Clever Ways to Personalize Your Wedding

I recently received an invitation to my cousin’s wedding in the mail and once I got past the absolutely impeccable calligraphy, I noticed something that I wish I thought to do for my wedding. In the upper right corner were two stamps with my cousin and her fiancé smiling at each other!

With so many invitations printed on heavier weight paper and in shapes needing more than your typical 44 cent stamp, this is a great way to showcase you and your fiancé even before your big day begins! Zazzle.com has tools to help you create a personalized stamp by uploading your own photo, or you can select from one of their many wedding themed designs.

Another great way to personalize your wedding is to design your own stationary as it sets the tone for what your guests can expect on the wedding day. Now, I know that many brides these days don’t even have enough time to plan a wedding, let alone design their stationary...but, with the help of online resources, designing your wedding stationary isn’t just for your amateur Martha Stewarts out there.

For those of you who are hesitant to embark on this potentially time consuming task, start with your Save the Dates. You may uncover a new talent you never thought you had!

The same cousin who put her face on a postage stamp used a great online resource for her Save the Dates called Premium Postcard. This website is a USPS Approved Postal Provider, so not only are you able to design a beautiful Save the Date card with just a few clicks of your mouse, but you can also upload your guest list to the website and they mail everything out for you...talk about a time saver!

To create a one of a kind post card, simply upload your favorite photos of you and your fiancé to the available spaces on the card and add the particulars using the site’s text editor. Now, I have to admit that my cousin is a professional graphic designer and the image on her card is her own design, but you don’t have to be a professional to create a lovely design using the website’s available tools.

Here is a sample announcement post card I quickly created:


As an added bonus, using post cards instead of the traditional card and envelope cuts down on your paper consumption…and Mother Earth appreciates the gesture!

By designing your wedding stationary, programs, menu cards, etc., you can also tie together a common theme from start to finish. As you can see with these invitations, my cousin was able to carry the bird theme from the save the date to the invitations and through to the overall wedding design, and this gives her guests a little taste of what to expect on the day of your wedding.


However you choose to personalize your wedding, it should be a reflection of you and your fiancé and the love you share together.

Many thanks to my cousin, Beth, and her soon-to-be-husband, J.R., for allowing me to post their clever ideas, and to Jade McCully Photography for the announcement card photos.

Simple Wedding Ceremony Programs

If you are not working on your wedding ceremony programs with a stationer, it tends to be a project that falls to the wayside, to be taken care of at the last minute. That's probably because it's also one of the items that leave a lot of brides thinking - do I really need programs at the ceremony?

I understand the thought behind that - some people never even take one, most people leave it behind, etc. I do however, think that it's a good idea to provide some sort of program - especially if your wedding ceremony is a traditional ceremony in a church where some of your guests may not understand what is going on and need some guidance. It also serves as a helpful coordinating resource - a place to give guests information about post-ceremony logistics. For example, directions to the reception venue or transportation and parking information.

That said, if you are not a stationery fanatic, it's one place that you should really think about keeping it simple (for all of the reasons you have for not wanting to use programs at all). I just saw this simple, cute and chic Program Cover Template on Martha Stewart Weddings that is easy to use, but doesn't look like a complete throw-away!

If you use a decent card stock, you could print the ceremony information on the inside of the same sheet, and you wouldn't even need cords to bind the program, just a nice fold.

Don't get me wrong - Modern Wedding Stationery is also Fabulous

I was certainly not being exclusive with yesterday's post. I love classic and traditional, but I love modern too. Fortunately, I'm no longer a bride and don't have to make these choices.

When I got married 3 years ago, my friend Brooke designed my wedding invitations. At the time it was a side thing for her - what she loved and hoped to do professionally someday. Today, Brooke is a designer for the amazing Two Paperdolls custom boutique. And I just had to share this modern letterpress design from their blog, Louella Court. My wedding was in Philadelphia, and if I had to plan it again now, these would be the invitations...

The Charm of Classic Wedding Stationery

I think that a lot of brides actually become overwhelmed with all of the ideas and options presented to them by wedding web sites and blogs. I know that I would! How do you decide what you want for your wedding when you like so many different styles, colors, motifs, printing methods....it can be a bear.

On Saturday I had the pleasure of sitting down with a June bride and her mother to look at stationery for her Savannah wedding. She knew what she wanted as soon as she saw it in the first book we looked through, and I just love it. A classic invitation will never go out of style and I think think that this White Dots Invitation by William Arthur is so perfect. Beautiful script keeps it traditional, and the dotted embossed border adds interest and some fun.

Do you think that the classic is too easily confused with boring? I do. But don't be confused about this bride - her thank you notes are crimson.

Savannah Wedding Style - Invitation by Milkmaid Press

As a native of the Northeast, who has lived on the West coast, and now finds herself at home in the South, I am endlessly fascinated with the associations that people make with different regions of the country. Many of them are obvious and quite fitting - it rains a lot in Seattle. A lot of them revolve around food - the Philadelphia Cheesesteak. And once in a while I find myself getting frustrated by the over-simplification that is involved in conjuring up these associations - the South does have a lot of pride in tradition, but innovation and creativity also abounds here, y'all.

That said, when I find something wedding-related that invokes Savannah, I am always interested to see if I think the association fits. I stumbled upon Milkmaid Press when I was cruising around the web for interesting wedding invitations and found their Savannah invitation.

...and it made me happy how it really does invoke this charming little city, without being obvious! The scroll work and viney design takes me right to the entrances of many a historic garden, or neighborhood porch in Savannah - some of the most magical spots in Savannah.

Including Man's Best Friend

Just a quick post today, to show you something that made me smile yesterday and will hopefully do the same for you!

I was surprised and flattered, as always, to get a little "thank you" package in the mail from an April bride...side note: I can't believe it's June, her wedding seems like it was yesterday. And check out her stamps...

Those are their 2 beloved Corgis! Let's face it - animals are a part of the family. It's often very hard to have them involved in the wedding, but if you think small there are certainly ways to keep them in the mix. These are from stamps.com.

Following the same train of thought led me to dig up this picture from the With This Ring blog of a great table number idea that involves the family pet.

What a great way to keep your pet in the hearts and minds of your guests! They do so much for us, why shouldn't we make a place for them in all that we do... For example, my dog is currently warning me about, and protecting me from, the presence of the landscapers that have been cutting our lawn every two weeks for two years! How thoughtful of him!

Loving these Kate Spade Place Cards...

This weekend was one of the cutest intimate weddings I've seen at the Mansion on Forsyth Park. The bride, Kristin, wanted her 16 guests seated in the round, at the center of the courtyard so that she and Rob could get married under the lovely chandelier. She ordered close to a ton of rose petals from an online wholesaler, and they did a nice job of helping to form our ceremony in the round. I will share some pictures once I get them, but I was really excited about her place cards that she had for the intimate dinner to follow the ceremony.

I have never seen these Kate Spade Word Place Cards by Cranes before this weekend. My favorite, of course, is "Playing Footsie is Encouraged." If you chose the right girlfriend to use that one for...and sat them across from an appropriate bachelor, you could really get something going, huh?