Magazines, books, and family will all tell you how to design your day. Surely, you can create a beautiful environment but there are other ways to take your wedding to the next level. Add personal touches that tell a story about you and your spouse to be and about the family and friends that are joining you on this day. The more your guests know about your union the more special the event will feel. I always try to interview my clients to see what they are into or if there is a particular theme interests them. Interview your fiancé and see what they like or dislike and find out what was the most memorable time of your courtship. You may find a thread to design the wedding around. Here are some ideas that I’ve broken up into two categories, traditional and twists on traditional ideas.
Slideshows. Traditional: A very popular way to show your 
guests who you are is a slideshow. Usually the bride or groom will collect the photos online and put the photos to music. Keep it short and sweet, about 3-7 minutes. Any more and your guests may be yawning at the table. Twist: Another idea would be too take photos of your guests arriving at the ceremony or reception. Have your photographer download them immediately the computer and show them on your projector during dinner. It creates great conversation and your guests will be looking for themselves on the big screen. Later you can show your dating photos before the cutting the cake. This takes the event away from just the two of you and shows everyone how important they are for coming.
Photos. Traditional: As your guests walk into the reception you can place photos from each side of the family near the guest sign in. You can also add photos of just the two of you from when you were a baby to now. Twist: I love unique ideas with place cards and table cards. One idea is to match each table with a photograph of you or someone in your bridal party/family. So instead of table numbers you use a photo to find your table. Plus using old photos is a fun way to add a retro touch to your wedding.
Toasts. Traditional: Toasts and/or roasts are very common in almost all wedding receptions. I recommend the toasts being kept to a minimum with some classic humor and a few touching stories. Twist: A toasting twist would be have your best man or maid of honor choose a few people in your guest party to tell funny or touching stories about the both of you as individuals. Then your guests try to guess who the story was about. Quick little stories with some punch work best. Look at this as a “This is your Life” moment. The things that come out are not only humorous but really tell a lot about who you are as people.
Favorite things. Traditional: Favors are a way for the bride and groom to say thank you for coming to 
the wedding. Some couples will give their guests a favor of their favorite thing, i.e., cookies, chocolate, first champagne they shared, etc. Attach a short and sweet note to thank them and why this is special to you. Twist: Instead of giving each person a favor give each person an experience. You love ice cream, so create an ice cream bar where your guests can make their own ice cream sundaes. Truffles are your weakness; have a chocolate tasting after dinner. The two of you took photos in a photo booth on your first date, rent a photo booth for your guests get a little goofy or if you met in high school have a professional photographer create a “prom-like backdrop” for photo ops for your guests.
Obviously, there are so many more ideas to explore, with so little time, I invite you do some investigating with your fiancé. Who knows, you might even find out more reasons why you fell in love.
Chris Flitter, is the founder of Twist, an event planning company out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Formally an HGTV producer with over a decade of television experience, Chris followed her dream to start her own event planning business and uses her creativity and attention to detail in every event she produces. www.eventsbytwist.com
I recently attended a wedding where no one gave gifts or I guess I should say no one gave traditional gifts like a waffle maker, toaster or the latest and greatest panini press. Instead the couple had signed up for a honeymoon registry...A honeymoon registry...I had no idea what this was but once I went to the site where they were registered I was totally hooked! What a great idea! 
I decided that this was one idea that I had to share with everyone especially since I remember when I got married a lot of the money we received went to paying for most of our honeymoon entertainment. So this is just a more formalized way of doing that. Oh I should also mention that this couple was in their mid 30's and since they had been living on their own for a while they already had everything they needed to set-up their home. I think this is also a great idea for couple's who are getting married for the second time.
So you ask, what is the benefit of using a honeymoon gift registry? The answer is because the honeymoon gift registry allows you to pre-plan what you want to do on your honeymoon or at your destination wedding. And, using a honeymoon bridal registry is so much more personal than asking your guests outright for cash! Guests can choose something special that they would like to give as a wedding gift. Unlike getting envelopes with checks in them at the wedding and then leaving the next day for your honeymoon trip, a honeymoon bridal registry allows the couple to know ahead of time what they will have available for extras and upgrades on their honeymoon or destination wedding. You can also do a themed wedding shower around this idea and guests can give the happy couple items off of this registry or fun items for their honeymoon. (i.e. sunblock, flip-flops, beach totes...you get it right?!)
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