I was really curious about this since this is the Offbeat forum. When I have been doing the research for offbeat and budget savvy help, it's usually organized by theme. I totally want to know what you guys are doing/have been doing. I've been reading here about the fishing and camo themes, etc. There are SO MANY fun options out there- it was hard to decide at first.
2) How did you choose the theme? (was it favorite colors, geometry inspired, decided by geography, because of mutual interest, etc)
3) Where and how did you incorporate it?
Please, don't feel obligated to read any of this. I really want to know more about what other couples are doing, but I also figured it wasn't fair to ask without sharing.
1) Our theme is books. The event is titled "Library Lovers." (colors are copper and eggplant purple for an autumn wedding)
2) He's a librarian and I'm a PhD in children's literature; everyone in both of our families are HUGE readers.
3) - I made the invitations as library book inserts with the pocket - think checkout cards. (this was more of a success than I could have ever dreamed. I've already had people call me up from HIS side, track me down while I've been grocery shopping, and stop to talk during one of our local festivals to tell me they loved them. 3 people across the country have said "this is the first wedding invitation that I probably won't throw away.")
-The programs are a Table of Contents with the handmade bookmark favors attached
- Attendant, parents, and "helper" gifts are all hand-made bookend sets (I loved this little idea because it symbolized a completed pairing, it was a practical item for them, and I could personalize it, still, to their tastes)
-I made my scepter bouquet, the boutonnieres, and the mothers' flowers out of Origami book page flowers and copper wire.
-The processional music is "Book of Love" by Magentic Fields though the version is sung by Peter Gabriel (as a side note, we incorporated a LOT of Muppets songs through the ceremony and reception, too. Rainbow Connection as a perfect dance waltz, Movin' Right Along as the recessional, the Muppet show theme for entering the reception. Just because we LOVE him, and Henson did the entire Storyteller series)
-ALL of the decor is from recycled books, encyclopedias, and sheet music that were all free through a library giveaway. (it was very important to me that the decor is recyclable so it doesn't go into the trash)
-The chair backs are decorated with paper chains, and the aisle caps are bookpage cones with color-coordinated cornstalks.
-The ceremony foundation reading is an excerpt on marriage from "Letters" by Rainer Maria Rilke
-The parents are invited to share their favorite book passage about what marriage means to them during the ceremony.
-We added what I call a "Letter Ceremony" where we write letters to each other and add them to an envelope with our vows in it, seal it, and put it in a hollowed out dictionary that I made. This becomes "all the words between us" in the case of any really trying times in our life. We can break this out and remember our promise to each other when all other words fail us.
-The venue is decorated like an in-home library on an autumn evening. We have two ENORMOUS fireplaces. I have made faux books out of cereal boxes, pizza boxes, etc, and oversized bookends for each. We'll add some backlighting and do cascading bookpages for accent.
-I made all of my table runners out of book pages.
-The centerpieces use the recycled encyclopedia books that also helped label the tables with "reading" lanterns and bookpage origami flowers. (We thought about labeling tables by the Dewey Decimal System, or by favorite authors/books)
- We have literary crosswords for people to complete while waiting for food and to get to know each other at the tables. (they'll probably need to ask each other for help! hee.)
-The menu cards (because we are having a portable brick pizza oven for people to have whatever kind they want) are also library book inserts, and we'll have the little library pencils (like the ones at minigolf) on the tables for bothe filling out the menus and for the crosswords.
-The dessert table (the FI and I are making one another's s'mores over a bonfire instead of a traditional cake moment) has the s'mores parts - graham crackers, etc. - in card catalog drawers, and the cupcakes (pumpkin spice) displayed on faux books. There will be cascading bookpage art over and around the table.
-The gift table has an old-fashioned metal mailbox for cards with magnetic poetry decorating it.
- Instead of a guest "book" (Irony, I know), guests are signing the matting that will go around our favorite wedding picture, which will have a word-cloud of the lyrics from our processional song on it.
- I have handmade all of the Thank You postcards, and had stamps made like a dictionary entry with the word "gratitude" defined and an Ex Libris stamp.
That's the first time I've ever actually written all of those out, and I think I'm forgetting some. I know that many guests really don't care about all of the reasons for little things, and many of the little tie-ins won't be noticed, but the FI and I are just having SO much fun with planning and doing things together. Then again, I'm a researcher by trade and he's a cataloger, so details are important to us!
Looking forward to reading your gems!