US Edition Weddings are a special time. You'll want to look back on the celebrations for years to come. With the advancement of technology and the trends for DIY-style and themed weddings, there's so much more on offer to help you reminisce than the standard photograph album. From invites to favours, here are a few ideas to help get those creative juices flowing.
ACTIVITIES
1. Games
Everyone loves a board game. Impress your wedding party (especially those who don’t care to dance) with personalised table games. How about reinventing that old favourite Guess Who? by replacing the faces with passport-size images of your friends and family.
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2. Hire a photo booth
Photo booths have become incredibly popular at weddings. With silly props on hand, they provide hours of fun, as well as a quirky means of documenting the evening when your official photogapher has probably left for the day. As an added bonus, your guests will be able to take their prints home.
Picture Blast come highly recommended. They can deliver a booth anywhere in the UK, and their booths are also equipped to record video messages. Choose between a Party Booth or a Retro Booth, or go the whole hog and hire a Super Booth which comes complete with green screen and wind machine. Booth Revolution, based in Yorkshire, also provide deluxe booths and throw in a leather guest book. They also come with a booth attendant to assist with props and posing.
If your budget is tight, you could consider the DIY approach. With an iPad and a printer you can create your own on-site photo booth. Download the Wedding Booth app onto your iPad, find a plain backdrop (a pretty curtain, plain bed sheet, or even fairy lights — we love this personalised kissing booth backdrop), instruct your guests to grab a prop and strike a pose, and away you go!
DECORATION
1. Confetti
Swap regular confetti or flower petals for your very own photo confetti. Use it for the ceremony or scatter it on tables for the wedding breakfast. Guests will have fun picking themselves out and it's a lovely personal touch.
2. Cake
Eat your face, quite literally. Edible pictures can be printed on icing sheets to decorate your cakes. Consider topping cupcakes with personalised photos and using them as place settings.
3. Timewarp
For a touch of nostalgia, hang vintage wedding photographs of family members around the venue or create a focal point by designating a table to display them. Alternatively, you could string pictures on a washing line or hang them from trees.
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4. Wall of fame
Ask friends and family to bring along their favourite photos of you with them and pin them on a wall of fame.
6. Sign of the times
Stick pictures of the bride and groom onto the lavatory doors of your venue - photographs of you as children always work well.
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7. Centrepiece
Line mason jars with photographs and use as vases for your table centrepieces. Go for a colour-tinted glass to co-ordinate with your colour scheme.
8. Table runner
For a great conversation starter — and a little bit of drama — swap table linen for a DIY table runner made from your favourite photos and postcards. Glue or staple them to a strip of muslin.
FAVOURS
1. Stationery
Personalising your invites will help them stand out from the crowd. Incorporate pictures of the bride and groom, or simply your favourite landscape. If you have engagement photos, now is the time to use them. You could also line your envelopes with a picture. And don't forget your thank you cards — use photos from your big day to show your appreciation on anything from notecards to postcards.
2. Food of love
Edible wedding favours are always a hit. Print photos onto chocolate bar wrappers and use as table settings. People will have fun trying to find their seat by looking for their own faces. You could also personalise mint tins or stick photos onto luggage tags and attach to your favour of choice.
3. Keeping cool
The ultimate favour for summer weddings has to be a hand fan. Adorn your fans with pretty pictures on the back and allow your guests to keep cool in style. They could also double up as your order of ceremony.
4. Stickers
Print photos in sticker format and include with your invites for guests to put on their calendars.
5. Seat and table settings
Use Polaroid photographs as place cards for your guests. These also double-up as souvenirs to take away. For your larger table plan, identify each different table with a photo of the happy couple or perhaps a favourite holiday destination. If you are having a themed wedding, this idea can run and run.
MEMORY GATHERING
1. Mobile phone apps
Chasing down photos of your wedding can be time-consuming. Consider using a photo-sharing site instead to create your own private wedding album. Guests download an app to their mobile phones and upload photographs to your personal account. Since most mobile-phone cameras take decent quality photographs these days you’ll get much better results than handing out disposable cameras, for instance. Most importantly it’s instant and it's free.
For those who prefer to use digital cameras, they can also upload directly to your album via email or the internet, and it’s worth asking your wedding photographer to share their photos to your album as well. A couple of suggested apps, both with easy instructions are Wedpics and Wedding Party.
2. Social media
You could also consider Instagram and Twitter to document your day. Set up a hashtag such as #smithwedding14 (just type it into Google to make sure it hasn’t been used before). Then encourage your guests to use it. Perhaps include it on your invites or display it somewhere visible on the day. If possible, ensure that WiFi is available on-site. If you trust your guests you could also view the photos live using a projector. For this we suggest sites such as ii.do or eventstagram. After the big day you can then share all the photos in an online wedding album or print them out into a photo book.
3. Guest books
Encourage guests to add their photo-booth pictures to your guest book as they leave you a message. Alternatively, pop a Polaroid camera by your guest book so that people can take a quick snap while they write. The Fujifilm Instax camera is a great option and comes in lots of pretty colours. It will also come in useful for other instant snaps throughout the day.
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This is part three of our guide to wedding photography