XX XXX - Father and Mother of the Groom" Since his parents are no longer alive this will mean the world to him. He adores his folks.
2.) Since FI and have both been married before and combined households we have way too much stuff. So we are not asking for gifts but rather for donations to go to our two favorite charities.
3.) The music - we spent more time on this one single aspect of our wedding than any other item. We both love music and each and every song has a very special meaning to us. From movies that we saw when we first started dating to songs that say just what we would say if we could write music, to artists that we saw in concert on dates. Even the processional - I know it is over used but it has great meaning to me - Trains- Marry Me. Train is one of my favorite bands, Marry Me is from the Album San Franciso which is where I grew up, when we first met he didn't have the nerve to "say hello" so I had to go talk to him, and our first date was in a cafe. It is so perfect!!
4.) Even the fact we are getting married at Christmas - My family know that I am a NUT about Christmas. I change everything in my house for Christmas, even the pictures on the walls, the towels and linens on the bed. I had to buy very little for the wedding as I have boxes of christmas stuff.
my friend at her wedding had a photo album of her life and his then theirs together was really nice personal touch!!
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FI is from California, I'm from NY and we met/live in NC. His grandparents brought his mom over from Cuba when she was about 12 soooooooo there's lots of little things I wanted to work into my wedding.
North Carolina - our favors are small jars of North Carolina wildflower honey
Cuba - our tables will be named after Cuban cigar brands. We're also having cigar boxes on each table filled with postcards for guests to sign rather than a guestbook. Also, we are walking into the reception to the theme song from I Love Lucy. Since Desi is Cuban (although you'd never know FI was hispanic in any way) and Lucy is a klutzy chick like me :)
California - The postcards in the cigar boxes will be postcards of various places in California
NY - well the whole wedding is taking place in NY in my parents backyard so I think that's enough :)
How about you bees? Any traditions, customs you want to work into your wedding? What important things do you want to show off? How do you plan on doing it?