Memorable wedding ideas for your day
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Wondering how to make your wedding memorable? Here are some of my favourite memorable wedding ideas from my experience as a wedding photographer.
I’ve spent 6 years shooting some of the simplest, kindest and authentic community focussed weddings. I don’t really remember what dresses were worn, any themes or the colour of the flowers. But I do remember all the moments that focussed on the people that were there and the things that really matter.
1. Greet your guests before the ceremony
Instead of waiting for all their guests to be seated before they made their entrance, Jena and Taraz stood at the doors to their ceremony welcoming and thanking every single one of their guests. There was something so wonderfully kind about greeting each person who was a part of their community before they had even said their vows.
2. Have a family member officiate
Amy’s dad, John, was actually already officiating his daughter’s wedding and the entire family got involved in this celebration. As Amy’s mom, Colleen, was walking her down the aisle I turned around to look up at Warren’s expression and saw John reaching over in delight to his son-in-law. This is the reason why I love it when officiants and celebrants are people who know the couple!
3. Choose your words wisely
Perry’s brother officiated their wedding ceremony, and on Kyla and Perry’s request changed the traditional “by the power vested in me” words to include the community that the couple had brought together to witness them commit. Instead he said, “by the power of the community gathered here today, we pronounce you husband and wife”.
Curious about How to Plan an Authentic and Intentional Wedding?
4. Include your guests in your ceremony
For their backyard ceremony at Kate’s family home, Kate and Ben chose to include a Quaker wedding tradition. Towards the end of their ceremony there was a moment where they encouraged their guests to stand up and offer a few words of support for their marriage. While so many ceremonies focus on the couple making promises, hearing from Kate & Ben’s family that they too promised to support the marriage was so moving.
5. Focus on love & not tradition
Cristina’s nephew was the ring bearer at their relaxed bistro wedding. Instead of leaving the rings with him and getting him to hand them over, they did one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen at a wedding. They asked him to come up, hold the rings and pour all the love he had for LaTriece and Cristina into them. Seeing this little boy concentrate so hard on something so special was amazing.
6. Incorporate Acts of Service
You know the moment after the ceremony, post-confetti when everyone sort of lines up and congratulates the couple? Well, instead of doing that, straight after their ceremony Lisa and Christy stood behind the bar and poured each of their guests champagne in the loveliest act of service.
7. Thank your grandparents
Wanting to acknowledge their grandmothers for making sacrifices and raising kind children, who in turn grew up to raise them – Andrea & Jacques opened up their reception with a heartfelt toast honouring and thanking their grandmothers. This made such a change from the general toast to the couple, and really brought it back to the people who were there to celebrate.
8. Give away your bouquet
Not wanting to do the whole ‘throwing of the bouquet’ thing – Candice chose to hand her bouquet over to her mom instead. She used it as an opportunity to say thank you for everything her mom had done for her and turned the bouquet into a sweet moment of gratitude and kindness.
Are you looking for other ways to include your mother at your wedding?
Read this blog post – How to include your mum on your wedding day
Of course your flowers, your table decorations, the music and the food are important for your wedding day. But don’t forget that the sweet and kind moments that remind everyone to be present are what really make the event unique to you as a couple. So take some time to really think through some memorable wedding ideas for your day. Cause that’s what people will remember most.
If you’re thinking of having a community focussed, authentic celebration – I’d love to hear more about it!
4 thoughts on “8 Kind & Memorable Wedding Ideas”
We hand wrote letters to each and every single one of our guests before our wedding, thanking them for the role that they played in our relationship, as well as asking them to hold us accountable to our vows, and encourage us along the way. It was quite touching, as we would never have the time to actually thank everyone properly on the day – a lot more personal than a blanket statement "thank you" during speeches.
YES!!!! I love this! We’re thinking of doing the same thing! It’s so important that each and every guest feels like they know exactly why they’re there. I love this so much.
In a really intimate service with only 28 guests, my friends passed around their rings for a ‘ring warming’, and asked each guest to bestow love and well wishes as they passed the rings around!
Love the blog and content. I love the authentic, genuine and ‘raw’ nature of your writing it is captivating xxx