Unique Wedding Ideas that Will Make Your Wedding Stand Out

Unique Wedding Ideas that Will Make Your Wedding Stand Out

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Even though Summer is one of the biggest wedding seasons of the year, we can still expect to be seeing a lot of Fall and Winter weddings on the horizon. Whether you’re in the midst of planning a wedding yourself or are helping your best friend plan theirs, we all want every wedding to be a memorable celebration. Here are some unique wedding ideas to make your wedding an event to remember! 

 

Have Your Pet Involved

For animal lovers out there who can’t stand the idea of getting married without their fur baby by their side, make an effort in including them on your wedding day. You can choose to have your animal serve as ring bearer, be beside you at the altar or just put him in the crowd as one of your guests. Not only will this be extra special for all animal lovers, but your pet will be a great addition to your wedding photos. 

Have From Where You Come From 

Did you grow up in Texas with the best nachos out there? Are you from New England where the oysters are also so fresh and delicious? Incorporate food based off where the two of you come from. This can be included in your appetizers or added into your dinner menu. Given that many of your guests will be familiar or have lived in the same area as you once before, this will mean a lot to them as well and will add a special homage to your hometowns. 

Have Cocktail Napkins with Fun Facts

Is there a special song that the two of you share? Or a fun story about how your partner or you proposed? Add a personal touch to your cocktail napkins with a fun fact about you and your partner’s relationship. Not only will this serve as a funny and personal anecdote for your guests, but it will also add a more personal touch to your overall wedding experience. 

Set Up a Tasting Bar

Are you and your partner both big fans of beer or wine? Set up a fun tasting bar with some of your favorite drinks and have your guests do a tasting of each kind. They’ll appreciate the different varieties offered and it will definitely serve as a fun reception activity. 

Incorporate Colors into Your Wedding Look

As all eyes are on the bride as she walks down the aisle, incorporate different colors into your wedding day look for some added flair. This can be with including colored feathers into your hair, having a colored veil or having brightly colored jewelry such as emerald, red or yellow. You can even go as far as to dye parts of your tresses fun hair colors using a color conditioner such as this! No matter how you choose to add in more color, spicing up your hairstyle with additional colors will be just the thing that your guests remember. 

Offer your Guests Comforts 

Everyone loves a romantic outdoor wedding. But with chilly weather on the horizon, if you’re planning on marrying outdoors, offer each of your guest’s blankets, shades, and/or umbrella’s. The weather will always vary but doing something thoughtful for your guests will be much appreciated and keep them as cozy and as comfortable as possible. Whatever comforts you decide to use can also serve as part of your wedding favors, giving your guests something that’s always a necessity and something guaranteed they’ll use again. 

Skip the Buffet for a Traditional Family Style Dinner

Are you planning on having a really intimate wedding? If so, skip the buffet or the typical three-course dinner and opt for a traditional family-style dinner instead. Doing so will only make your wedding feel that much more intimate and will have all your guests interacting with one another. 

Custom Jewelry

One of the best ways to say thank you is with a personalized gift. What better than a diamond bracelet for those closest to you. Moms are a huge part of a wedding day and sometimes they can feel lost in the shuffle. Jewelry is a unique way to make your wedding unique and add a little extra sparkle in the eyes of those you love!

Skip the Place Cards

Instead of using paper place cards, write the name of each guest’s spot on the reception table itself. Depending on the kind of wood or fabric used for your reception tables, you can do this with chalk or paint. This will be a fun game for your guests to play and will definitely serve as a unique take on traditional place cards. 

Skip the Menu Stationery

The same can go for your menu stationery. If you want to do something different besides traditional menu cards, use something like charcuterie boards instead! You can etch each board with a calligraphed version of what your guests can expect to see on the menu. This will be a nice intimate touch especially if you’re planning on having a more rustic themed wedding. 

Spice up the Traditional Guestbook

Even though we often see a guestbook at weddings, more times than not, they end up stashed in the back of a closet and rarely again looked at. If you want to make your version of a guestbook actually memorable and something you’ll admire often, use something different than the traditional guestbook. If you’re both big fans of wine, have your guests each sign a wine cork that’s made into a romantic sign like a heart or of you and your partner’s name. If in need of more ideas, here are some more unique guest book ideas for couples! 

Give Your Guests Recommendations

Are you having your wedding in a beautiful and touristy town? After the wedding is over, set up your guests with a fun scavenger hunt or a list of places they should try to visit. Whether it’s restaurants, bars, museums or some decent shopping areas, this will give your guests the chance to enjoy the town and see everything it has to offer. 

Have to Go Cake Boxes

Oftentimes, your guests always go the most in on the entrees, appetizers, and cocktails that they hardly have any more room for dessert. Since it often seems as if the cake is the least eaten thing and the biggest of the entire wedding, give each one of your guests to go cake boxes! This will be much appreciated by your guests and also not leave you and your partner with a massive amount of leftovers.

How to Make Sure Your Wedding Photos Are a Success

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Not only does everyone want their wedding to be perfect, but they also want their wedding to be captured perfectly. It’s incredibly exciting to receive the photos from your big day back from the photographer, and with any luck, you’ll fall in love with every picture that was taken! Here are a few tips to keep in mind. We’re not perfect and neither are you, so cut yourself some slack and have a little fun. Life is short and our expectations are often unrealistic, but these suggestions might help you stay focus on what matters to allow you to revere each moment of your wedding day. #liferevered 

Practice Self-Care Now

To ensure that you’re feeling amazing when it’s time to take your wedding photos, start implementing small positive changes in your everyday life in the months leading up to the event. Real self-care goes well beyond drinking green juice and buying yourself a new pair of Lululemon leggings— it’s about checking in with yourself, both physically and mentally, and making adjustments to your habits and behavior as needed in order to feel your best.

Take up gentle exercise, like yoga or pilates, to help keep your body and mind in tip-top shape. Find your perfect skincare routine, and stick to it. Make a conscious effort to clean up your diet, and drink tons of water. If you feel as though you could be doing better emotionally, consider speaking with a mental health professional so you’re in an ideal frame of mind when the big day arrives. The more you do for your personal well being before it’s time to get in front of the camera and walk down the aisle, the more healthy and happy you’ll look in your photos!

Prioritize Comfort

For Brides, consider movement when saying yes to your dress. Similarly, consider two shoe options, one for looks and the other for practicality, especially if you’re not able to see them. If you’re feeling adventurous, as many of our couples are, we recommend a dress the bustles well. While you certainly want the dress to look beautiful, you’ll also want to make sure you can realistically sit, stand, walk, and dance in your dress for hours on end without getting too uncomfortable. The more at ease you’re able to make yourself feel while photos are being taken, the more natural the finished product will be.

Grooms, we recommend doing the sweat test. The last thing you want is to feel like a hot mess on your wedding day. Select breathable fabric and layers the prevent you from overheating. Do you hate it when you’re constantly having to tuck in your shirt? Me too! I haven’t tried them, but consider Tucked Trunks or something similar to have worry-free dress attire.  We recommend purchasing your shoes instead of renting which allows you to break in your shoes in advance. I am a big fan of Taft shoes. Side note: We happen to really like kilts. 

Reduce Unnecessary Stress

The last thing you would want is to have wedding pictures taken where stress is visibly etched on your face, making you look miserable and less-than-enthused about your new relationship status. One of the major culprits for this stress can be your financial situation. To rid yourself of this anxiety, it’s important that you make sure you’ve given your budget sufficient attention throughout the wedding planning process. That way, you can be certain that you’ve allocated funds in a manner that ensures that your wedding day stays on budget. If you’re not sure where to allocate your funds, ask people what they remember from the last wedding they attended. What are the things people remember? Spend time and money on these things, however, in the end, it will be your day and your memories are what matter most! 

In the months leading up to the big day, keep a close eye on all of your expenses through wedding planning apps that monitor vendor payments or a mobile banking app that will provide a comprehensive overview of your finances. We personally use Mint for our personal finances. You’ll also want to be sure that you’ve prioritized the items in your budget so the components of your wedding that are most important to you— like great music or beautiful photography— have an appropriate amount of money allocated toward them. When you can be confident in the fact that your wedding money is going exactly where it should be, you’ll find it much easier to smile and relax on the day of your event.

Know Your Desired Aesthetic

Marshfield Wedding Photographer

When researching wedding photographers, some couples already have a clear vision in mind of what they want their photos to look like. If you belong to one of those couples, it can be helpful to seek out a professional who is capable of bringing your vision to life and whose photographic style aligns well with your wishes.

Are you and your partner more of the dark and broody type, staring into each other’s eyes with the intensity of a thousand suns? Or are you more lighthearted and silly, laughing in the sunlight with all of your friends and family? Whatever your preferred style may be, with enough research, you should be able to find a photographer who is able to fulfill your desired aesthetic and leave you with high-quality photos you’ll love for years to come. Katie and I have been capturing weddings for over 10 years (that ages us a bit), but we’re still hip… people still say that right? We shoot weddings for our clients like we would want them shot for ourselves. Our approach and aesthetic are simple and we lean towards classic and clean images that have a timeless feel from two different perspectives. We strive to capture raw emotion and focus on making our couples and their wild and fun friends feel as much like themselves as possible. 

Be Yourself

Your wedding photos are something that you and your spouse will flip through fondly for the rest of your lives, so you should try to find a photographer that will help you take pictures that showcase the true nature of the relationships you have with each other and with your loved ones— the good, the unpredictable, and the funny.

Don’t worry about looking perfect in your pictures— focus instead on having the most fun you can at your wedding and letting the joy you feel at marrying your significant other pour out of you. The professional you’ve hired will take care of the rest! Not only will the photos be artistic and well-composed, but they’ll also capture that joy, excitement, and any other range of emotions you experience over the course of your special day, making them feel all the more real and meaningful to you as your reminisce.