5 Essential Things to Have In Your Wedding

Every wedding is different, but there are certain essentials you have to have, no matter who you are. Here are some tips and tricks to help create beautiful memories, while making your own must-haves yourself, and make your keepsakes more meaningful.

Bouquet

The bouquet is one of the most important pieces in any wedding. Ordering a bouquet of real flowers can get pricey, and after the vows have been said and the toasts have been made, those flowers will wither and die. Why not create your own bouquet out of fake flowers, and have something to cherish and bring back memories of that special day with your spouse?

Making a bouquet is easy enough, and pretty cost effective. You can visit any craft store to find fake flowers. If you want to go above and beyond matching the colors of your wedding, look up the meanings of each flower you’re wanting, or see if there are any other flowers you’d like to include.

• Carnations: White signifies, "I will never forget you," and pink means, "Sweet and lovely."
• Red Tulips: A declaration of love
• Daisies: Innocence
• Lavender: Devotion
• Red Roses: Love and desire
• Daffodils: New beginnings
• Lily-of-the-Valley: Sweetness
• Morning Glories: Affection
• Forget-Me-Nots: The name says it all: forget me not
• White Jasmine: Sweet love
• Heliotrope: Eternal love
• Irises: Wisdom and respect
• Valerian: Readiness

No matter the flowers you pick, there are only a few items you’ll need to pull off the perfect bouquet:

1. Fake flowers
2. Floral tape
3. Glue gun
4. Wire cutters
5. Ribbon or burlap

Trim any excess leaves off. Choose two to four flowers to act as the base, and then tape them together with the floral tape at the stems. Build the bouquet flower by flower, taping as you go, until you get the size you want. Then, wrap the stems again in one final layer of the floral tape, for added stability. You can trim the bottoms of the stems with the wire cutters, to get them to the length you’d like. Afterwards, wrap the stems in whatever you choose, burlap or ribbon, and use the glue gun to set it in place. You can create something beautiful that will look absolutely stunning, with any wedding photography you have taken.

Wedding Favors

Help your guests also remember your special day by having wedding favors that they can take home. There are a myriad of different things you can order or create for them.

• Shot Glasses: You could order something small, such as shot glasses etched with your names and date, to let each guest take home.
• Mini Champagne Bottles: Order mini champagne bottles for each of your guests to take home. You can have a card made, to tie around the neck of the bottle with your wedding info on it.
• Hot Cocoa Mix: If you’re having a winter wedding, you could purchase miniature glass jars, and put hot cocoa powder plus mini-marshmallows on top. With a metallic sharpie, personalize each jar.
• Treat Bags: Let your guests leave with a sweet treat—whether you get mesh bags in the color of your wedding theme and fill them with your favorite candy, or order something to be made, such as cupcakes, cookies, or candy apples. They’ll be leaving with sweet memories.

Guest Book

Try something different to help remember all of the people that made your day special. Instead of the traditional guest book, why not create something you can display in your home? There are several different ideas to pick from. How about a few of these from below?

• Picture framed hearts: Find little wooden hearts at the craft store, and have everyone sign them with pens or sharpies. If you’re able to, find a picture frame or shadow box wide enough for the hearts. After everyone has signed them, you can slide them into the frame, and hang it up in your home.
• Polaroid photos: If a friend happens to have one of those polaroid mini-cameras or if you can afford one, have everyone take a photo of themselves. They can sign the bottom, or write a message of congratulations. Create something that you can attach them to, or clip them on to display all of the photos. There are also mini-polaroid photo albums that you can get to put them all in, if you don’t want to display them.
• Quilt squares: Create enough quilt squares, so every guest gets one. Have them sign the square with a fabric pen, and leave you a message or tips for a happy marriage. When you collect them all, you can sew them into a quilt to have with you for years to come.
• Postcards: Purchase some postcards online or find them at a local gift shop, and set them aside for your guests to sign, and leave you little messages of love.

Wedding Cake

A wedding cake is just as important as a bouquet of flowers. Not only do you want something flavorful, but something that fits your wedding theme. If you’re on a budget and want to make your own cake instead of ordering it from a bakery, go for it.

If you’re wanting the cake to have floral decorations, you can always opt to buy more of the same fake flowers you used for your bouquet. Cut the stems short, or pull the flower piece off to decorate the creases where the tiers meet.

Not worried about tradition? Maybe you’d rather have cupcakes instead. That way, everyone gets their own personal cupcake, and you can put cute little toppers on each one.

Vows

Vows aren’t physical, but are something emotional. They help connect one person to another, speak of promises and commitment, and let us pour out our feelings. And vows are always best if they come from the heart, instead of using the traditional ones. Write a heartfelt set of vows for your significant other. Recant all the reasons you fell in love with them, and then take those vows and have them framed, to remind the two of you every day why you chose to spend the rest of your lives together.