Little Touches

Don't know if this is the kind of thing you mean, but when I was little my family were invited to a wedding of a distant cousin of my mum's. There weren't many other kids there and the bride and groom had made us each a little pack of stuff which they put on our plates. They'd completely personalised them... can't remember now exactly what was in them but it was things like a colouring book with my name on the front, and my pack was girl-themed whereas my brother's was boy-themed. It was really nice of them especially seeing as we weren't very close family/friends and none of us had ever seen anything like it before. I've always remembered it as a very lovely thing to do. I'm sure lots of people do it now and I'm sure they only did it to keep us quiet... but it was still a lovely touch.

Another one, a few years ago was my dad's cousin's wedding... for centrepieces they had LIVE goldfish in a vase. However, we all thought it a little weird and it was very hot and we didn't think it was exactly the right conditions for the fish. Plus some idiot boys took their goldfish out of the vase and killed it. Lovely!

The little touches are very important to us and weve put alot of thought & effort in with them.

Were having doves released outside church in remembrance of our grandparents

Were having a cape made for my dog in BM colours for some pictures

Were having personalised champagne glasses for our arrival drinks

Arrival shortbread will be heart shaped

Were being piped into our reception room

Were having mix of table cloth & runners - the runners will have butterfly shaped petals scattered on them & the table cloth will have heart shaped petals. THe butterfly petals are in remembrance in particularly of OH latest grandmother as when her coffin was being lowered into the ground OH & his aunt seen a whiet butterfly. Dont mean to sound morbid but it was sthing that really touched & comforted them.

I have designed little cocktail mixer flags with our names/stationery theme to go in reception drinks. Also, little flags for the food/cupcake flavours etc.

All the place settings will have a card with name and a lyric that's particular to the person on it, like a song we always dance to or a running joke or something (boy's Dad once asserted that Lady Gaga was going to revolutionise modern music - he's kind of asked for it!)

Have you made these yourself and did you just use paper and glue it?

Haven't made them yet (only designed) but was planning on printing onto a label sheet and sticking it around a cocktail stick.

It's the little touches that make it for me, on a certain level.

Ours include:

Drink flags for our welcome drinks ('Hurrah', 'Sip and repeat' etc)

Signature drinks on arrival.

Information about each guest on the menu of the person either side of them. Has taken us aaages, but should be fun.

Dietary requirements covered for all those who replied (One couple said 'We thrive on chilli, coriander and alcohol' - each of them will have a little coriander and chilli bouquet at their place setting with a miniature with straw attached)

'Wine monitor' enamel badges specially made, plus aprons/chefs hats (male) and vintage pinnies (female) for those we're choosing to serve our dessert).

Some others you'll have to read about after the event!

Do you have guests serving the desert or members of the bridal party?

My mum suggested my BM's serve the cake to everyone but

A) my BM's would positively sh*te themselves if I asked them to do this (one inparticular!)

B) we are at a hotel with MC, servers, waitresses provided - I believe that when we have employed people for the day we should use them as they are professiona; & experienced (ie my mum questions everything over & over & over some more - I have to keep reminding her that yes whilst we choose things we also must listen / accepte guidance from those with the experience!)

We're going to appoint a 'character' on each table to serve dessert. It's going to be a laid back wedding and I know those we've chosen will relish the 'theatre' of serving the pud. The chap who runs our venue has done something similar a couple of times before and said it worked very well. Lots of giggles rather than the malaise or restlessness that can often set in during dessert but before the speeches.

There'll be plenty of staff on hand to help out, if necessary, but this works for us.

Think thats the key thing - If I thought the girls would enjoy it that would be different but I know they would be crapping themselves about it and it would be on their minds all day.

We're puttng a photo album on each table of select photos ( the best ones) of the people at the table, with us or without. As the tables will be mixed, it will be a good talking point and also as some of my school friends will have their new partners there, I'm sure there will be a few giggles at the playground antics photos!! This will also work well for the "Aw" factor, with aunties etc looking back at childhood pictures!

At a wedding we went to the bride was blindfolded and played pinata- that was brilliant! Love all those personal, fun touches.

We haven't had our wedding yet, only got engaged at Christmas but already have loads of ideas!

I love the idea of getting a huge old trunk and putting loads of silly fancy dress accessories in it, oversized glasses, moustaches,inflatable guitars and scouse wigs (we met in a house share in Liverpool and spent two years there so it's a special place to us) etc etc just for fun during the evening reception and some great photos!

Also, to get a cheap instant camera and film and get each guest to take a photo of them doing the silliest face they can pull, then they have to stick it on a page in the guestbook and write a message underneath it - sentimental and hilarious!!

Can you tell we are just two big kids yet?!! ?

We love the idea of 60's motown music and some modern classics playing during the bbq or hog roast, get everyone in the mood!

For the ceremony we are going to have babys breath and either tie a big bunch at the end chair on each aisle or place a galvanised bucket full of it at the end of the aisle.

Look at us, thinking of all these things and haven't even got the venue booked yet!! ?

I agree it's all about the little touches.

- On our place names, on the back, I had stuck a photo of somebody well-known/famous either with the same first name as the guest, or who looked like them (of course in a flattering way), or somebody who I knew was a bit of a hero to them.

- We had lots of French touches, like little quizzes people could play between courses (which I thought was really weird and very anti at first, but people seemed to lilke it)

- French "entertainment" between courses

- We got all our guests to requests songs in their rsvps so had song dedications from the DJ.

- I had little translation cards on each table with silly things translated into French, eg "Do you think this could be a shotgun wedding?" and "my doesn't the bride look beautiful" and "tell me, how do you like your beef?" just silly things to make people smile.

- a Macaron tower, which people just seemed to love as they hadn't seen one befpre.

- mini fisn and chips served in newspaper wrapping with our photos on it.

Ahhh I love the little unique touches, it's numero 2 on my list of what makes being a wedding tog awesome!! (Numero uno is the genuine emotions of the couple and guests).