It's all in the details

Photos | Jackie Santana Photography (unless otherwise noted)

As a guest, the weddings that I remembered fondest were ones that showcased my engaged friends' personalities: portraits on horseback, passport-themed invitations for a multicultural ceremony, a bridal entrance set to a U2 song.

​But how do you personalize an event for a couple hundred people that's steeped in so much tradition? In the small things, such as cake flavor, escort cards, family heirlooms and color schemes, to name a few. Go subtle or go big--but whatever you do, go in a direction that's meaningful for you. 

Here are a few of the ways we made our wedding our own--rather than an accumulation of already-done Pinterest ideas.
​

photo above by Cynthia Ngoy

Place settings and name cards

If you've followed me on Instagram, you already know that my husband and I are huge fans of Japan. We knew we wanted to include some elements of Japanese culture in our wedding, so in addition to playing one of my favorite Japanese pop songs for my walk down the aisle, we also used paper cranes as escort cards. We used four heavyweight wrapping papers from Paper Source in complimentary colors and patterns, then tied gift tags with each guest's name and table written in calligraphy (or, rather, pseudo-calligraphy, seeing how I wrote it). The paper crane escort cards were then laid in a 3-foot-long, hand-painted picture frame (bought at Goodwill) filled with moss from Michael's. 

To set our head table apart, I commissioned Cynthia Ngoy of To Live and Write in LA to create personalized Carrara white Italian marble place settings (pictured above) with gold details for every person in our wedding party--an easy way to have a more luxurious feel without shelling out a ton of money. Plus, our wedding party could take them home as souvenirs.

Honoring loved ones

All of my grandparents had already passed away years before our wedding, but I wanted to include them (and my husband's family members too) in some way. During our ceremony, my uncle read Robert Browning's "Summum Bonum" from a turn-of-the-century poetry anthology that belonged to my late paternal grandfather (pictured above), and we featured photos of our grandparents around our wedding cake from the Cake Bake Shop in Broad Ripple. 

Cake topper

We decorated our Southern-style caramel cake from the Cake Bake Shop with extra flowers from Lauren Brown (formerly of Indy Urban Acres, now runs Woven Blooms) and a personalized set of cake toppers from Etsy seller Susabella's with our initials and wedding date.
​

photo by Elizabeth Thogerson/The Pastel Pineapple

Geeky surprise

What happens when a geeky bride marries a wonderful, lovable nerd? At least one reference to geek culture, that's what. When I saw that Elizabeth Thogerson of The Pastel Pineapple--the artist behind the personalized watercolor paintings of the gardens, reception design and our cat--also made a romantic Settlers of Catan card, I couldn't resist. (The inside even says, "I'm so glad I settled." How perfect is that?)

Guestbook

As I mentioned on the page about our invites and save the dates, I love anything remotely related to papercrafts and books. (You should see how I insanely happy I am in the journal section of Barnes and Noble.) 

So of course we ordered a personalized guestbook from Starboard Press' Etsy shop. The front cover and spine list our names and wedding date, and the guestbook is offered in two sizes and in so many colors and designs.