I remember my wedding day still so clearly, even after all these years. It was a small event with only my family and close friends in attendance. We did this mainly because of the budget but it was still such a special day, which was made all the more memorable as we created parts of the decorations ourselves.

Here are some ideas for couples wanting to try their hand at making things to give the day that personal touch, some of which can also help save money.

Invites

The invites is something you can take a personal hand in. Try experimenting with different designs at first;

• Use different types of card
• Use some fancy transparent tissue paper to add an effect
• Try writing in a calligraphy style
• Buy various small decorations from a craft shop and try sticking them on

The basic idea is to try different designs until you come up with an invite that you love then go ahead and make all the invites using the same design. You can also look online to get inspiration for designs.

Photo Guest Book

A traditional guest book is all well and good but you can take this a step further by turning it into a photo guest book. What I mean by this is you buy or borrow one of those instant cameras, you know, the cameras where you take a photo which then prints out the result after a short time.

As each guest arrives, someone will take their photo and place it in your guest book. The guest will write a comment below the photo.

This takes a little more work but you’ll thank yourself later when you look through the book and be reminded not just in words but also with the photos.

Bride and Groom Timeline

Spend time with your fiance and go through your history together. Write down all the dates when significant events happened to you both as single people then later as a couple.

You can use this to make an impressive timeline of both your lives, starting from when you were born, through your early years, then perhaps when the groom met the best man, when you and your fiance both met etc.

You can make the timeline in a number of different ways but I like the idea of two horizontal lines (one for the bride and one for the groom) with the dates of the important events listed on the lines, along with a description.

From the date that shows when you met each other, the two lines will converge into one line, signifying one life together. You can even include photos if you have them, taken of these important life events.

The timeline can be used in various parts of your wedding, such as the decoration or a smaller version could be used on the invites.

Decorations

You can let you artistic side go wild by making the decorations yourself. This allows you to incorporate aspects of your own personality or hobbies into the decor.

For example, a couple might be wine connoisseurs, so they could save the bottles of wine they drink in the months leading up to the wedding and use those is part of the decorations.

Or you could do what the person in the photo did which I think signifies the seeds of their relationship have been planted and will grow.

Wine Bottle Welcome Labels

It’s quite common to have a personalized note placed on each table seating area which shows the name of the guest and a small thank you note from the bride and groom.

But you can do something more interesting. Try making your own wine labels to be wrapped around the standard labels. They would show the name with your thank you note, plus you could include a photo of the guest.

Of course doing this for full sized bottles of wine would be very expensive, so you may want to buy miniature bottles for this idea. It’s also something that the guests can take home with them to remember the day for years to come.

The author Jack Hopkins lives in New Zealand with his family and recommends this wedding venue in Otago as they have a wide range of packages and accommodation