The Tiny Details That Can Make Your Wedding Memorable

The average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is close to $34,000, with some of the biggest expenses including the engagement ring from a jewelry store in Dayton Ohio, reception, and wedding attire. A recent Real Weddings study from The Knot shows that the average couple covers nearly half of their wedding costs. Therefore, they prioritize their expenditure, choosing the details that mean the most to them. Although aspects such as flowers, the reception venue, and the wedding cake are all star players in your wedding, many couples also pay heed to the small details – those that don’t necessarily cost a lot of money but that mark a wedding as one to remember for many years to come.

Couples who may have to forego live entertainment for their wedding can still keep guests on the dance floor for hours through the selection of a cracking wedding playlist that appeals to all audiences. The ideal list of wedding party songs should include tunes that mean something to the couple, as well as those that are seasoned favorites for their guests. A good ratio is five dance tunes to one slow one. Couples can take advantage of the slow songs to tell their story in a special way, supporting songs with slide shows of the best moments of their love story. Couples should make their way through the decades, making sure to include golden oldies from universally loved bands like Queen, the Jackson Five, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Presley.

Couples may not have a big budget to spend on flowers and sophisticated table arrangements, but they can turn a garden wedding reception into a true thing of beauty through the use of different types of lighting. For a delicate, feminine touch, few accessories make the grade quite like fairy lights twisted through trees and garden plants. If you are lucky enough to have old, tall trees with long branches in your party area, hang candle-filled lanterns on them, or add a pop of color with paper lanterns. Large candles look very romantic on steps that lead down to the garden.

The quintessential wedding favor was once a small fabric bag containing five sugared almonds in delicate colors like pastel pink, baby blue, lemon yellow, mint green, and white. These represented the five blessings (heath, wealth, happiness, fertility, and long life) but the truth is that they tended to be a bit hard on teeth, and most ended up unused or thrown away. These days, wedding favors are a great way to express the couple’s interests. Sweet tooths, for instance, are giving away treats like s’mores, wrapped in clear plastic and wrapped with rustic rope bearing a tag in modern fonts reading messages like “Everyone needs s’more love.” More cute gifts include bottles of hot sauce, designer lollipops with a cute message tag, and gourmet coffee bean blends.

Sometimes, it is the tiniest things that make guests remember a particularly great wedding. It could be a delicious wedding favor, a light-filled fairy-like garden, or a playlist that has guests on the dance floor all night. The details that work are those that are personal to the couple, but also meaningful to the friends and family they choose to celebrate their special day with.