Creative Wedding Ideas

You’ve heard the horror stories about your cousin’s wedding in which she spent two months planning the perfect seating arrangement. You were at the wedding and saw how despite all her efforts Uncle Bill threw a dinner roll at first cousin Margaret and started a massive food fight.

Don’t be afraid to look at alternate seating methods. Instead of segregating the tables by grooms friends, grooms family, brides friends, brides family… try mixing it up! Make the tables half from each partner’s life. Not only will it save you some of the trouble of having to place Uncle Bill with Cousin Margaret, but it will also give the two groups a chance to get to know each other better.

When planning tables, think of overlap of hobbies, interests, etc. If your childhood friends were wild about the Rolling Stones and your fiance’s college buddy happened to grow up in Mick Jagger’s hometown, put them together! There will be something they have in common and can make for easy conversation above and beyond, “So, how do you know the bride?”

Planning a wedding is a full time job, and chances are, you aren’t planning on quitting your job to focus on it. To make things easier, get a three-ring binder and start compiling all your wedding related materials in it.

Whether it is pages ripped out of magazines that show bouquets you like or estimates from various venues, having everything in one place will help keep you organized and in control.

Each facet of your wedding can get a tab: Reception, photographer, flowers,  DJ/band, dress, hair, registry, bridal party, etc.

Once you have your binder and are ready to dig in, plan in advance. Scrambling as your day gets nearer is a sure way to create stress. Start reserving the big ticket items early. Set goals for yourself - try and get some of the bigger items set every few weeks.

Happy planning!

It’s hard not to love the traditional guest book in theory, however, it isn’t something you will often find yourself going back to look at as the years go on. If you make your guest book a photo album as well, you will be more likely to pull it out when reminiscing about your perfect Big Day.

In place of a traditional guest book, consider getting a scrapbook with black pages that you can have your guests sign with light colored paint pens. Set the book up as a photo album featuring you and your husband-to-be throughout your relationship, using traditional photo-mounting corners. Guests will sign around the photos, and after the wedding and honeymoon are over, you can swap out the photos with those taken at your wedding.

Not only do you have a beautiful display for your wedding photos, but all the loving sentiments from your guests on that day as a reminder of the vows you exchanged.

The candle ceremony is a beautiful, traditional way to signify the joining of two lives. An alternate twist to this - and one that you can save as a memento of that day - is to combine sands.

Put two complementary shades of sand in separate containers, one representing you, the other your fiance. You could use sands that are the colors of your wedding, or natural sand and one that is the color of your bridesmaids’ dresses.

During the ceremony, combine the sands into a glass container, one that you would like to showcase in your home in the future. The sands, although enjoined and impossible to separate, remain two independent bodies unto themselves.

PS- As for the colored sand, you can either buy it as is though craft stores and online or you can make your own. To do so, buy natural sand and powdered tempra paint and mix the two until you get the desired shade.

As the average age of people getting married gets higher, many couples are well established in their own households or have combined their two respective households into one and already have everything they need.

While there is always the option of creating a gift registry to start anew,  and donating your “singles” dishware, etc., to a local shelter our your just-starting-out cousin, many people are happy with the items they have acquired over the year. This ends up raising an interesting quandary: you can ask people not to bring gifts, but chances are they will anyway and you don’t need, or want, more stuff!

If you’ve been living together for a few years and already have everything you need, think about asking your guests to donate to your favorite charitable cause instead of giving you a traditional gift!

Web sites, including the I Do Foundation (www.idofoundation.org ), give you the ability to create a charity registry instead of a traditional  gift registry. Even if you’re looking to create a gift registry IDF also offers a list of its partner stores, including Target, JCPenny and Linens ‘n’ Things that will donate up to 8 percent of gift purchases to your chosen charity!

Another option is to donate money to your favorite cause in place of a favor. Many organization can provide you with cards to put at the place settings. Or, if you’d like to stick to a theme, you can have matching donation cards printed to match your invitations and wedding stationery.

A broken nail, a run in your stockings, deodorant that failed, a red wine dribble on your dress… There are so many things that can happen that would put a cramp in your celebration! Any other day of the year you might be able to laugh them off, with your wedding however, they can seemingly ruin your night.

When in doubt, be prepared! Find a few nice baskets and decorate them in your wedding colors (tie a nice bow around it perhaps?). Stock it with sundries that would be of benefit to you, your attendees and any of your guests that may end up with their own debacle. Suggested items: spray deodorant, hair spray, breath mints, stain remover stick, bobby pins and safety pins, eye drops, nail clippers and a file, small sewing kit, Tylenol, antihistamines (nondrowsy) and anything else you can think of that may come in handy.

Put one of these baskets into each of your reception’s bathrooms. That way, you’ll have everything you could possibly need in case of an emergency and all of your guests will be impressed that you were so thoughtful to have thought of your needs!

Whether its your vows; a wedding “logo” that can be incorporated into all facets of your wedding, including: stationery, invitations, napkins, cake, etc.; or other details that truly speak of you and your betrothed, personalizing all aspects of your wedding is in!

Looking to celebrate some of the things you’ve done in your time together? Instead of table numbers, assign tables by places you and your fiance have visited and use mementos and photos in a picture frame to help guests identify their table! If you’re foodies, you can also name your tables after your favorite restaurants and ask to borrow menus for table identification.

If either of you are remotely artistic, a wedding logo is a great opportunity to create a lasting impression that shows the two of you joined together from your wedding day forward. Although I wish I could say I was artistic, I am far from it. Forutnately, however, my husband is and created a lovely logo that had our initials entwined in a design that was made from one continuous line. We used this logo on our save the date cards and ultimately as the main design on our wedding cake - it was simple, elegant and beautiful!

When you’re in the midst of your engagement and busy planning your dream wedding, you can easily get carried away. Don’t forget that this is a once-in-a-lifetime period of your life, enjoy it!

So many details go into making your dream day come to life that planning your wedding becomes your second job.  It’s easy to get caught up and lose track of what you’re working toward.

During the process, be sure to take days off from the planning and wedding train. Schedule “date nights” with your soon-to-be spouse, opportunities to enjoy each other’s company where you vow to NOT talk about anything wedding related! After all, it is your relationship you will be celebrating on your big day, take the time to celebrate it during the planning process as well, it will be a great break for the both of you!

From the moment you become engaged to the day you walk down the aisle and say “I do,” you are in the midst of one of the most exciting times of your life! Not to mention, one of the busiest and most stressful. What they don’t tell you is that planning a wedding is a full time job, and I’m guessing you’ve probably already got another full time job…

Don’t worry, planning your wedding doesn’t have to be stressful, and it certainly doesn’t have to feel like a job! Here at Creative Wedding Ideas, we’d like to help you with all facets of planning your wedding; from stress-free planning tips to unique reception ideas to make your wedding stand out!

Check back regularly for unique ideas and helpful tips.

All the best!
S