Want to personalize your event and want help on where to start?
The most memorable weddings reflect the couple’s personalities from the start to finish. Darcy Miller
Once you set the budget, it’s time to focus on the fantasy. To get started, imagine what your ideal kind of celebration looks, feels, and tastes like to you as a couple. Maybe your mind immediately goes to a black-tie in a ballroom with chateaubriand, or perhaps a boot-stomping party in a barn with barbecue is more to your sensibility. Or it could be that an afternoon affair in a romantic garden is just your cup of tea.
We will guide you with 20 questions, that will give you an approach and offers you tons of ideas to personalize your event.
Photo credits: @TruePhotography
QUESTION 1 – WHERE DID YOU MEET?
Maybe it makes for a meaningful spot to tie the knot or to hold your reception.
QUESTION 2 – WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR FIRST DATE?
You could wed at the restaurant where you ate. Or include some details that were memorable from the night it all started, like a song you heard or the dish you shared.
QUESTION 3 – WHERE DID YOU GO AS KIDS
A summer camp or family trips or studies abroad could be great options for a destination affair.
QUESTION 4 – WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST VACATION TOGETHER?
Even if you can’t back go to Italy for the wedding, you can serve pizza or pasta.
QUESTION 5 – WHAT TIME OF YEAR DO YOU LOVE MOST?
If you live for summer, a garden or a coastal wedding is fitting. If you cozy up to winter, try a ski chalet.
QUESTION 6 – WHAT COLORS DO YOU GRAVITATE TOWARDS?
Your favorite shade can be blush pink or cream, or you adore the look of the poppies or the hues of a particular painting. All of this can guide your setting and your color palette.
QUESTION 7 – DO YOU LOVE A CERTAIN BLOOM?
Think about your favorite flowers or the varieties you like. It’s a good place to start when planning your style, color palette, and décor.
QUESTION 8 – HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM DATE NIGHT?
If it involves line dancing, then look to a rustic locale or barn for your nuptials and take to the floor to kick off your party. Should you favor a sunset sail or a bike ride, hire a schooner, or make your gateway in a canoe or on a tandem bicycle.
QUESTION 9 – WHAT POEM OR SONG LYRIC MOVES YOU?
Have a friend read it at your ceremony, dance to it at the reception, or add either to your program or invitations.
QUESTION 10 – WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?
Whether it’s a film noir, a Technicolor musical, or a Bollywood extravaganza, it can set the mood for your event. Or, just ask the band to learn a few tunes from its soundtrack.
QUESTION 11 – WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO WATERING HOLE?
If you frequent a luxe lounge or fun pub, incorporate its house drink into your cocktail hour or host night-before welcome drinks there. Add your own “his” and “her” libations to your celebration; maybe it’s spiked hot chocolate for you, and an old-fashioned for him.
QUESTION 12 – DO YOU PLAY A SPORT OR ROOT FOR A TEAM?
Set up a friendly game of beach volleyball at the welcome party to a casual oceanside event. If your first date was a tennis game, go crazy using love match puns all over your paper goods. Or if you’re marrying an Aussie football fan, maybe the night wouldn’t be complete without Fosters all around.
QUESTION 13 – WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DISH?
Surely it deserves a place on your wedding menu, whether it’s part of the main event or shrunken down to bite-size (think mini tacos) for cocktail hour.
QUESTION 14 – IF YOU COULD EAT AT ONLY ONE RESTAURANT, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PICK?
Fill your wedding with its attributes – maybe it’s a great location for a rehearsal dinner, or you could ask for the coconut cake recipe for your baker. If the venue serves more casual fare, offer its signature sliders late night.
QUESTION 15 – WHAT GUILTY PLEASURE DO YOU SHARE?
If it’s food, like gelato or saltwater taffy, it belongs on your dessert bar or in a favor. A message at a heavenly sap? Gift session to your maid of honor and best man; or better yet, make a day of it for a bridal shower or bachelor party.
QUESTION 16 – WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES, AND DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING?
Flamenco classes may lead your first dance or cache of curious could add personality to your wedding-day décor. Look to your stable of paperweights, seashells, or books to personalize your centerpieces or guest book table.
QUESTION 17 – WHAT FAMILY HEIRLOOM DO YOU CHERISH?
IF you’re close to your grandfather, borrow his cuff links and wire them into your bouquet for your walk down the aisle. Or carry your mom’s brooch.
QUESTION 18 – WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES?
Use them as a motif for invites or in a hashtag, so guests can share photographs of your day on social media.
QUESTION 19 – DO YOU HAVE A PET?
If she is well behaved, have her act as ring bearer or pose in photos. If she’s cute but wild, place her image on printed materials or have it piped onto cookie favors.
QUESTION 20 – DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BOOK?
Your shared childhood love of Goodnight Moon might inform your favors if you wrap star-shaped candy with tags that bid, “Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Guests, Goodnight Bride, and Goodnight Groom”.
These are some amazing approaches to create a personalized event. You can look for inspiration in your stories, in trips you made, and pick some details from your routines or favorite moments together.
Where your wedding is also the key component to establish that feeling, and it will also help to inform all your subsequent decisions; from choosing your color palette and deciding what to wear on the big day to finding your invitations, picking the music, and even deciding on your menu.
Save this post because you’ll need it when you need to find inspiration for your event. #celebrateeverything
Resources: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc (2015), Martha Stewart Weddings Ideas & Inspiration, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, New York
