How to Personalize Your Intimate Wedding

Excerpt From Christina Friedrichsen’s Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style

Your wedding day should truly be a manifestation of your personality. Maybe a wedding that breaks all the rules - that boldly marches to its own drumbeat - suits your style. Perhaps you fancy tradition. Maybe a small wedding with all the rituals of a conventional wedding is what will make you and your fiancé feel most comfortable. Maybe the two of you are laid-back types who want a casual wedding where you and your guests can kick back and have a good time without ant formalities. Conversely, maybe you want the most elegant soiree imaginable.

By having a small wedding, you and your fiancé can explore your own sense of style and come up with an event that reflects the two of you.

Questions to help you personalize your wedding:

• Do you enjoy any hobbies? How can you incorporate them into your wedding? Perhaps you and your sweetie love the water: What about a nautical theme, or a wedding aboard a yacht. Maybe you are history buffs. Why not have your wedding at a favorite historical site, and bring historical elements into your big day?

• Do you have a unique cultural background? Why not incorporate some of the culture’s unique traditions into the ceremony and reception? Everything from the attire to the menu could reflect your heritage.

• Do you have a fondness for a particular season or holiday? If you love the winter, have a winter-wonderland theme. If the fall is more your thing, bring a harvest theme into your nuptials.

• Do you enjoy the arts? You could bring artistic elements into your décor by getting married at an art gallery. The wedding reception could even include a guided tour of the gallery.

• Do you love the outdoors? Holding an outdoor wedding at one of your favorite outdoor haunts could be a soul-satisfying experience.

• Do you love to travel? You could bring your love of travel into your wedding by having a destination wedding. If you’d rather stay put for your nuptials, name tables after places you’ve visited, and offer foods from some of your favorite destinations.

• Are pets an important part of your life? Why not involve them in the wedding? Many a canine ring bearer has attended a bride and groom.

• Do you have a favorite restaurant? Why not have the reception there?

• Are kids a big part of your life? Consider involving them as much as possible. Kids can play a role in the ceremony, or work behind the scenes to help you get ready for the big day.

• Do you enjoy writing? Why not write your own vows or a poem for your special day?

• Do you love to garden? Have the wedding in a garden or bring fresh, garden flowers into the décor. Give guests seeds, bulbs, or potted plants as favors.

Christina Friedrichsen is the author of Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style, the only book available on the topic of small weddings. Her website is http://www.intimate-weddings.com

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