Frankly, I am forever amazed by the ways that couples are constantly finding new and innovative ideas of decorating and styling their ceremony areas. Not only with the actual look of the ceremony area itself, but also with the finer details such as wedding signs, orders of services, their personalised vows etc.
I am literally sitting on the edge of my chair with excitement in writing this post and sharing with you some fab ideas that you can easily incorporate into your own ceremony.
An order of service
The name ‘order of service’ is such a boring set of words, which does not really convey the fun and creativity that you can have in putting one together! An order of service, basically is a summary of all the key elements which are taking place in your ceremony, but can also be so much more than that.
An order of service can be used to personalise your ceremony in so many different ways. Many people like to name-check all their wedding party on the service programme (another name for it), and even think of funny descriptions of them to add some personality to the programme.
Others put love quotes on theirs or a short story about their love journey that guests can read whilst they are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Songs lyrics if guests will be signing and even ‘thank yous’ for your guests’s attendance. Some people even use it to give guests an idea of the running order of the whole day, which is a great way of keeping them in the loop. There really are no limits to what you can include and how creative you can be.
This year I have seen a trend in paddle fan-shaped order of services, which not only double up as service programmes but also as fans, which are great for outdoor ceremonies when the sun will be shining. Orders of service also make a really nice memento/keepsake of your special day for your guests.
Confetti cones
Who doesn’t love to be showered with confetti? Yep, that’s right, nobody! Everybody loves a bit of rose petal love. Confetti showers are such a cute way to end a ceremony and photographers love to capture that beautiful moment too. There are now so many lush ways to present your confetti, from paper bags printed with yours and your love bunnies’ names and wedding dates, to lovely personalised cones. You could even put love quotes on your confetti cones/bags.
Also, there are so many ideas beyond rose petals too. You’ve got the rice tradition from Spain, to paper confeti and even beautifully coloured leaves for autumnal weddings. You could even think up your own ideas for confetti. I quite like the idea of using popcorn as confetti. I don’t know why, but anything that’s edible and useful is always going to be a winner for me!
Ceremony signage
Oh how I love wedding signs. I love their versatility. The way that you can use them for anything you want to. For fun, to convey information, to display loves quotes and messages of love and absolutely anything else you are creative enough to think of doing!
Signs are also great ways of bringing information to your guests’ attention, information relating to your wedding day, logistics, timings, friendly reminders etc. Look at this amazing scroll of romantic text that one couple had made for their wedding. There are no limits!
Printed vows and readings
If you are going to be saying personalised vows to each other during your ceremony, then a really nice touch is to have your vows printed up on the same card or in the same way that matches the rest of your wedding theme.
What is then an even nicer touch, is that once the ceremony is over, your vows and your readings can be displayed on a table, so that your guests can have a chance to look at your vows in more detail and appreciate their awesomeness even more, and the same with your readings too.
Sometimes not every thing is heard by everyone during the ceremony and so this is a nice way to make sure people still have the chance to appreciate everything in more detail, after the ceremony.
Printed vows and readings add a little finesse to that special occasion
And on a more pedantic note, it definitely does look much nicer to have your readers reading from a piece of card, rather than a scrunched up scrap of paper pulled from their inside pocket or handbag, which before they start reading has to be unfolded/flattened out/ unscrumpled! Uh-hum, not the best look!
So there you have it, a few ideas to get you thinking of ways that you can personalise your ceremony even further.
Mad love to;
Nulki Nulks – designer and creator of all the wedding stationery featured in this post.
