It goes without saying that your wedding is one of those occasions that you are going to remember for the rest of your life. Of course, it’d be a great bonus if all your friends and family remembered it for the rest of their lives, too. At least, if they remembered it well.
First and foremost, our weddings are for us and our partners. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t also want to make a good impression on the people we care about, and to make sure that as many people as possible enjoy the festivities, and share in our joy.
So, if you’re planning your wedding, and you want to identify some ways to bring everyone else in on the joy even more, here are some tips for hosting a wedding that (hopefully) everyone will love.
Host a wedding that you and your partner will genuinely enjoy
All right, let’s take this back to basics. Your wedding is first and foremost for you and your partner. It’s a declaration of your love for each other, your willingness to spend the rest of your lives together, and it’s also meant to be a fun party that the two of you get a great rush out of.
If your wedding guests are, for the most part, your close friends and relatives, they will inevitably feel happy when you and your partner are happy. On the other hand, if the two of you are clearly having a pretty bad time, but have set up the festivities so that everyone else hypothetically has something to enjoy, the people who care about you are likely to notice your downcast mood, and to have a worse experience themselves, as a result.
Aside from the dynamics that exist between friends and family, however, it is just naturally the case that people feed off each other’s energy. If you want everyone to enjoy your wedding party, the first key is for you, yourself to enjoy it as much as possible. And, of course, to bring your partner in the fun. Come up with a phrase that’ll help guide you. Ours was “punk goes Gatsby.” A little bit of pop-punk, a little bit of glam, and a LOT of fun.
Before you actually spend a lot of time thinking about what everyone else might love, think about what you and your partner will love. What kind of “theme” will make the day for you? What kind of food will make you feel on top of the world? Get a little bit selfish, and work these things out. They will impact everyone else, too.
Go for an “unusual”, or traditional theme
If you want people to remember your wedding as much, and as well, as possible – it makes sense that you should consider going for something “out of the ordinary”. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do something “wacky”, although it could mean that.
Considering that the majority of weddings follow a certain template these days, even hosting a “traditional” wedding could be quite a memorable experience.
So, is there a particular kind of theme, or template for your wedding that you’ve been dreaming about, and which has the added bonus of being somewhat uncommon these days? Do you, for example, stay up at night fantasizing about a traditional church wedding in a small village in the countryside, followed by an outdoor party next to a stone barn?
Or maybe, you’re an avid Star Trek fan, and both you and your partner are completely obsessed by the idea of a “Trekkie” wedding?
Even if your wedding is going to be more “conventional” (and there’s nothing wrong with that), finding ways to add a bit of “nuance”, as well as to make things a bit more “unusual”, is likely to go a long way in terms of ensuring that people remember your wedding – and maybe also that they have a good time at it. A perfect example would be our “concert ticket” escort cards with band name table numbers. Just something a little different to bring in our love of music!
Make little gestures to thank your guests
The tradition of wedding party favors is quite well-established, and certainly the kind of thing that could be worth your time considering.
On your wedding day, you’re going to be celebrating a momentous occasion in your life. Those who have come to celebrate that moment with you, are joining in on something very special. So, it makes sense to say “thank you” by giving them a gift, or token, to commemorate the occasion.
Of course, this doesn’t have to be anything big, expensive, or fancy. A small, commemorative token of any type might do the trick. Fridge magnets, commemorative cards, custom-made CD mixtapes, or even just sweets with customized wrappers, are good options. We started with cute lollipops from Oriental Trading and added a sticker with our logo for a bit of a personalization. My mom and some friends assembled adorable candy boxes with the same stickers.
The point isn’t so much the total material “value” of what you give to your guests – the point is that you make a symbolic gesture to thank them for turning up, to make them feel appreciated, and to help to underline the significance of the occasion as a whole.
Take the playlist really seriously
Quick, what’s the most important feature of any wedding? Well, you might answer that it’s definitely the cake, or maybe the perfect bridal dress. Of course, all of that is nonsense. The most important part of any wedding is the playlist – obviously.
All right, all right. So that paragraph was a bit tongue in cheek. But, it is still true, that the playlist you choose for your wedding will have a serious impact on the mood of the festivities overall, not to mention the degree to which everyone attending is able to enjoy themselves, and let their hair down.
When planning your wedding reception, take the playlist seriously. Like, really seriously. What I did was make playlists on Spotify and listened to them on repeat. If it turned out a song we loved was may inappropriate or not dance-able, it came off the list!
Spend some time with your partner, and consult your closest friends and relatives, in order to come up with the playlist which tugs at everyone’s heartstrings in just the right way. I asked both of my parents what they wanted. Mathy wanted some Pitbull, Andy wanted a few classic rock songs. To pick out our first dance song, Kendall and I each picked out a few choices and we practiced dancing to them. It might sound corny but we truly enjoyed it!
So, what kind of songs should you include? Well, obviously, you should begin with the tracks that have the most sentimental meaning to yourself and your partner. After that point, you should go for the tracks that everyone is most likely to be able to dance to and enjoy. Feel free so skip some of the traditional, overdone songs if they’re not your thing.
If you’ve got a niche music taste that none of your friends or relatives share, maybe indulge yourself with one or two songs from the genre, but keep the rest of the playlist more “accessible.”
For more wedding ideas and how we made our wedding personal to us, check out this post.
photos by Darrell McDavid photography
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