How to personalise our straightforward wedding

[freshstart24]

I'm marrying my wonderful fiancé this September.

We've set what we feel is a sensible budget and Life is very hectic (work, DC, volunteering, elderly parents, etc etc) so we have tried to keep things simple and be organised to avoid last minute mad rush.

We are getting married in my parents' local church, then back to a nice barn type venue for food and later on dancing to a live band.

The venue is quite rustic and simple and so we haven't had to do much in way of decoration- there will be flowers on the tables, fairy lights around the beams and that is it.

We have chosen not to have favours, and have had seating plans, menus etc printed on same design of stationary that we used for the invites.

We are happy with our planned day but feel maybe we should personalise it a bit more? I'm not very creative, so don't want to go down the crafting things ourself route, and would like to keep costs down if we can.

I just wonder whether if by cutting out some of the 'frilly' extras we have missed the opportunity to personalise our day?

I saw a lovely idea where old photos of relatives in their wedding days are used around the venue- this won't work for us as our parents have been married multiple times and things are rather complicated . DP and I both hate having our photo taken so we have very few of us together, so again this isn't something that would work for us.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts and ideas please.

Oh I think it sounds wonderful! Could you maybe pick a reading that has meaning for the both of you for in the church?

It sounds perfect just as it is.

It sounds lovely already. However, some ideas:

Have a blackboard for your table plan, written by someone you care about.
Tie the cutlery in a ribbon of your favourite colour.
"Name" the tables for places which have meant something to you.
If you have chutneys, for example, with the meal - serve in jars with labels in your colour/ font/ written by someone close to you (a child?).
Have signs in the venue (toilets/ cocktails/ dancing etc for example) again handwritten.
I think there are print out "ice breaker" quizzes online if your guests are seated at tables where they don't know each other.
Are there kids coming? Make them each a party bag (buy nice stripes paper ones online) with pencils and printed pictures to colour in etc.
Print out a poem/ verse which matters to you and sew it to each menu - would look handmade and very pretty.

My cousin did the photo thing but with pictures of her and the groom, their little boy with each of them and both as well as them with as many of the wedding guests as they could (obviously it wasn't possible for everyone) so it wouldn't just have to be of you and your DH to be.
I think your wedding sounds lovely as is.
You could have a guest book which could be fairly low cost from a stationary shop and have people sign it or the idea where you all sign a heart and put it in a frame. The hearts can be bought for about £2 for 50 on eBay and the wedding I did this at, most people signed in couples.

I wouldn't fret though, I hope you have a lovely day!

I know you said you decided against favours but we had pins from cancer research as DH's mum was going through chemo at the time of the wedding. The charity get the donation and they send pins and little personalised cards. Compared to other favours we looked at it was actually very reasonable.

Other ideas might be to have pictures of you and your OH at the age of the table number - eg you at 7 at table 7, if you have childhood pictures available.
My mum also found the cute little hankies and tied then up with a little rose bud, ribbon and a tag that said 'for happy tears'. That was a lovely surprise and lots of people commented how cute it was

If what you've planned is how you like to do things, then it already is personalised! I didn't do much in the way of frilly extras either - I'm just not that sort of person. I'm not arty/crafty, I don't have a great eye for these things anyway. If I'd had all that stuff it wouldn't have felt like my wedding!
(Not that there's anything wrong with frilly extras if that's what you're into!)

Little chalk boards or printouts with some of your favourite quotes on, maybe one on each table?

Make a mix cd of your chosen songs for while the band aren't playing?

Also I would do the disposable cameras on each table. We got some great pics from those.

It sounds gorgeous as it is but Pinterest has really great ideas. We gave a donation to cancer and there were sunflower seeds in a favour box stating that.

If it is in the countryside, arrive on tractor.

You could have a photo booth (if you have a friend who could do this it would massively reduce cost and plenty of props in poundshops etc)

I am going to have a think about other different ideas and report back otherwise I will be late for work.

It sounds lovely. Some of the personal touches can get a bit lost to be honest. They are good fun if you enjoy doing that sort of thing and it's meaningful for you but otherwise it's just another cost/stress.

I went to a wedding where there was an Instamatic camera, each group took a pic and dangled it off a tree branch. People had fun doing it, and looking at the pictures.

It sounds lovely already. Much more personal already than hotel type weddings, which need to be personalised.

We made our own guest book, we started with pics of us as babies, and ended with pics of the stag/hen dos. It was a mini story of us, and we included pics of nearly everyone at the wedding, major hobbies etc. We left space around the pics, and people signed near relevant pictures. It was a lot of faff, but we still look at it, unlike a lot of other guest books!

The only personalising or decorating we did was having flowers - other than that everything was standard-issue from the venue. It felt completely, wonderfully personal - because of the people who were there. So I wouldn't worry too much

I think your wedding sounds perfect as it is. No need for any other bits and frills.

But it sounds as though you are sailing close to the last minute bridezilla sirens, once sucked in to their clutches there is no escape, the best thing you can do to save yourself is to block your ears and eyes and stop looking at etsy wedding pages.

Have a wonderful day.

Pinterest has got a lot to answer for...

You've planned a ceremony in a place that is meaningful to you and your parents; you've kept it in budget; you sound well ahead of yourself in organisational terms; you've considered appropriate decorations that will make the barn look truly magical rather than 'a barn dressed up as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory'; you're not giving yourself pointless pre-wedding HobbyCraft headaches. All this means you, your DP and your family and the love you're celebrating will be front and centre of your day. It sounds perfect already.

It sounds gorgeous as it is. I wouldn't do much else, nobody really cares about table names and quotations. You've got flowers, candles and fairy lights on beams plus live music, I bet it will be wonderful.

I don't think anybody real cares about frilly crap, our decoration went as far as my bouquet. We had a large dark wood table in a wood panelled room and nothing but a large candelabra.

No complaints about the lack of seat covers or favours. It was the best wedding I've been to, quick ceremony, cocktails and photos and then a lovely meal, followed by all the wine (no really, we drank them out of Rioja!). It was simple and it worked.

Also being an accountant it seemed a total waste of money to buy frilly shit, we did foot the bar bill though, guests appreciated that!