We’ve all been that wedding right? The one that is lacking any personality whatsoever. Wait, do you even remember who’s wedding your attending? Not to say there is anything wrong with a completely “standard” wedding, but aren’t the ones with unique personalities infused far more memorable? We’re HUGE advocates of making your day feel like YOU. We thought it was super important our guests left our big day thinking how well it represented us, and honestly, we still get compliments to the tune of “that was the most fun wedding I’ve ever been to”, which, we’re not gonna lie, feels pretty good!

Need some ideas on how to make your day your own? Here are some fun ways to let your personalities shine on your wedding day!

1 DITCH THE CAKE. Not big on a wedding cake? Opt for something else! Megan and Brad love brunch, so they had a brunch wedding. Yes, you read that right, BRUNCH WEDDING. Go replan your wedding right now, we won’t judge. Instead of a cake, they opted for a pancake cake. It was drizzling maple syrup and topped with an adorable custom made cake topper including their love of ice cream and their dog. And it was adorable. They even brought in donuts, because would it really be brunch without donuts??

Corrine & Kevin opted for a ceremonial ice cream scooping instead of a cake cutting because they LOVE ice cream way more than cake. Can we get an amen? You better believe their guests still talk about this!

A more and more trendy option are dessert bars! You can fill your table with everything YOU love as a couple. We’ve seen mini pies, pies on sticks, brownie bites, mini cupcakes, cookies, lemon bars, grandma’s cookies, candy, you name it! Bonus: we find that guests actually eat more of it because it’s so much easier to grab something bite sized and keep dancing than to hold a plate with a piece of cake eating it with a fork. It’s also a great way to save a few bucks on a full size cake! TIP: Don’t forget to have someone appointed to refill your dessert table as it gets eaten and ALWAYS order more than you think you need. We’ve seen dessert bars run out in 0.5 seconds and it’s always sad. Each guest will probably eat at least 2-3 mini items! Plus you’ll be happy to have left overs because most likely, you won’t get a chance to eat anything!

2 UP LEVEL YOUR TABLE “NUMBER” GAME. Andrew and Elle LOVE movies. Like, really truly love. We did their engagement session in front of a movie theater. They had a friend draw their favorite movies onto cards representing their table “numbers”. The groom also cut together a custom movie including clips of all their favorites for their dance party. Talk about making your day your own.

Or you could infuse both your personalities! Nikka & Maurice have a lot in common, but also have a lot of passions that aren’t as common with each other. They used Maurice’s love of science for the table “numbers” and Nikka’s love of Harry Potter was infused throughout the day from her Golden Snitch ring holder to books decorating the tables, this day really was all about these two and their love story.

3 MAKE IT GRAND. What about a spin on the grand entrance? Always wanted to drive the Batmobile? Well, it’s your wedding and you only get married once, so make it your grand entrance like this couple! DO IT! Stefania & Derek love all things comic books so they chose to get married on the Warner Bros Lot and had a Batman-inspired affair, arriving in style in the Adam West Batmobile! (kind of makes all grand entrances look silly now doesn’t it?) They also dined al fresco with their guests under chandeliers during their Bruce Wayne inspired dinner party. Their guests were even treated to a tour of the Warner Bros studio upon arrival! This wedding is one that will not soon be forgotten.

In lieu of a grand exit, do something else grand! Maybe be like Stefanie & Mark and do a sparkler ENTRANCE! What a way to greet your guests. Another bonus, all of your guests get to participate! We can’t tell you how many times we’ve done sparkler “exits” to only have 20 guests that stayed until the end. Don’t forget if you’re in Southern California a lot of venues don’t allow sparklers due to fire hazards, so be sure to check with your venue!

OR what about surprising your guests with a massive confetti bomb?? Rachel & Adam had one go off right at their first kiss! It was beyond magical and their friends and family were in awe!

4 PUT A SPIN ON YOUR BEVERAGES. Unless you’re sober or don’t drink, everyone’s excited about an open bar at a wedding right? We’ve all seen the personalized cocktails, which is super fun!

Try thinking outside the box like Danya & Scott who had signature drinks that represented those they’ve lost. Such a unique way to incorporate those who are unable be there.

OR think about taking it to the next level, like this groom, who loves to brew his own beer! He brewed a special batch for Cristina & his wedding day. Although we usually skip on drinks, we had a sip of this beer and it was delicious!

5 INVOLVE YOUR HOBBIES. On that note, what a great idea to include something you love to do together. Like drinking coffee like Ashli and Savannah? Give your favorite blend out (or a signature blend for just the two of you) as a favor! These two not only gave out coffee beans, they also had a coffee cart and had the ability to roast s’mores! Talk about making your wedding unforgettable for your guests.

Maybe you love to make candles and have a candle making business, like our bride Kelsey, who created a signature scent representing her favorite and his favorite scents. Honestly, we took one home and wound up buying more from her because it’s one of the best smelling things in our home! If you like candles, you should totally check out her site, Piece by Paz. We love shouting out our clients & their small businesses!

6 DON’T BE AFRAID TO DO YOUR OWN THING. As some of you may know, we were married on Halloween! We both love the holiday, secretly @mrs.vondy has actually always dreamed of getting married that day, and we really just wanted to do something we hadn’t seen before! We decided to have an intimate, classy-halloween themed ceremony and throw a big costume bowling after party! (side note: wish we had some decent photos to show you of that!)

While planning, we can’t tell you how many people said “you’re doing WHAT for your wedding?!” or “oh you can’t do that!” but all those haters ate their words when they saw how much fun our wedding day was. As we said at the beginning of this post, people still talk about how much fun our wedding was almost 5 years later… so I guess we know a thing or two about throwing a party? Or maybe they are just lying to us… never mind. Bonus: every year we get to have an anniversary party on Halloween!

We also wanted people to have access to food and dessert the entire reception, so we just did heavy snacks, mini sandwiches, cheese plates, salads, and tons and tons of our favorite dessert items! We really enjoyed not having a formal sit down meal and our guests also kept telling us how delicious the food was too! Don’t be afraid to do your own thang! We are so so so glad we did!

7 BRING IN LIVE MUSIC that represents you as a couple! For instance, Amy & Runako surprised all their guests with a brass marching band to represent Runako’s New Orleans heritage.

Are you a musician? Consider being brave like Will, who wrote a song for his beautiful bride, Layne, and debuted it as a surprise for her and all their family and friends. Everyone was in awe. Talk about romantic!

8 DON’T FEEL YOU HAVE TO DO TRADITIONS THAT AREN’T “YOU”. Much like having an alternative to having cake, maybe cake cutting isn’t your “thing”. This couple has a joke about how much they love whip cream, so they had a whip cream tasting instead!

Let’s talk bouquet/garter toss, shall we? Maybe you feel like @mrs.vondy and lifting your dress in front of everyone is just not your thing. Don’t feel you have to do something that makes you uncomfortable! It’s totally ok to skip it entirely!! Maybe you feel awkward asking your single girlfriends to stand up to toss them a bouquet, skip it! We’ve seen brides just give the bouquet to a loved one, like a grandma, and it’s adorable! It’s almost 2020, you can make your own traditions! It’s totally cool.

Love cocktail hour? What about a cocktail our before ceremony? We had a couple say that their favorite part of any wedding is cocktail hour, so they decided to have one BEFORE ceremony. They joined that pre-ceremony cocktail hour and before heading to get married the groom invited everyone to refill their drink and come watch them say some vows. It was perfect.

9 INCORPORATE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS. Do you love Star Wars? This couple had custom cake topper made of them! We also had a couple enter to the imperial march, and that was pretty cool, but hard to photograph ;)

Love animals? This bride loves animals SO much that she had them brought in to mingle with guests at cocktail hour! And really, what could possibly be better than getting to hold a hedgehog named, Greg, on your wedding day? Actually, we’ll tell you, having a lemur hold your hand, that might be better. It happened to us at this wedding and it we will never forget it!

OR maybe you love animals so much you want to get married at a zoo! The Santa Barbara Zoo allows you to have a “flamingle” during cocktail hour. On top of that, you and your guests get to feed a giraffe! His name is Michael.

10 TIE IN YOUR ROOTS. Garrett grew up in Hawaii, so what better place for Michaela and him to get married than his home state? They also exchanged leis during their ceremony to honor his heritage.

Taylor & Brendan are two completely different decents, Taylor being from the Carolinas and Brendan from South Africa. For their Palm Springs wedding, Taylor had native South African flowers in her bouquet and they asked guests to take an African handkerchief to display creatively about themselves. They also used the bar to touch on some sayings we have here in America vs what they say in South Africa. Talk about a creative way to blend their heritage and tell their story!

ADDITIONAL TIPS!

Don’t forget to TELL your photographer about any surprises!! We love surprises, but we don’t like to BE surprised. We always suggest our clients send us a private email to let us know what’s going on so we can be best prepared to capture it. Don’t worry, we’re AMAZING secret keepers. That’s not an invite to tell us all your personal secrets, but you can if you want to.

It’s important to allow your photographer some time on the day to capture all these details you put your heart into. We are pretty good at slipping away without you noticing we’re gone, but if you’re not doing a first look and your reception details aren’t fully set up before ceremony, we may not get a great moment to capture those special details for you. We encourage communicating with us to ensure we can capture everything all while giving you an amazing experience on your wedding day!

Getting married?? We’d love to talk to you about how we can help make your day the most amazing wedding in the entire universe!! And guess what? We have up to date passports and travel worldwide! Contact us to see if we’re available for your date.