Military Wedding Question

mickieg31

My son and his fiance are both in the Air Force. 

Money is VERY tight for both families and many of our friends, family and community have made donations of goods and services to make this wedding happen. I would like to thank them at the wedding and also have their business cards dispalyed to help promote their businesses.

What is the best way to do this?

Thank you. 

redheadfsu

You could list them in the program (maybe on the back in a thanks to X kind of way), give them a thank you gift, a nice thank you card, and/or say thanks in a speech. But no business cards at the wedding, that is just strange. Of course recommend them in the future to anyone asking for vendors, but having business cards at the wedding is just inappropriate.

mickieg31

Thank you both very much! I appreciate the input.

I did want to add that the photographer is donating her services. The Bakery is donating a 3 tier cake, the venue is donating the catering (salad, mashed potatoes, top round, braised chicken breast, fettuccini alfredo, coffee, soda, etc for 75-100 people), the DJ cut his price in half and the Officiant and bartender are donating their time.  

I wanted to be able to give back to them as much as possible by promoting their business

kmmssg

Agree with the others about the cards - as a guest I would find that pretty tacky and probably would side-eye the business for tacky advertising.  What a wonderful blessing for your son and FDIL.  Thank them in the program or a speech, but skip the cards.

mickieg31

Thank you all!!!

Ash61612

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_military-wedding-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a67797cd-a309-456d-b31f-f92dca3f8743Post:4a5605a9-63d8-467e-ba8a-065cbb260ae8">Re: Military Wedding Question</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Military Wedding Question : I'd thank them in a speech and a nice thank-you card.  <em>Please don't display business cards at the wedding.  It's not a promotional event. If anyone is interested in where something came from, they'll ask the bride and groom about the vendor.
</em>Posted by ILoveMilkDuds[/QUOTE]
agree

Kokes28

Sometimes people put thank yous at the gift table or entrance table, you can print it out and place it in a nice looking frame.. if you did that and just wrote something like 
"A Special Thanks to:
-
-                                   "
Then that wouldnt be as bad as advertising their business cards. Especially if you did it in a classy enough way.

Or even something like this... but incorporating the vendors instead.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Have your son and his fiancee post reviews on Yelp, etc, to promote these people and talk about their generosity towards the military. Also, if they have a wedding website, they can have a list of vendors there.

RebeccaB88

Also write each vendor a wonderful, detailed thank-you letter that they can display at their business.  And give them each a nice tip.