My future mother-in-law wants me to do something at our wedding to honor the people who recently died in our family, one of them being her husband. And then she went on to mention that she would like us to honor her mother (who died over 20 years ago). AND THEN she said that I should also mention my two grandmothers, my uncle, and my cousin who all passed away. Um, is it me, or would that make for an INCREDIBLY depressing moment at a wedding? -Sara

Here’s an easy solution that makes everyone happy: get some wedding photo charms (available from Etsy or from photojewelrymaking.com) to hang from your bouquet. You can put photos of all the deceased into the charms, and have them quietly but respectfully dangling from your bouquet for your entire wedding day. That way there’s no need to harsh your guests’ mellow by making a memorial announcement at the reception. Just make sure your photographer gets some shots of the bouquet. Then, you could even get a print of that photo framed special for your mother-in-law.

The result would be something like this:

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It’s officially wedding season, and while many of you might be planning offbeat weddings, chances are good that you have a couple traditional weddings to attend this summer. Here’s one non-intrusive, respectful way that you as an offbeat guest can bring a little offbeat flavor into any wedding:

Conduct your own photo project at the reception
Make a nice sign that says something like “CONGRATULATIONS, JOE & JANE!” Get as crafty as you want with it, or just print out a piece of paper. Then, bring your sign and your camera to the wedding, and during the reception, ask your fellow guests if you can photograph them holding the sign.

You’ll end up with a bunch of photos sort of like these, which you can then print and make a sweet Blurb book for the newlyweds.

This is also a great way to interact with your fellow guests — you don’t have to talk too long to anyone, but can make a point to meet everyone and make them feel a part of something fun.

Here’s the ultimate DIY wedding bouquet idea: as your guests enter your ceremony venue, give each of them a flower. Or you could even ask each guest to bring a flower as their gift!

Then, when you walk to the altar, you can stop to collect a flower from each guest … assembling your community bouquet as you go. This gives you an awesome opportunity to acknowledge and involve each guest — I like this way better than a receiving line.

(Thanks to levinine for the photo!)

These cakes made me start drooling — y’all can keep your fondant-covered multi-tiered cakes. I’m sure they’re delicious! But for me, it’s all about cakes covered in flowers and fruits, like these cakes from Ivonne & Josh’s 2004 wedding.

Oh and Check out Ivonne’s dress! Holy hell.

Anyway, for more info about how Ivonne saved a fortune on her cakes, keep reading.

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How great would it be to apply this business card concept to your wedding invitations? Thanks to Scunshine for the idea!

Are you looking this picture and thinking to yourself, “Self, I want to know more about those awesome colorful pom-poms and non-froofy centerpieces”?

Well, thanks to a wonderful comment to my old non-floral centerpieces post, I happen to have a link to Crystal’s page full of photos of these here pom-poms and stick centerpieces. Oh, and when I asked Crystal about making the pom-poms, she admitted they were from Martha. But what *I* want to know is whether Martha intended the pom-poms to be abused in such wonderful ways.

Adrianna and Christian got married recently, and I was scrolling through the pictures. First I noticed the groom’s cake (er, cupcakes?), but then I was really struck by their new tradition: the wedding cocktail. As described in the caption: Like a unity candle…only awesomer.

(Thanks to d-day for the photo!)

This will look familiar to those of you who’ve read my book — one offbeat bride borrowed my Muglies idea for her recent wedding, complete with using the explanation copy I wrote to explain the concept to guests. Aww.

(Thanks to midwife72 for the photo!)