75 Ways To Make Your Wedding Unique

Our all-time favorite ways to inject the wedding with a shot of personality

By Hillary Quinn

Photos by Yunhee Kim

Hillary Quinn has written a delightful article on making your wedding standout. I have included the first 10 ideas from her article, but if you’d like to read about all 75, click on the link below… Next time, I’ll tell you about the special touches we are going to include at KK and Tyler’s wedding…

hotelanfield.com

1. Choose barware that fits your theme: Serving hard lemonade in Mason jars at an outdoor country wedding adds charm to the cocktail hour. Jars, Candle Soylutions; candlesoylutions.com. Straws, Party City; partycity.com. Coastres, Wallies;wallies.com
2. Collect photos of family and friends (easier with small weddings), and place them in frames with each guest’s table assignment.
3. Give a custom flourish to all your printed material with your own logo—an image that’s meaningful to you and your spouse, like a hobby or place. See loveletterslogos.com for ideas.
4. Surprise guests with a handwritten note in each place card (“Tom, thanks for flying in from Colorado!”). Got a giant guest list? Try a lipstick-smooch mark and a “Glad you’re here today!”
5. Depending on your style, tie the napkins with satin ribbons, metallic cording, braided leather laces, even pieces of twine.
6. At informal receptions, top cocktail tables with white butcher paper; supply markers and glitter pens. Tell guests to have a go at it!
7. Give each reception table a name (for example, “Richmond Avenue”) that relates to your courtship. Have a tent card on the table with a short explanation: “We had our first apartment here—a 6th-floor, 300-square-foot walk-up!”
8. Got a travel theme? Go the extra mile and use leather luggage tags (baekgaardltd.com) to hold the escort or place cards.
9. Traditional guest books often end up stashed in a closet; instead, choose a coffee-table book (rizzoliusa.com) covering a subject you love and that you’ll want to display at home; guests can write on the photos or in the margins.
10. Another guest-book idea: Leave a glass bowl with cards and pens beside it, with a note asking guests to contribute a favorite memory of you or your husband.

http://www.brides.com/wedding-ideas/2009/02/75-ways-to-make-your-wedding-unique

bridalmusings.com

Will you have “extras” at your wedding? What do I mean by this? “Extras” are the something “More” all brides are looking to provide their guests – the goal to make their wedding memorable. This is an area where there are boundless options. It ranges from something as simple as a water bottle with the bride and groom’s names, to extravagant goodie “Boxes” pictured above.

In the next few blog posts, we’ll explore a few of the ideas out there. KK and Tyler’s reception venue, “The Pavilions at Crystal Lake,” offers multiple food options for guests.

Pre-wedding, they offer a variety of refreshing non-alcoholic beverages…flavored water, bottled water, cold cider, hot coffee, hot cider, hot chocolate, iced tea, and lemonade. This option is offered if you are holding your wedding on site in the gazebo. We are not. KK and Tyler will be married at St. Augustine’s in Glastonbury.

During Cocktail Hour, you can opt for “Culinary” Extras. This include “Sweet and Savory Baked Potato Bar,” “Build Your Own Taco Bar,” Build Your Own Slider Bar,” “Smothered Mac and Cheese Bar,” “Philly Cheese Steak Station,” “Salt Block Small Plates,” and “Oyster and Clam Raw Bar.” Of course all these choices come with an up-charge for each…I maintain after a few of these options, would you be interested in the regular Cocktail Hour fare? Would you even want dinner?

Post Dinner, AFTER the wedding cake…options: Pie Station, Cupcake Station, Sundae Bar, (Ben and Jerry’s!), and Honey Glazed Homemade Donuts. Really?!? And if you think your guests will STILL be hungry after all this food, you could pre-order the S’Mores Bar, Cider Station, Cupcake Truck, Pizza Bar ,Warm Pretzel Station, or CHICKEN AND WAFFLE STATION. Really?!?

One extra I would consider, but is not offered by the Connecticut Wedding Group, owner and operator, of KK’s venue, is an Espresso Coffee Truck. I love the idea…

More tomorrow about “Take Aways”, favors, and bonus gifts…