Our all-time favorite ways to inject the wedding with a shot of personality. Come see!
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.
This is easier with small weddings. Place photos in frames with each guest's table assignment.
3. Give a custom flourish to all your printed material.
Use 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.
Think: ("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. Stay true to your style.
Depending on your style, tie the napkins with satin ribbons, metallic cording, braided leather laces, even pieces of twine.
6. Spice up informal receptions...
By topping 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...
...that relates to your courtship (for example, "Richmond Avenue"). 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. Since traditional guest books often end up stashed in a closet...
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.
11. A wedding program is a cinch to customize.
All you need is a rubber stamp of your monogram (here, PSA Essentials; expressionery.com) to embellish a note card (Paper Presentation; paperpresentation.com). Tuck a separate sheet with program details inside and tie on embroidery thread (Michaels; michaels.com) to jazz it up.
12. Walk down the aisle to a song.
Pick one with a slow tempo that was meaningful when you were dating.
13. Make sure the dance floor is packed by asking invitees to jot down three favorite songs on the RSVP card; give your DJ the playlist.
14. Share the spotlight with your parents and his.
Take a spin around the floor to their "first-dance" numbers. (Set it up with everyone ahead of time.)
15. Invite your musically gifted friends to bring their instruments to the reception.
Have them hit the stage when your band takes five.
16. And if there's a talented singer in your crowd...
Ask him or her to perform a song at the reception. (Limit your request to one song; it's a wedding, not a concert!)
17. Into Coldplay more than Vivaldi?
At your ceremony, have musicians play contemporary songs as instrumentals. "It's a refreshing change from the expected classical pieces," says Niki Delacueva, of R. Jack Balthazar Events (rjackbalthazar.com), in Pasadena, California.
18. Got a cultural dance that's a favorite at family weddings?
From the tarantella (Italian) to the money dance (Cuba), ethnic jigs give a party a distinctive flavor.
19. As the flower girl and ring bearer walk up the aisle...
Play a special song such as "The Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music.
20. Attach a ribbon embellished with your birthstone to your bouquet.
You can buy faux gems at anybeads.com.
—Written by Hillary Quinn for Brides
Which of these fun ideas will you try?
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