Make Your Wedding One To Remember
Your wedding is a very special day – hopefully one of the best days of your life. First and foremost it’s one for you, your intended and your friends and family 
to enjoy and remember for many years to come. What you’ll also want is a way of making it unique – something about it that makes it even more memorable for you and those who came.
How About Some Or All Of These Five Ideas?
1. “Alternative” Video And Photographs
In time-honored fashion you’ll likely be having an official wedding photographer and perhaps someone to shoot a video of the proceedings. How about having a second photographer and video camera operator in attendance?
The idea here is the “second” photographer and video operator takes more informal and candid photos and footage. For example, you might let the photographer take photos of the bride having her hair done or there’s some video footage of the bride coming out to the car at the beginning of her trip to the church.
You could have some ‘roving’ photos and video taken of guests meeting and chatting before things get underway at the reception and at the evening party.
With these “second” photographers and video operators you’d not necessarily have to pay more in hiring professionals as you likely will do for you “primary” photographer and video maker. Someone with some decent photography ability such as a local amateur or even one of the guests would fit the bill – the same applies to the video.
You wouldn’t even need someone with specialist equipment since the quality of the still and video cameras on smartphones is enough to create a unique souvenir of the big day. It could be presented in a special ‘hidden wedding day’ album and the video could be added to the end of the official one – a bit like the extra footage included on DVD films.
2. Unique Transport
There was the case of a bride who came to her wedding in a taxi – as did the groom – in honor of the fact they first met when agreeing to share a taxi home from an event.
The taxi firm (which happened to be the one they used on that first night) entered into the spirit of the day by decking out the cars with ribbons and jokingly setting the meters for the fare.
Arriving by horse drawn carriages is a time-honored idea, but maybe there is a unique transport theme that has resonance for you?
Like the bride who had always wanted to fly in a helicopter – so her groom arranged it that she’d get her first flight in one to their wedding.
3. Passing the flame
A great way of adding a unique, moving and memorable twist to the church ceremony is to ‘pass the flame’ just before the couple exchange vows.
Each guest is given a candle on their way in, and just before the vows an usher lights the candle of the first guest in a row. They pass it on down the line by lighting the guest’s candle next to them and so on – a lovely way of helping everyone feel part of the key point of the wedding ceremony.
Just make sure the ushers or someone else is standing by with a fire extinguisher!
4. Marking The Spot
Have you heard of the couple who exchanged vows in the aisle of the supermarket where they met? The various couples who spend Saturday afternoons cheering on the same rugby or football team so end up getting married in the stadium?
Maybe you wouldn’t fancy transporting all your guests to the local Sainsbury’s or Waitrose, but perhaps you’d like to commemorate a special spot of similar?
One way of doing it is to re-visit the spot sometime before the big day with a photographer or a video operator (or both) and pose while some images are taken.
These can then be shown at the reception perhaps on a display board in the case of the photos and maybe on a screen (photos and video) as people arrive for the wedding breakfast or evening party. If you combine this with the ‘alternative video and photos’ idea above the photos and videos can be added to those.
5. About The Wedding Party Leaflet
Of particular benefit to guests who might not know one of either the bride or groom very well, this helps to make your day more inclusive especially if you have many guests.
As part of your ‘wedding programme’ you could have a section with some basic details about the bride and groom and the immediate wedding party. People such as the best man, chief bridesmaid and father and mother of both the bride and groom might be included.
Even those close to the bride and groom might not be aware that, say, the groom and his best man knew each other from the age of four. They may be interested to know that the bride and her chief bridesmaid became best friends when they got chatting in a bus queue years before.
Your Unique Wedding
With many weddings following a time-honored structure, it’s becoming more and more popular to add in some ideas to make each one unique and memorable in its own way. Hopefully the five ideas above give you some food for thought.
A variation of the first idea using alternative photographer. When the Pretty Lady and I jumped the broom we bought a bunch of disposal cameras for our guests to use. There were some great and unusual pictures. Do you have other ideas that could make your wedding a day to remember?
