Categories: Life

My Favorite Non-Traditional Wedding Details

G and I will have been married for two years in April this year (*cue the tears*) which is blowing my mind!!! Time has flown by so fast since that day, but I recently realized that I haven’t shared a whole lot of details from my wedding (other than my wedding registry faves lol).

Our wedding felt like the most perfect day ever and there really weren’t any crazy hiccups that we faced (thankfully)! Our wedding, in general, was pretty traditional, but there were a few details that we chose that were “non-traditional” to make things more personal and more causal. Our wedding ceremony was outside in a garden and then the reception in barn on the same property. That in itself was non-traditional I suppose, but planning a wedding requires planning the smallest, most random details that you wouldn’t initially think of haha

So here are a few of our favorite personalized, non-traditional details:

1. Our Guest Book

Our guest book is hanging in our kitchen area. How you may ask? We opted to get a personalized wooden pallet from Etsy and have everyone sign it. It is one of my favorite things in our home and people love to look closely at it and see what everyone wrote. I just think that with a traditional guest book, you might look through it once, but then will put it away somewhere in storage. We love our “guest book” and will probably always have it hanging in our home somewhere!

Some other awesome, affordable options:

2. Cupcakes instead of cake

It’s a well-known fact that cupcakes are just more fun than regular cake! We chose 3 different flavors: strawberry cake with chocolate icing, chocolate cake with vanilla icing, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Our cupcakes were from Nona’s Sweets and they were out of this world!

3. Mismatching Bridesmaid Dresses

I wanted to let my bridesmaids pick their own dresses and I am so happy with how it turned out! One of the biggest complaints you ever hear from someone in a bridal party is how much the dresses are that the bride picks out. Plus I always think it’s annoying to have to buy a dress that I’ll NEVER want to wear again. For that reason, I told my bridesmaids that I wanted them to wear a navy blue, knee length (ish) dress and I didn’t want it to be strapless. Then I just let them find what they liked, that flattered their body type, and was in their preferred price range. I obviously asked them to text me a picture so I could approve before they bought it, but it went so smoothly and everyone LOVED the idea! Because they bought something that they actually liked and wanted to wear again!

4. Exchanging vows before the ceremony

One of my favorite things we have in our home is our hand-written, framed vows. We opted for traditional vows during our ceremony but chose to exchange letters/vows in a blind first-look right before the ceremony. We also prayed and talked for a minute right before the ceremony (but didn’t see each other) and it helped with any nerves I had before walking down the aisle.

5. Cornhole during the cocktail hour

Because we choose not to take photos before the ceremony, we had to knock them all out during the cocktail hour. This was tricky (and I wish we had written out all of the poses and groups of people we wanted to take photos with in order to make things smoother) but we managed to get it done in under an hour. We had cheese, crackers, fruit, water, tea, and lemonade out during the cocktail hour and also had cornhole out for people to play. Everyone absolutely loved that and we had multiple people tell us they had never seen games at a wedding like that, but that they loved it! We left it out for the reception too, and some people who didn’t want to dance and get away from the craziness went outside and played.

6. Table numbers with bride and groom at various ages

Instead of just having “Table ___” signs at every table, we chose to make things a little more personal by making the table numbers correlate with photos of us at that age. I think we had 13 tables, so I felt bad for the people who had to sit with photos of preteen Sara Ann (lol), but I think it turned out really cute!

7. Pictures of parents and grandparents at entrance of reception

Where people entered the reception, we had our “guest book” table which we decorated with photos of G’s parents on their wedding day, my mom and grandmother on their wedding days, and photos of my grandparents who had passed who could not be with us.

8. Brunch the day after

One of my fave things was the day after our wedding, my parents hosted a brunch at their home. It ended up being like 75 people who showed up (wayyy more than expected) but it was so fun! It gave me an opportunity to talk more with some of the guests and thank them for coming.

Remember, your wedding is truly going to be the best day– even if it isn’t perfect. But the personalized touches will make your wedding feel all the more special and more like YOU. Ultimately, this day is going to be fun, so make sure you let loose just a little and make it memorable. 🙂

Random Wedding Details:

Wedding Venue: Alexander Homestead in Charlotte, NC

Wedding Dress from Simpson’s Bridal in Monroe, NC

Photographer: Michael Board Photography

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Sara Ann