5 Quirky Additions That Will Make Your Wedding Day Extra Special

The car is booked. The photographer is sorted. The wedding venue secured and the hotel completely paid for.
In fact, you have ticked off everything on your ‘wedding to do’ list.
Do you stop there? Do you settle for ‘just good enough’? Or do you want something that will have the guests ‘ooing’ and ‘aaing’ as they walk through the door?
The true meaning of a wedding is, of course, the joining together of two people who love each other very much and want to celebrate with friends and family, but why not add a couple of extra little touches?

Here are a few that can make your day even more memorable.

1. I’m Starving! When’s The Dinner?
Many of the guests will have travelled long distances to be at your wedding. It’s highly likely that they haven’t eaten for hours. You’ve already told them that the reception dinner will be four hours after the wedding. If you listen closely you can probably hear the bellies rumbling in the pews.
This is where you can launch your first little extra touch. After the wedding, direct the guests to the hall next door (most wedding venues will have a large room nearby to use) where you have laid on tea & sandwiches (followed by little buns of course!) for the guests to recharge before they all make the journey to destination number two.

2. Fiddler On The Roof
Ok maybe not the roof as that would be a health & safety nightmare, but a lovely addition to a wedding is to have musicians playing in the entrance of the wedding venue as the guests arrive.
It doesn’t have to be a full-on Elvis tribute band, just a bit of gentle music to sooth the guests.
Harp players have become increasingly popular as have string quartets. And if you ask nicely they may play you up the aisle too!

3. Think About The Children
A common site at a wedding reception is a table of bored kids sitting in the corner or begging their exhausted parents to let them have the phone only to disappear under the table. This is where you can play a master stroke.
Create a ‘Kid’s Table’. Have a large table set up in the back of the hall (after dinner of course – we still want the little ones to eat!) and adorn it with kid packs which can have anything from colouring books & crayons to special little jars of sweets.
Another popular attraction at wedding venues is to hire a local sweetie shop to come and set up a special stall. The only problem with that is the adults quite often hoover up all the sweetie mice before the kids get a chance!
4. Fun in Booths
It’s a rare wedding these days that doesn’t have some type of pop up booth in the corner offering novelty photographs for guests who like to put on funny hats and pull faces.
This is a lovely touch but why not go one further? Instead of (or as well as) the tried and tested guest book that gets passed around, you can have a video booth.
Allow guests to leave special video messages that can be put online later or incorporated into the official wedding video.

5. Go Out With a Bang.
Who doesn’t love fireworks? Book a local firework display team or ask a sensible adult (preferably one that hasn’t had too many sherries) to arrange for a firework display in the garden of the venue at midnight.
This is a lovely way to gather the guests together one last time before they all disperse into the night. It also acts as a spectacular full stop to your perfect day.
By Laurence Doherty, Excalibur Press

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