10 Wedding Details Your Guests Won't Forget

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I love weddings. The amount of thought that a couple puts into their day always amazes me. I like a rustic venue, a good meal and a fantastic speech, but what I really love is the details. My favourite part of a wedding is those thoughtful touches. They can be big or small, regardless of size though, they are always memorable.

What kind of details you ask, I’m talking about a canoe filled with drinks at a lakeside wedding or an advice card tied with a decorative skeleton key that reads “Please leave us your key to a successful marriage”. I love a program that doubles as a fan on a hot day. Anything that shows a couple has put in a little extra thought, those are the weddings I remember most.

In the fall of 2015, my husband married me for a second time. Yes, I know you’re wondering, two weddings, why? I’d love to say he just loves me that much, well I’m sure he does but that wasn’t the reason. He’s from the US and I’m from Canada so immigration was part of the deal for us. Because of the process, we were told to marry in the United States and within a certain timeline. We put together our first wedding in three weeks! You can read about that here.

This time around we really focused on the details. We wanted a day that our friends and family would remember for years to come. Here’s a list of the top ten favourite details from our wedding.

Our top ten list of favourite details

Logo and branding

I am very fortunate to be a part of a printing family. My family has owned a newspaper and printing company for more than a century. Pretty cool right! It definitely helped having access to such an invaluable resource for all the little details.

Being a designer, I know how important it is to brand and carry a cohesive theme throughout any project. It is a great way to pull everything together. Perfect for a wedding too. A logo can range from your initials, an anchor or even an item that has meaning to you. Fans of biking, use a vintage bicycle. Even using the same font throughout your stationery will help create a look and feel, so to speak.

With our logo, we settled on combination of my family’s coat of arms and the Guyanese coat of arms (my husband was born in Guyana). We went with gold and dark grey for the colours and added our name and the year we were married. You’ll see the logo and the same fonts used throughout all of our stationery.

Dart art and our future living room decor

I wrote this list in no particular order, however if I had this detail would top the list! It’s our favourite from the wedding and has become a statement piece in our home. It was such a fun addition to the wedding afternoon and a great way to keep our friends and family entertained while we were off getting photos taken.

Our guests took part throwing darts at a canvas covered in paint-filled balloons. The balloons had five different paint colours. We used gold, grey, black, white and a little bit of green. Once the balloons popped, the paint would run down the canvas in different patterns. It was cheap to put together and we get so many compliments on it when guests come to visit. To see the finished product click here.

Calendar Guestbook

Thinking about doing a guestbook at your wedding? Why not try something a little different. A calendar guestbook where guests can leave a date night idea on their actual birthday is such a fun idea.

We ended up with a great list of fun date ideas and scored everyone’s birthdate at the same time. I’ve been able to send birthday wishes to some of our guests because of it, what’s more memorable than that!

Candle Holders

Here’s a cute way to add some rustic decor to your tables. These little candleholders are super easy to do and very budget friendly.

We bought these votive holders from Ikea and a bag of tea lights (affiliate link) from amazon to place inside. We poured in a layer of split peas to add a pop of green. It looked great and was super simple to make.

Wine Table Numbers

Another part of the table decor was our wine bottles that doubled as table numbers. We made our own wine for the wedding, this meant I could be creative and make labels.

The front of the labels had our the date, our photo and the table number. On the back of each bottle we had our logo and a different quote about love. Here’s a list of the quotes we used.

Barbecue survival kit

These utensil holders, we call them barbecue survival kits, just make sense! Juggling your plate, silverware, napkin and whatever else may be offered can get tricky. Make dinner easy with these cute survival kits. You can get creative here, think about your meal and what your guests might need. We served barbecue and included a napkin, a wet nap, silverware, salt and pepper packets, a toothpick and for fun a trivia card inside these pouches (affiliate link).

Fun fact cards

Most of the guests at our second wedding which was in my hometown, didn’t know much about my husband. So, to introduce him to my family, friends and coworkers, I thought it would be fun to include a fun fact in each of the survival kits.

It was just a simple white card a little bit smaller than a business card numbered with a fun fact and our logo of course. This was a bigger hit than I expected. It was great to see tables sharing their cards with other tables. The guests really enjoyed getting to know each of us a bit better.

Kid’s busy boxes

Keeping the kids happy, keeps everyone happy! Sometimes waiting for dinner to start can be hard for young guests, who am I kidding, it’s hard for me too! A kid’s busy box or their own personal favours is a boredom saver! I found these super cute gable boxes (affiliate link) online and we filled each box with a colouring book, crayons, bubbles, a light up squishy ball, a giant chocolate chip cookie and a bag of crackers. We tied each of the boxes up with ribbon and a name tag. These sat on the welcome table so the kids could get their busy boxes as soon as they walked in. Kids and parents alike were thrilled with the thoughtful gifts.

Cookie Favours

These clear boxes that you can get here (affiliate link) are amazing! The possibilities are endless. Think about all the edible thank yous you could come up with in these two inch square boxes. We filled ours with Rosemary Butter Cookies. A favourite recipe in this house. The green flecks of rosemary made the cookies seem as though they were part of the table decor.

Evening Coffee Bar

A coffee bar to end the evening is such a cute idea. When I saw the idea on Pinterest I knew instantly this was one I would want to try. We got the coffee sleeves and stir sticks from Amazon and I had two stamps made, one with our logo and another with a thank you note in our font and design. We also added a donut hole to each stir stick and used to-go cups.

Our venue was an old rustic lodge on the lake with a cozy fire pit, after we danced ourselves out, the guests retired with coffee in hand to relax by the fire. A perfect way to end a fun day.

A bonus detail

I know I said top ten, but this detail deserves a mention.

We opted for a smaller wedding cake mainly for the traditional cake cutting photos. My aunts baked a bunch of different pies that we adorned with little signs. Our guests could choose between wedding cake, two different apple pies, lemon meringue, peach, pecan and even pumpkin pies. The pies vanished. I think we were spared one pie and that was only because it was left in the kitchen due to space. My husband is still upset that he didn’t get a piece of pecan pie and has a request put in the next time my aunt is down visiting.

It’s been four years since our wedding and our guests still talk about their favourite memories from the day. It really makes for such a great wedding when you can add those special touches that stand the test of time.

Photos courtesy of Edith Jenkinson Photography

Did you find an idea you can use from our post on the 10 Wedding Details Your Guests Won’t Forget? Check out these other DIY projects and crafts, I’m sure you’ll enjoy:

If you get a chance to make this or any other craft on the blog and want to share. Please feel free to tag @candyjarchronicles or use #candyjarchronicles on Instagram, so I can see your photo. I’d love to see what you’re crafting in your home!

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