Something we've seen at a few weddings this year are photobooks used a guestbooks.  These photobooks are compiled by the couple, featuring some of their favorite photos and plenty of space for guests to write on the pages.  One great place to create a custom photo album is Shutterfly.  You can upload your digital photos, or send them your film.  Then, you can design your album yourself, picking page layouts and which photos go on each page.  It's very simple, and makes a great keepsake (especially with all the good wishes from your wedding guests).  They variety of book types and colors, including wedding-specific styles, so be sure to look around a bit.

If you visit our shop, you can actually see one of these books.  We've been a Shutterfly customer for years, almost every photo you see in our albums was printed by Shutterfly.  Our albums are so heavily used that we recently made a special photobook featuring our favorite bouquets.  Not only do our bouquets look great, but we receive a number of compliments of how nice the book itself is.  The photo below is one of their samples, very similar to the one we created for our shop.

The bride's bouquet was made of gerbera daisies.  The bridesmaids bouquets were made from gerbera daisies.  The cake was decorated with gerbera daisies.  The centerpieces were made from gerbera daisies.  So, it was a natural that the seating chart would be made to resemble gerbera daisies.  We seee a lot of creative touches in the weddings we do, and this is one of the most creative and thematic seating charts we've seen.  Each table was numbered, and the table was the center of the "flower".  Each seat at the table was represented by an oval "petal" with the guest's name.  The chart was made on a large piece of poster board, and was mounted on an antique wood easel near the doors.  Very unique and quite distinctive!  This wedding was held at Springwood Conference Center.

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We saw a great idea for a fall wedding today.  Our bride used candied apples as both the seating cards and the favors.  At the entrance of the hall, a table filled with hundreds of candied applies, individually wrapped and labelled, greeted the guests.  On each label was the guest's name and table placement.  What a perfect idea for a fall wedding!

In our area, candied apples are an art unto themselves, and many candy stores and bakeries offer these treats, often dipped in multiple layers of caramel, chocolate, or white chocolate and coated with sugared cinnamon, crushed nuts, or more!

If you're in the Butler or north Pittsburgh area, and not of the candied apple making variety, call out friends at Barkus Chocolates.  Their Butler store is 724-282-3006, and their Cranberry store is 724-776-3060.  Candied apples are seasonal, but they make fantastic ones.

One of the weddings from this past weekend was held in a rustic barn, overlooking green fields and lush woods beyond.  Part of the decoration in the barn is an antique buggy, which our bride turned into a candy counter of sorts.  Placed on the buggy were a number of antique-style containers of red candies, including licorice, gum drops, lolipops and jawbreakers (maybe gumballs--we didn't try any).  A little sign invited guests to partake, saying "Love is dandy, enjoy some candy".  The style of containers and buggy fit the setting well, but this could be done in a plethora of ways, using different containers depending on the style of your individual wedding.  We weren't around to see, but we're sure this was a hit with the kids.

At one recent wedding, the bride and groom added some conversation starters to their place settings.  At each setting were two printed papers, antiqued and mounted on cardstock.  One of the cards featured "Love Quotes", a collection of quotes from their favorite songs, poems, stories and movies.  This turned out to be a real conversation starter while guests were enjoying the cookie table before the reception.  One good reference is to search Bartlett's Familiar Quotations at www.bartleby.com.  Use the thesaurus there and search quotations for a variety of words related to love.

The other paper featured a list of "On This Day In History"--significant events that occured on the wedding date throughout history, with the very last entry being the couples wedding!  On this particular date, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (here's hoping the marriage turns out better than Amelia's flying career).  One excellent reference is the Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).  You can enter the month and day of your wedidng, and it will return a list of significat events on that date.  For instance, on our anniversary, Disneyland opened in Anaheim (1955).

Clarification: We were married on the same day, but several decades after Disneyland opened.

Many couples choose to create a seating chart, traditionally numbering tables and having place cards with the guest's name and table number on the cards.  We've seen couples opting for more personal and creative ways of associating guests with tables.  One couple named every table for something significant in their favorite TV shows and movies.  Guests were seated in "Ten Forward" or "Rick's Cafe Americain".  Instead of place cards, the couple made CDs of their favorite songs, and placed the guest's name and table on the CD cover.  At each table was a brief story about what that table was named for, and why that was significant in the couple's life.

Tonight's couple named every table for a word they felt played a part in a good marriage.  Guests were seated at tables named "Honesty", "Faithfulness", "Passion", etc.   Each table sign was beautifully written in large calligraphy on a small piece of white parchment, and pasted onto a piece of cardstock matching the wedding's colors and folded like a tent.  Instead of place cards, the couple had an attractive sign printed on foam core, listing the guests and their table.

What you choose to do should reflect how you want your reception to be remembered.  Keep in mind that the seating arrangement is your guest's first impression of your reception, and you don't want to mix a wacky table scheme with formal reception.

Here's a neat idea to keep the children attending your wedding busy...a childrens' activity table!  At a recent wedding, our bride (an event planner by trade) set up a children's activity table in the corner of the reception hall.  There were coloring books, crayons, chinese yo-yos, and other activities for the kids to play with.  More than enough to keep the kids entertained until the hokey-pokey was danced.

We have a couple of items that are great for an activity table.  One is a wedding coloring book, a 32 page coloring book and activity that includes 4 crayons (you may want to have a few more crayons on hand to keep the peace).  Another fun idea is a flowergirl candy necklace kit.  Little girls love to create their own jewelry, but love to eat it even more!