Wedding Planning|Wedding Planning & Wedding Advice

Get Crafty!

Add some activities to a bridal shower to make it more fun. If you give everyone something to do with their hands you’ll have less awkward small talk and more fun overall – particularly if your guest list is made up of a bunch of people who won’t know each other very well. These ideas could work at a bachelorette party too, depending on the tone of the event.

Ring Fling

Provide an assortment of materials and let guests craft their own engagement ring. Offer prizes for the most outrageous, most realistic, etc. Raid your craft supplies – if you’re not a big craft nerd like me, you can also go to a dollar store or craft store and pick up: metallic-colored pipe cleaners, large beads, ribbons, glitter glue, and whatever else you see that will work.

Check out this impressive looking ring from craftbits.com (visit the site for a tutorial).

Garter Fun

Everyone makes their own garter and then make all the guests wear it out on the stagette, if you like! Or everyone could make one and then the bride picks which one she will actually wear at the wedding.There’s a tutorial at applebride.com. Another option, buy simple and inexpensive garters for every guest and then ask them to decorate them instead. This is a quick and easy activity that could start off a fun evening. Garters should include the guests name or role in the wedding and the decorations will serve as an icebreaker when everyone is mingling at the party. It’s also a cheeky way to identify everyone in the group if you are heading downtown for the second half of the evening.

A plain white garter at koyalwholesale.com is only $2.99 (while on sale). Ideas for decorations: feathers, flowers, felt hearts (or other shapes), beads, gems, lace, ribbons, charms, etc. Also consider buying some fabric pens or self-applicating paint.

The garter pictured below is from mypromstyle.com.

Tampon Brides

Each guest makes a bride from a tampon for a fun craft activity that promotes lots of laughter and female bonding. Provide the following materials: tampons, glue gun, paint, pipe cleaners, yarn, embroidery thread, cardboard, glitter glue, beads, etc. This craft was inspired by the infamous Tampon Angel – I was pleasantly suprised to find a whole website dedicated to tampon crafts (tamponcrafts.com- their angel is pictured below).

Today we feature my favorite kind of wedding favors.

I feel very strongly that wedding favors need to be useful – they should be more than a useless knickknack. I love wedding favors that are edible or wedding favors that can be planted in your garden.

But most of all, I love wedding favors that serve double duty – they are perfect for the budget conscious bride. What do I mean by double duty? I mean favors that also serve as a place card or, when displayed on the table, become the centerpiece. Here are some of my favorites:

Picture Frame Favor – Place Card

This pink rhinestone frame from hotref.com is used as a place card for guest seating and also functions as a cute wedding favor that guests can take home.

Bamboo Wedding Favor – Centerpiece

Group these individual pots from natureperfect.com together on each table to make a unique centerpiece. Guests get to pick one and take it home afterwards!

Shot Glass Wedding Favor and Special Toast

Serve filled shot glasses, like these ones from favorfavor.com to the guests and ask them to participate in a special toast. Perfect fun for a destination wedding where you can use the local specialty (tequila, grappa, jagermeister…). Then they get to take the glass home as a wedding favor.

Custom Dice Wedding Favor and Reception Ice Breaker

A cute favor for the Las Vegas wedding or geeky couple who love to play yahtzee. Create custom yahtzee score paper and include a cup at each table so that your guests can have some fun getting to know each other while the wedding party is off getting photos taken. Provide prizes to the winner at each table or reward them by forcing them to sing a song or share a story about the happy couple!