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There's nothing more special than sitting down with your fiance and making your own wedding rings. You will create something that no other person has. Several jewelery stores are offering this choice when purchasing the rings you will both wear for the rest of your lives.
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There are lots of options for your wedding guestbook instead of just the traditional "sign your name here" guestbook. Be original and create a wedding guestbook that you will enjoy re-reading in years to come!
Click here for wedding guestbook ideas. |
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If you get a block of rooms set aside at a special rate for your wedding guests, treat them to a gift basket! In your gift basket (which could come in something as simple as a paper bag), you can include bottles of water, trail mix, cookies or homemade snacks, postcards or key chains of the city you're in, maps of the area, suggested places to visit or tourism books, or even a mix CD while they're driving around town. |
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You've got your favors picked out or made up (whatever they might be) but now you need a pretty way to box them up. Why not go ahead and make your own favor boxes? Making your own favor boxes allows you to control all aspects of the box - the paper you use can be complimentary to your wedding colors and you can dress up the boxes in a number of ways with stickers or stamps for an extra added touch. Also consider tying the boxes up with some beautiful ribbons from your local craft shop.
A great web site to check out is Mirkwood Designs. This site offers a variety of templates that you can print out from your computer onto your paper. Be sure to use sturdy cardstock paper for the base of your box design - if desired, cover the cardstock with another sheet of a lighter, designer paper.
Don't want to cut and fold all those boxes? Then consider just buying plain, white boxes and jazzing them up with stickers, rub-ons, stamps, colored paper and more. Put matching tissue paper inside and a pretty ribbon to tie it off and you're all set! |
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Having a sunset or evening wedding? Light the path to your ceremony or reception with some beautiful and inexpensive hand made luminaries. These luminaries can also be used as part of the ceremony or reception decorations.
The materials you will need are pretty simple: paper bags, votive candles, and sand. You can dress up the paper bags in a variety of ways, from choosing a specific color, using punches to create heart shapes in the paper bags or scalloped edges, trimming the top to create a pretty edge, stamping the bags, creating a monogram on the bags, or tying a simple ribbon bow around the top of the bag. Pour sand into the bottom of each bag to weigh it down and place your candle inside. Light the candles before the ceremony or reception to light the path.
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Creating a personalized flower basket for your flower girl will not only ensure that the style will match her dress and decor, but it'll also make her feel really special! It's easy as well with a few creative ideas to put a little personal touch on the flower girl's basket.
- First things's first: find a basket! Be it made out of wood, plastic, or tin, make sure it's the right size and not something too bulky for your flower girl.
- Decorate with ribbons, flowers, beads, pearls, rhinestones and more. You can tie ribbon around the handles, and the sides of the baskets for an elegant look. Also try using hot glue to get silk flowers, rhinestones, or other beads onto the baskets for extra drama.
- Use fabric to line the inside (or even wrap around the bottom) of the basket.
- Other ideas might be to use a purse or to even make a cone out of some fabric with a handle. Scout around for ideas on the internet for some other ideas and ways to make your own pretty flower girl basket.
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Trying to think of a creative way to treat and thank your bridesmaids for all their work and involvement with your wedding? Then create them a lovely gift basket filled with wonderful goodies they haven't seen or tried before. Here are some suggestions to get you started! Start off the basket with a Pinktini Raspberry Lime Cocktail Bath Soak or some Wickedly Good Chocolate Body Sugar. Indulge their taste buds with some delicious Roobios White Chocolate Toffee Tea or some Black Forest Cake Tea. Then add in some Tickled Pink Lip Tints,
some Absinthe or Alchemy perfume oils, an Iced Carrot Cake or Raspberry Vanilla
lotion sample and some delicious European-style chocolates to top the whole basket off. Packaged up nicely in a cute, cloth lined basket with organza ribbons or a cute box (maybe a Chinese take-out box) and you've got the perfect way to say thank you to your bridesmaids.
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"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, with a sixpence in your shoe"
Trying to think of something blue for your wedding? Here are a few ideas for the "something blue" at your wedding.
- Add some blue to your bouquet - a blue ribbon or a blue flower can be a dramatic addition to your bouquet.
- Blue jewelry - topaz, sapphires, blue rhinestones, turquoise, or other piece of blue jewelry can be added to your attire. Think earrings, jewelry, a bracelet, anklet, or even a blue jeweled comb in your hair, tiara or headpiece.
- Wore but not seen - wear blue undergarments, a blue garter or even blue shoes.
- Paint your toenails blue!
- Have a blue purse as one of your accessories.
- Have something blue sewn into the inside or hem of your dress.
- Get a dress with blue accents, such as blue crystals, a blue sash, blue ribbons, blue lace, or blue hem.
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Stuck on an idea for what to get your groomsmen as a wedding thank you gift? The first place to start is to think of what he needs or wants and go from there. You can also get him something related to the wedding that he could use, such as cufflinks or a travel kit. Here are some additional ideas to help give you a jump start on what to get for your groomsmen.
- Get him something he really enjoys, such as a certificate for a round of golf, tickets to a game, or other activity/place he enjoying going to.
- Some other ideas would be a box set of movies or cds by his favorite artist.
- Something for the bar - a set of beer glasses or shotglasses or other fine barware.
- Create a gift basket filled with things he enjoys: his favorite food or drinks, a travel shaving kit, gift certificate to iTunes or other favorite store, etc.
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Help your friends and family relive the memories as you show them how you and your spouse-to-be met, your courtship and other memories together. Here are a few ideas on how to do it.
- Create some photo collages on a few posterboards using copies of your favorite photos. Include childhood photos, photos with family and friends and photos of the couple together and before they met.
- Build a collage on the spot - ask your guests to bring their favorites photos of you and or your spouse to the reception. Have the photos taped up onto a posterboard or included in a photo album, placed next to the guestbook.
- Have a DVD photo montage created - you can create one yourself with the numerous DVD softwares out on the market, or hire a professional to have it done for you, set to music.
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At Blurb, you can create your own professional looking book - with text, photos, or more. You can create a book from your wedding for your own keepsake, or personalized books for your wedding party (think scrapbooks, cookbooks, etc.). Your books can also be available to the guests of your wedding, if you decide to make a personalized memorial of your wedding day. There are tons of ways and ideas here for your own book. Prices vary according to the number of pages and if your book is a softbound or hardbound book. There are also different sizes and if you order in bulk, you'll get a discount. Check outBlurb's site today to see how it works and how to get started.
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Have custom mirrors designed for your wedding as your favor for your wedding guests. The mirrors can be custom designed to fit your theme with a collage, favorite photo, photo of you and your spouse to be, your favorite love quotes - anything that really expresses you as a couple. At My Favorite Mirror, you can add your own artwork, do the mirrors yourself, or have them custom design something for you and your big day. The more you buy, the less you pay per mirror. Get to it!
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Tea light candles are a very simple and easy decoration to add to any wedding and they can be easily dressed up to match any type of decor, theme or set of wedding colors. Dress them up with some double stick tape and some ribbon and you've got an easy to match decoration that can fit any color scheme. With the variety of ribbons available on the market today, you can even get some ribbon with wild colors - or keep it simple with some pretty see-through organza ribbon. Tea lights also fit in a variety of containers - from mint julep cups to small buckets and more. Get creative and see what you can do with tea light candles to brighten up your ceremony and reception. |
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Create picture postcards for your guests to take home with them - they can photos of you and your spouse, pictures of your favorite San Diego post, a collage postcard - whatever you think best fits the bill. It's an easy to do keepsake for your family, friends and guests to take home with them, whether they are from in town or out of town. You can also send these as your thank you cards in place of regular cards.
Check out these web sites for more tips on how to turn your pictures
into postcards: 3
Easy Ways to Make Postcards from Your Photos (And Brighten Someone's
Day) or The
Mailable Photo Frame |
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Pick up some glass paint pens in glossy or frosted and use clear candle holders to make them unique for your wedding. Make a calligraphy stencil of your monogram or other image to create a personalized candle holder for your centerpieces which can also double as favors for your guests. Check our your local thrift stores or baragin price stores for good deals on candle holders. Use different sizes and shapes for an interesting shabby-chic look. For the glass paint pens, try your local craft store or online store to find the colors that you need.
We here at the San Diego Wedding Insider tried staining a tea light holder by purchasing a set of "regular glass stain" from Wal-Mart for just 99 cents in the craft section. You get eight colors and a brush, though it's intended for sun catchers, it works. It's a little messier and if you decide to use this paint, be sure to paint on a surface where the rim won't stick to anything (we made the mistake of doing it on paper and ended up with a not so pretty edge). Try painting on a plastic surface, aluminium foil or other surface that won't stick to your glass. This method requires no oven baking whereas the pens mentioned above do. |
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Offer your guests some eco-earth friendly favors to take home with them (in addition to the invitations you printed on recycled paper). Some ideas are:
- A Tree in a Box, which contains instructions and everything you need to grow a tree
- make handmade paper bookmarks made out of plantable seed paper so your guests can read or plant some new flowers in their garden - their choice!
- give guests energy saving lightbulbs to replace at home
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Doll up some matchboxes for your wedding! These simple little matchboxes can be draped in papers, tissue paper, fabrics and ribbons to match your wedding's color scheme and then filled with small trinkets, candies, or other little items (maybe a paper with your favorite quotes or a small photo of the couple) to fill them up as a great keepsake for your guests. To save on money, just go to your local grocery store and buy the regular package of matchboxes and dump out the matches in them for use. If you're going to fill up your boxes with candies though, you may want to hit your local craft store to get the unused, plain matchboxes just to be on the safe side.
Buy some online at Wedding Things. |
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Create mix CDs for your wedding guests as your favors. Create a playlist in iTunes with songs that have a lot of meaning for the two of you - the first song you danced to together, your wedding song, wedding march music, or other songs that have special meaning for your both. Buy some CD labels to create custom labels for the tops of the CDs and place them in envelopes with a playlist. Or if you don't want to deal with those CD labels, you can buy the CD holders and customize the CD holder's cover instead. Include a paragraph about the meaning of each song and how it relates to you as a couple.
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Ask your guests to bring along a copy of their favorite photos of either the bride or groom (or together). Ask them to write on the back (or on a note) saying why its their favorite photo. Have a table or special area set aside for sharing the photos for everyone to view and share. Take the photos home as part of a keepsake of your wedding.
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Getting your bridesmaids gifts can be a tough call - if you're unsure of what to get your honored attendants, think of getting them matching purses or bags that they can carry for your wedding. Include in the bags some wedding related trinkets: Perhaps a DVD of the "Wedding Date", a gift card to a local restaurant or maybe even Starbucks for a quick me up, some pretty eyeshadow for them to wear the day of your wedding, or some pieces of jewerly to adorn their ears or necks.
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Create some simple bath salts as a favor for your wedding or your
shower. It's a great and simple bath product that's inexpensive,
pretty, and fragant for your guests. Here's a simple recipe:
- 2 cups Epsom's salts
- 1 cup Sea salt, rock salt or coarse salt
- Food coloring
- 1/4 teaspoon Glycerin
- Essential oil for fragrance such as lavendar, vanilla, citrus or peppermint
- Combine the salts in a bowl and mix well. Add a few drops of the food coloring to the salts and mix well.
- Add the glycerin and essential oil (4 or 5 drops) and mix well.
- Spoon salts into jars and close them. Use corked or lidded jars or different shaped jars for variety.
- Tie a ribbon in your wedding colors around the top of the jar. Make a gift tag with the name of the scent and suggested use of 1/3 to 1/2 cup in the bath.
- Makes 3 cups of bath salts.
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Paper cones are an easy and inexpensive way to hold goods for your guests. Fill them with flower petals, candies, seeds or more. Use embossed stickers and hang strings on the paper cones for an added touch. Here are a few websites that will show you step by step how to make the perfect paper cone:
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