How do you make your wedding day stand out from the crowd? By making it personal with some well thought out special touches. We’ve looked back through our real weddings archives and found these lovely unique touches that couples incorporated into their special day.

50 Unique Special Touches at Weddings

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Specials Touches for Decoration

“With my team of helpers we made over 1,000 different pinwheels for the marquee. There were glittery ones in the disco room and coloured ones where we said our vows.” Tabitha, Issue 126

“As I was taking my husband’s last name of Wellington, we decorated the venue with wellies in assorted colours filled with fresh flowers.” Jody, Issue 145

“Our table plan was a borrowed cream ladder, which we decorated with the straw hat that Dougal was wearing when he first met me at Wireless Festival and my festival wellies sitting underneath adorned with some ribbon for the special occasion!’ Penny, Issue 126

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“We made our own centrepieces by growing wheatgrass in wooden seed trays. The florist added flowers to the wheatgrass, and Steve burned the table names and wedding date onto the trays.” Jacqueline, Issue 129

“One of our favourite places is Dartmoor National Park in Devon, so we named our tables after the Tors we had walked together. Our table plan was a map of Dartmoor Park from 1898 which I mounted and framed.” Serena, Issue 146

“I bought the most amazing 3D number candles for our table numbers – we found them on a weekend away in Barcelona, and they were one of my favourite wedding details.” Charlotte, Issue 127

“We had our family and friends collecting bottles and jars for months leading up to the wedding! It was wonderful for guests to take away decorated jars filled with flowers at the end of the night.” Jennifer, Issue 124

“My team of helpers and I made loads of paper pom poms and attached them to fallen branches with wire to create the effect of a beautiful pink blossom tree.” Catherine, Issue 125

“Our venue was close to the original Colman’s factory, so we decided to have Colman’s Mustard pots full of flowers as the table centrepieces!” Sarah, Issue 122

“Because our barn venue was quite dark inside, we decided to go for a twinkly, romantic A Midsummer Night’s Dream feel by collecting hundreds of candles and Moroccan lanterns to light up the room.” Victoria, Issue 118

Family

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“My mum had written a speech in hospital, as she knew she wouldn’t be there on our special day. My cousin read it out and I’ll treasure that moment forever.” Leanne, Issue 145

“Our wedding flowers were put together by Flora of Sheffield. We didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out that they did my parents’ wedding flowers, and Dougie’s mum’s too – it was fate!” Louise, Issue 132

“We chose Wonderful Wonderful by The Tymes for our first dance. My dad was a member of the band, but passed away when I was 18, so it was a beautiful and extremely sentimental tribute to him.” Stephanie, Issue 131

“My pearl necklace was my ‘something old’ – it belongs to my mum and was also worn by my aunt at her wedding 30 years ago. I also had a brooch pinned to my bouquet that belonged to my nan, who was very important to me.” Holly, Issue 145

“I used my mum’s pink and white china tea set as centrepieces, and then my grandma filled them with her own flower arrangements.” Cassi, Issue 121

“My best friend Carrie and my daughter Charlotte did a reading together from The Velveteen Rabbit. It was really touching as Carrie bought the book for Charlotte when she was born.” Abi, Issue 133

“My dad passed away 10 years ago, so our vicar had the lovely idea of lighting a candle for my dad when I got to the altar, which made me feel like he was with me in spirit.” Kate, Issue 137

Unique Fashion Special Touches for your Wedding

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“I chose an original 1970s lace dress from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company in London, but added sleeves as we were getting married in March.” Charlotte, Issue 131

“I designed the bridesmaids’ dresses myself, with inspiration and input from the girls – each had a different shape to suit their individual figures.” Ibi, Issue 140

“I wanted a real Sixties-inspired look, so I wore a padded bullet bra from What Katie Did with matching briefs under my dress to create the right silhouette.” Kyrsty, Issue 128

“I originally wanted a pair of designer shoes, but I ended up falling in love with a pair from high street hero Dune! It was definitely my best buy.” Sara, Issue 124

“My groom Bill wore a two-piece powder blue suit – he looked amazing in it, and it was a complete surprise because I didn’t know what colour he would be wearing!” Hannah, Issue 147

“My step-mum opened her own bridal boutique. I went to see her range and fell in love with an Alan Hannah gown. I then had the privilege of it being fitted by Alan himself!” Mel, Issue 133

“I work for Ted Baker, and we had dye made to match our bridesmaids’ dresses so Albert’s Ted Baker tie could be the same shade.” Clare, Issue 135

“I had my wedding dress made by a local tailor, but then I spotted the most beautiful Ronald Joyce gown in a boutique. I had to try it on, and once I had, I had to buy it. I’m keeping the original dress for when we renew our vows!” Emily, Issue 136

“My mum made my dress using an old Vogue pattern and vintage lace. She did an amazing job, and even stitched a label saying ‘With love, Mum’ inside.” Sarah, Issue 134

“My shoes were Vivienne Westwood’s Dragon Lady Heart heels. I thought they were sweet and they smelt like bubblegum!” Julie, Issue 127

“Our friend had some custom-made socks designed for Bradley with our dog and cat on, meaning they were a part of the day too!” Katherine, Issue 144

Ceremony Special Touches

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“I secretly changed my entrance music to Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, without telling Neil. It’s ‘our song’, so it was very emotional.” Jayne, Issue 132

“I was outside a shop one day and spotted a beautiful cream Morris Minor convertible. I introduced myself to the owner and asked if he’d drive me to my wedding in it! Luckily he agreed.” Joanne, Issue 119

“Instead of vows, we wrote letters and kept them a surprise until the big day.” Lindsay, Issue 135

“Our readings included a science fiction zombie apocalypse poem by Tim Pratt and a passage from The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I loved them – everyone understood how they fitted us and you could feel the love.” Lizzie, Issue 140

“We had a humanist service in Steve’s parents’ garden, where he proposed to me, under the willow tree that my mother in law planted 20 years ago. Our friend Ben officiated and we wrote the service ourselves so that I could incorporate some Jewish traditions.” Jennifer, Issue 136

Special Touches for Wedding Favours

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“We gave little brown paper bags with the guest’s name attached with a little peg. Inside was a postcard that they could write a note for us on or draw a picture and then peg to our ‘wisdom washing line’.” Amy, Issue 138

“We gave our guests miniature bottles of spirits as favours, and tried to give each person their favourite drink, from Malibu to Talisker whiskey.” Lucy, Issue 135

“I created a newspaper for our guests. It had stories of how we met, funny moments, photos and quizzes – I wanted a conversation starter and something that people could take away.” Victoria, Issue 133

“We gave out Love Hearts sweets in organza bags. When we first dated, Andy gave me
a sweet saying ‘Love You’, and I still have it 11 years later!” Joanne, Issue 132

“I work in a hospital, so instead of giving traditional favours, we thought it would be a nice idea to give everyone a scratch card supporting our local hospice.” Amy, Issue 137

Unique Wedding Reception Ideas

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“Our theme centred around the letter B, with birds, buttons, birdcages and bunting. It was very fitting, as Bryan’s initials are BB!” Nikola, Issue 140

“Our first dance was to Latch by Disclosure. We did a slow dance to the acoustic first half, then it broke into a dance version and our bridal party joined us!” Natalie, Issue 136

“We married in Cornwall, so we served a local menu of Cornish Stilton soup, Cornish rib eye steak and Cornish cream tea.” Laura, Issue 129

“Because none of Tim’s family or our friends from the UK could make it to our New Zealand wedding, I had arranged with the best man to make a montage of video messages from them all to surprise Tim with on the night.” Rachel, Issue 127

“We had an an oval table and sat in the middle of all our guests, which was lovely as everyone was close to us.” Alison, Issue 147

“We named the tables after bars we used to go to, back when we were both working abroad. It proved to be a great talking point among our guests!” Lizzie, Issue 118

“Our venue was a traditional cider barn – the farm makes their own cider and we got through several barrels! We even had a sparkling pink cider as our wedding toast, and our place names were apples with name tags pinned on.” Lucy, Issue 120

“We scattered straw bales and rugs around the garden to sit on. This encouraged guests to kick off their shoes and relax in the sun.” Elizabeth, Issue 124

“I met baker Jenny North at a food fair and when I told her I’d only be able to afford an M&S cake, she said she would make us a cake free of charge as a gift. It was simply stunning and we can’t thank her enough.” Kirsty, Issue 147

“We had an inflatable gladiator duel as entertainment – it was a massive hit, and all the ladies (including me!) joined in despite their dresses.” Laura, Issue 131

“I used my speech as an opportunity to surprise Paul by arranging for his childhood hero, Notts County player Charlie Palmer to come to the wedding! No-one was expecting it and the look on Paul’s face was priceless!” Pip, Issue 146

“After the wedding breakfast my friend’s dad turned up in his vintage ice cream van. He rang the chimes and everyone ran outside!” Natalie, Issue 121

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