Family undoubtedly play a massive part in every bride’s wedding day – your parents walk you down the aisle and give you away, and you might have sisters in your bridal party. Your whole family gathers around you to celebrate your new union, and it’s a wonderful way to catch up with relatives you might not have seen for a while. If you’re looking for even more ways to make your family feel involved in your big day, we’ve got some suggestions for you…
Make your own photo bunting
DIY bunting is always popular with brides wanting to personalise their wedding – it’s super easy to make and can transform plain spaces like marquees. Why not take it one step further and create bunting out of family photos? It will go down a storm with your guests, who will love reminiscing over the photographs during the reception.
Create a fingerprint tree
Fingerprint trees are cute and quirky alternatives to guest books – you simply provide ink pads and get your guests to put their fingerprints onto your design, leaving you with a wonderful reminder of your day that you can also hang as artwork. If you have too many guests for this to be practical, or you’d prefer to keep it to just the family, have them do a smaller version of the tree for you. You could even get them to write their names next to their fingerprints.
Ask them to do a reading
One of the most meaningful ways to include family members in the ceremony is to ask them to do a reading. This is an especially lovely way to involve family members who may be be a little further removed from the immediate family, such as aunts or uncles. If you’re looking for meaningful wedding readings, we have lots on the website – take a look!
Have personalised place cards
This is another sweet photo idea – use pictures of your friends and family in their place names! It’ll get everyone talking on their tables, and literally putting faces to names means that you’re less likely to get awkward introductions. We also love it when couples use photos on their table plans for the same reason.
Set up a hashtag
In the age of social media, it’s becoming much faster and simpler to share your photographs and videos of the big day with lots of people at once. If you’re embracing social media on your big day, why not consider setting up a hashtag and letting your guests know for easier photo sharing? You may have to explain it a little to the grandparents, but once they realise that they’ll be able to see everyone’s photos all at once, they’re sure to be on board!
Have a family wedding wall
We love this trend – it’s a great way to observe family wedding traditions on your big day while still keeping it your own. Get as many family members as you can to send you their wedding photos before the day, and then create a big canvas out of all of them. If nothing else, this is a great way to see how wedding trends change! We also love it when couples recreate one of their parents’ wedding pictures for a nostalgic photo opportunity.
Don’t forget granny!
It might seem obvious now, but your wedding day photographs will be over quicker than you think – so if you know your grandparents would love to be involved in the formal photos, make sure your photographer knows this before the day. The pictures will make great keepsakes to send your family after the big day, and they’ll always treasure them. Why not take a look at our photo lists to make sure you know exactly what you want?
Check out more amazing wedding planning ideas here – or be inspired by our gorgeous Pinterest boards for dresses, colour schemes and more!
