Grooms Guide
Designing a Wedding Program


Identify a Theme

The wonderful thing about designing a wedding program is that you can go wild with creativity. Whether you are presenting a black-tie formal affair or a fantasy wedding around a Star Trek theme, you have no limits. In fact, with all the do-it-yourself software available for home computers, it is often less costly (and more fun) to create your own wedding program in the comfort of your office. This way, you can test your ideas before actually printing 10, 50, 100 or more.

Map Out a Sample

Once you decide on the theme of your wedding program, take paper and pencil and start sketching some ideas. Where do you want the text? Do you want a picture to appear on the cover, or maybe inside? Do you want custom calligraphy or will a calligraphy font do? Do you want to include anything on the back coverperhaps a special thank you section? Is there someone who is deceased but whom you wish to pay homage in the wedding program?

Consistency

The wording of the wedding program should be the same as on your invitations. Remember, if you have chosen to say, John Anderson and Betty Marshall would like you to attend the wedding of their daughter, your wedding program should be worded the same way. For example, John Anderson and Betty Marshall welcome you to the wedding of their daughter. If, for instance, your father and his new wife have paid for the reception, and you want to thank them (somewhere) on the program, the back cover is a perfect place.

Follow a Theme

If you are planning to follow a theme, it is presumed that the theme started with the announcement of the engagement or, at very least, the invitations. If you are planning an elegant, formal wedding similar to the setting in Phantom of the Opera, for instance, your guest should know that they are invited to wear similar attire never make it mandatory. Thus, the presentation of the wedding program could be similar to the letters received by the opera patrons, or as a musical piece, or as anything else in the play (or movie) that means a great deal to you.

Let Your Personality Shine

No matter how stressful your wedding planning has been, or how unnerved or rushed you feel, the wedding program is a part of the ceremony that can take the least amount of time to make but, in all actuality, lets the real you show through. You can create drafts of the wedding program prior to finalizing plans, and when they become set, the wedding program should be the last thing to cause you worries. This does not suggest they should be left until the last minuteleaving anything until the last minute can be a disaster for your special day.

In selecting your male wedding ring be deliberate, get the best value, and remember that the wedding ring you have chosen will best represent your union with each other.

Wedding Dress Guide
Of course, another way to use wedding bells in the reception is to create table center pieces around them. Consider using tickets and/or playbills to create a theater-related wedding centerpiece. If you are going for a western look, there is even a wedding tiara made to fit on the front of your cowboy hat. Whether its to The Chicken Dance, Hava Nagila, the Electric Slide, or the Hustle, they dont care how many times the songs are played or how many times they get up to dance. Perhaps a helpful friend or relative can make them. This can be either a postcard or a small card and envelope that is stamped and addressed, so that people can respond to the invitation.

This works well if you are trying to keep it simple and under budget.
The bar, whether cash or open, should be available for a short time before and for some time during the wedding reception activities. This allows for great flexibility in dress standards, and it also sets a casual, laidback tone for the wedding, as opposed to the orchestrated pomp that results in a church wedding. Also, when planning a wedding, make sure and ask if there are any restrictions on having a beach wedding is there a limit of how many people can be gathered together, are chairs allowed, can you bring food (public beach properties almost always do not allow open alcohol). When choosing a wedding gown, remember to find a gown that reflects your character, and the tone of the wedding. You've been looking at the guest list for about eight hours now, trying to whittle down the list for your wedding ceremony. Perhaps the best idea is to choose one that is able to show you multiple ideas for various formal and candid shots and has the ability to have fun with your big day.