Luxury Weddings

Little Touches

What are some of the little touches that you're incorporating into your wedding to make it special? I've got all the major vendors booked and it's too early to start on my invitations so I'm trying to think of some other stuff I could be doing for the wedding.
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Re: Little Touches

  • I'm going to suggest something NWR - use the time/money you would spend on something extra you don't really need for the wedding to plan a weekend away with your FI. Even if it's a B&B in the next town over. 
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  • That would be nice, but it's next to impossible for us to get away so that would just add more stress to our lives right now :) He owns a small company and I run the office so for both of us to go away for a few days takes a herculean effort. 
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  • kitty8403kitty8403 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    edited November 2013
    Sounds like us!
    I'm still finalizing a lot of things but have you thought about things like centerpieces, welcome bags, or special tables? Music lists? Doesn't hurt to browse for ideas; you don't have to commit to anything. And if you are having a registry, updating that periodically isn't a bad idea.
    Since it's November though, maybe take a breather and focus on the holidays instead!
  • The music list is definitely one that I'm struggling with. LOL We don't have any out of town guests so we aren't doing welcome bags. I did see a couple threads on here about baskets in the restrooms and I thought that was a good idea.

    The holidays are definitely in the front of my mind right now. :) I'm just looking for some extra special completely unnecessary things that people might have done since I have some time to throw around some ideas. Anything that just made it a little extra special.
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  • GiaspoGiaspo member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited November 2013
    We did some extras, but to make it special we did things "differently". For example, table numbers hung from the backs of the chairs, we rented square tables as well as round for the guests, hung tealights from the centerpieces, used nicknames on the escort cards (for H's best buddies only, even though we had a formal wedding.  At first I wasn't sure it would work but it did.) rented furniture to create a lounge, upgraded the table linens, had steel drums as our cocktail hour music, etc.  

    To personalize our wedding we incorporated little things into our ceremony and the reception, ie:  after our introduction we didn't do our first dance but had a dance song played and invited everyone to join.  It kicked off the night with a party vibe and later we did our dance.  

    Unfortunately none of this will fill your current time, though, unless you are DIYing things.  I agree with PPs that taking a rest from planning is helpful.  

    EDIT:  @offthemarket915 Sounds like your wedding will be wonderful.  The drink line was a pet peeve of mine too!  We, too had different trays of drinks being passed as well as tableside orders for dinner.  We also did a wine tasting during our food tasting and selected different reds and whites for each course.  I totally forgot about these things as the venue automatically provided them, plus our wedding was long ago... :-(  
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  • Our celebration will be over a weekend, at a property we're renting.  Some of the special touches we're planning include:

    • Flowers in VIP's rooms
    • Custom designed Welcome totes filled with all sorts of goodies.  With different ones for the kids. Could still do one even if they're not from out of town.
    • Activities for guests, such as golf, fly fishing or manicures, scavenger hunt for kids
    • Daily comfort station for guests to use during activities or coming/ going, to include drinks, sunscreen & bugspray, etc.
    • Cocktail hour - waiters will be waiting with trays with a variety of drinks so that people don't spend their time on a long bar line (personal pet peeve)
    • Reception dinner- each table will have a waiter and order from the custom menu, rather than choose an entree on the reply card
    • Extensive dessert table in addition to the wedding cake
    • Playing FIL/MIL's wedding song during the reception
    • Fully stocked rest room baskets
    • Cameras at kid's settings, which they'll turn in. We'll print two sets of the photos, one to add to our collection, one to send to them.

    I could go on but I'll keep a few ideas to myself :)

     

  • @ Giaspo, you are in NJ, right? What company did you use for the lounge furniture? We have tossed around this idea a little bit...
  • @Giaspo, thanks!  We attended an awful wedding where the long lines were just one of the issues, but it prompted us to think of an alternative.  FI doesn't notice much at weddings, but that really bothered him.  Seems like a perfect way to ruin everyone's warm fuzzy as they come from the ceremony to the cocktail hour, only to stand in line for a half hour.

    I like your other ideas, esp about your first dance and the different table shapes. The wine tasting sounds great. Your venue sounds very nice. Ours has a wine cellar too so we're looking forward to enjoying that :)  Our tasting will probably be in late Winter / early Spring.  Like, the OP, I'm at a slow point... have the STD to finish but not much else to do... Too organized for my own good!  We did just buy a new home and with the holidays approaching, I suppose I can find other things to keep busy ;)

  • These are some great ideas ladies! Thanks for the suggestions. I agree that I hate waiting in long lines for drinks. We are only having 35 guests though so that shouldn't be a problem :)
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    • Wedding website (over half our guests were OOT so we knew they would want certain information well in advance and we put it on the website)
    • Welcome bags with local treats and welcome note highlighting interesting things in the city
    • We put a lot of thought into our song playlist
    • Personalized labels on our wine favors
    • Originally DH wanted to name the tables after places where we like to spend our time.  This morphed into having a menu card with the back side featuring one of the 10 places.  He wrote a paragraph about why we liked it and included pictures and fun facts.  The pictures included guests where possible.  We saw people gathering them up at the end of the reception so they could "read all 10."
    • We had an amuse bouche served as a kind of "secret" first course (it wasn't on the menu card).  Our venue wasn't used to doing this so we researched recipes to find one we wanted.
    • We got custom menu items and beers to feature some local favorites
    • Dessert buffet with take home boxes
    • Gourmet coffee bar 
    • We held the rehearsal dinner at our house and put together a slide show that ran on the TV in the family room.

     

  • FI and I love to travel, so we're incorporating that into some parts of our reception...

    Our escort cards & favors will be luggage tags with a travel quote imprinted on the back, tables will be named after cities instead of numbered (with a map by the escort cards!), we're having appetizers and drinks from different regions of the world (mostly Asian apps, Italian dinner, don't know cocktails yet haha), and are using vintage maps as the back layer on our invitations.  Not a huge theme... but a few elements that stand out.  Instead of cakes, we're getting cupcakes from our favorite cupcake shop as well.

    Good luck!  I think that as you plan, ideas of how to tie in little touches like that will come to you.  :)
  • GiaspoGiaspo member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited November 2013
    @offthemarket915 Congrats on your new home!  Your venue sounds amazing too.  And the fast song after introductions was a ton of fun.  You can see in the video everyone's surprised expressions as they figured out what was going on.  The dance floor filled up quickly.  Then, in between courses, H took the microphone, read a few lines he had prepared (total surprise) and invited me to dance our first dance.  It was fun.  

    @majesty318 Yes we are in NJ.  I was married at the Palace and at first we contracted with a vendor whose name I don't remember.  A week before our wedding they were flooded by Hurricane Irene and our wedding planner worked with Jersey Street Rentals to get the tables, furniture, etc.  It was cool - we picked the shape of sofas and color/fabric and they made slipcovers to match.  People really enjoyed the lounge area and hung out on the couches all night.  You can kind of see them here on the right, in front of the fireplace.  Sorry for the long post!
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  • @Giaspo,  Thanks, exciting times :)

    Aw, now that's a special first dance!

    Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics, always fun to see-

  • I've been researching and collecting family heirlooms/mementos to add some special touches here and there.  I visited with my grandma and we talked about what her wedding was like.  We found some vintage 'how-to wedding' books in her attic that are adorable, although outdated.  

    My mom still had her hope chest from the 70's and it had some interesting things in it- my great grandmother's wedding dress and a couple of other things.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to incorporate these histories into my wedding, but I've really enjoyed collecting them.  I think I will be able to create something really special.  
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  • kmdassow said:
    I've been researching and collecting family heirlooms/mementos to add some special touches here and there.  I visited with my grandma and we talked about what her wedding was like.  We found some vintage 'how-to wedding' books in her attic that are adorable, although outdated.  

    My mom still had her hope chest from the 70's and it had some interesting things in it- my great grandmother's wedding dress and a couple of other things.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to incorporate these histories into my wedding, but I've really enjoyed collecting them.  I think I will be able to create something really special.  
    This sounds so nice!  Maybe you could make a nice display of these items near your escort card/guest book table so guests can see them as they are walking in, sort of like a curated museum exhibit!
    • Bags in hotel rooms for all our overnight guests
    • Pre ceremony cocktail hour
    • Tree with orgami flowers that will have our guests special messages and wishes
    • Each table will have 3 servers to hand serve salad, meats, starches and veggies and drinks
    • Open top shelf bar plus signature drinks and chilled individual mini champagne bottles at each setting 
    • Touches of Chicago such as our table names and Chicago themed edible favors
    • Thank you cards at each place setting
    • An ultra lounge room
    • Cigar Roller
    • After party with late night breakfast 

  • kmdassow said:
    I've been researching and collecting family heirlooms/mementos to add some special touches here and there.  I visited with my grandma and we talked about what her wedding was like.  We found some vintage 'how-to wedding' books in her attic that are adorable, although outdated.  

    My mom still had her hope chest from the 70's and it had some interesting things in it- my great grandmother's wedding dress and a couple of other things.  I'm not sure yet how I'm going to incorporate these histories into my wedding, but I've really enjoyed collecting them.  I think I will be able to create something really special.  
    This sounds so nice!  Maybe you could make a nice display of these items near your escort card/guest book table so guests can see them as they are walking in, sort of like a curated museum exhibit!
    That is a great idea.  I was thinking about having a seamstress make a sash or something from the old wedding dress, but I feel kind of funny about cutting it up.  I'm going to talk to my mom about putting some of these items on display with the guest book.  
    photo a9462148-4aa2-44d9-90ce-7f8b4d94b393_zps20ae9070.jpg
  • alm&mdm said:
    • Bags in hotel rooms for all our overnight guests
    • Pre ceremony cocktail hour
    • Tree with orgami flowers that will have our guests special messages and wishes
    • Each table will have 3 servers to hand serve salad, meats, starches and veggies and drinks
    • Open top shelf bar plus signature drinks and chilled individual mini champagne bottles at each setting 
    • Touches of Chicago such as our table names and Chicago themed edible favors
    • Thank you cards at each place setting
    • An ultra lounge room
    • Cigar Roller
    • After party with late night breakfast 

    Your wedding sounds amazing!! I wish I could do all those things for our guests.
  • I know the money could have easily been saved or spent elsewhere, but I don't regret any of the "extras" at our wedding . They included things like: 

    -Welcome bags filled with all sorts of luxurious goodies, such as scented linen powder from the city where I grew up and my mother currently lives. (Nashville). We also included hand-written notes, and little personalized Jack Daniels bottles snacks, water, etc. 

    -Our favors were assorted, planted succulents in mercury glass votives that we sent home with guests in decorative boxes with care instructions. 

    -Tables were named after cities that are special to DH and me - we had framed pictures from those places on the tables, and a story explaining their significance.  A sign on the escort card table instructed guests to "find their destination". 

    -fabric draping for the walls and uplighting was worth every penny 

    -Spanish guitarist at the cocktail hour 

    -Cocktails at the cocktail hour were distributed by servers so there was no bar line. Berry mojitos and agave margaritas were also worth every penny.

    - Each table had multiple servers, and servers dedicated to just refilling the wine glasses. 

    -The venue linens were ok, so we splurged on nicer linens that hung beautifully and "pooled" on the floor. 

    -We partially hosted (food) an after party at a swanky restaurant we rented out, and shuttled our guests to and from the venue. 

    -well-stocked bathroom baskets

    -activities to keep kids busy during dinner 

    -it may seem old school, but our dj incorporated a screen into the decor so we could project select music videos - this was a huge hit. 

    -chargers and printed menus, which were gorgeous 

    - we printed our program on antiqued paper printed with classical music and rolled and sealed each one with a seal we purchased specifically for the wedding.

    -instead of a traditional unity candle during the ceremony, we symbolically planted a blood orange tree that will be replanted at our home. 

    -we prepared a special message for our family and friends that the officiant read during the ceremony 

    -photo booth through a company that brought tons of props, and incorporated copies of our guests' photos in a scrapbook that took the place of a guestbook. The photo booth was also a huge hit. 

    -we hand wrote a message on each of our STDs, and sealed every single one of our invites with a wax seal 

    -hosted a bridesmaids/mother of the bride/groom spa day with catered food and plenty of mimosas. 

    ahhhhh I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but I truly loved every single moment of planning (minus determining the guest list!) and the "extras" were really fun to decide/work on


  • @OjitosVerdes please come back and share pics when you get some!
  • edited December 2013
    We're only doing a few things so far, mainly because I'm trying not to go crazy with it haha. My dress is mostly tulle, so we special ordered grey tulle to layer over our tables instead of traditional linens. A big part of the day for me is flowers, so I'm having the aisle lined with big clusters of baby's breath so that it looks like it's lined with clouds. We're also bringing the baby's breath back into the reception space and filling the chandeliers with it, and then we're going to have parrot tulips hanging down at varying lengths from the chandeliers. As a nod to our European ancestry, we're incorporating some aspects of handfasting (have yet to decide whether I want to do the actual ceremony with the cords/ribbons, or just stick with the reading we chose that accompanies it), as well as a traditional croquembouche instead of a wedding cake. Finally, our guests will be going on a private tour of our winery venue while we take photos, and then we'll all reunite for cocktail hour :) ETA: in lieu of favours, we're making a donation to a major children's hospital that performed life-saving surgery on my nephew this past year, shortly after he was born.


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