15 Wedding Program Design Ideas For Your Special Day
Long gone are the days of ordinary wedding programs!
getty From listing the order of events for the upcoming wedding ceremony to naming all the lovely people in your bridal party, a wedding program is a necessary outlet to informing the wedding guest of the day ahead. Rather than simply printing the details on a boring piece of paper, spice things up by having some creative fun.
Use these wedding program ideas to add a memorable and unique aspect to your wedding. Below we've featured 15 of our favorite out-of-the-box ideas for your future wedding program.
1. Put it on display.
Save paper and create one large wedding program for all to see in a centrally located area of the wedding. This is ideal for the weddings that have wedding and reception in the same location, as moving the program from point A to point B might be an unnecessary hassle on your wedding day.
There's no shortage of creative ideas to take when thinking of how to put a wedding program on display. Some choose to use chalk on a chalkboard, while others buy beautiful frames or pair with floral arrangements.
2. Turn it into a fan.
Make your guest in the spring and summer months ecstatic by creating usable and convenient fans from your wedding programs. As this has been a rising and popular trend in the wedding community, printing companies have no problem creating these fan programs in many shapes, sizes, and styles.
3. Make it a goodie bag.
Food-related goodie bags have been a major take-away and popular trend at weddings as well. A topical and fun way to tap into this trend is to actually print the programs on brown-paper-bag style goodie bags.
By the end of the night, guests can fill them up with treats from the dessert bar, popcorn cart, or chocolate fountain.
4. Create a postcard.
One of a traveler's favorite keepsakes when visiting a new spot is a postcard. Whether it's for their personal collection or to send to a loved one, this is an item that is sincerely sentimental and appreciated.
If planning a destination wedding, or a wedding location where you know many guest will be traveling, try printing your programs on the back of location-themed postcards.
5. Turn it into a playbill.
If you and your partner just happen to be show nerds, or even just fans of the theater, it may be a cute idea to create a Playbill program for your wedding festivities. As your love story is worthy of sing along musicals, make it official by putting it on a Playbill.
Another aspect we love about the Playbill program is the ability to create bios for not only the bride and groom, but the bridal party as well. Plus, the "about" is a perfect location for a love story.
6. Make a newspaper.
Extra, extra read all about it! And when we say it, we mean the very thoughtful wedding you and your partner put together.
What we love about the idea of creating a newspaper for your wedding program, you're able to add a little bit more information about the couple and their family/friends/ceremony (just like the playbill).
7. Play with fonts and calligraphy.
Not only are updated designs of font and calligraphy a popular trend on Pinterest and during wedding season, major companies and corporations are looking to the fresh styles of typeface and all the appeal they can bring.
As the wedding invitations are notably more formal, a wedding program may be the perfect outlet to explore different fonts and calligraphy. Who knows, this might also be the perfect space to incorporate info-graphics too!
8. Make it into a fortune teller.
While it may sound painful to hear, by the end of the night (or even after the ceremony), wedding programs may be on chairs, under plates, and completely forgotten about (if not designed to spark entertainment or use). Thankfully, you're able to bring a playful nature to the wedding programs by turning them into mini fortune tellers.
While filled with the necessary information, you can always add a spark of mystic to the teller. Who knows, you may have guest mingling while discuss their potential futures.
9. Match the wedding invitations.
There are some major benefits that go in hand with selecting your invitations and wedding programs together. Not only will it save time, money, and resources, you’ll likely get rewarded a price discount for combining the two with your vendor.
Talk to your invitation providers to see what additional add-on fees they give for wedding programs. Plus, you know they’ll be on theme and familiar to your wedding and the event’s guests.
10. Use a themed flag.
While it may be a little quirky, guests will love the idea of being presenting a wedding program and a flag. A smart added feature to include with the program flag is the wedding social media hashtag.
It’s a great reminder for people to use the tag, and well as taking Instagram or Facebook images featuring the flag and the wedding hashtag (especially if it’s a creative one).
11. Explore watercolor.
Everything from tattoos to home decor is loving the comeback of watercolor. Its replacement of the ombre effect is having everyone jump at the bit to include in their design work, including wedding programs.
Watercolors are fun to play around with, especially if your party has a specific color scheme, and it’ll tie in nicely to the surrounding decor.
12. Create a passport or map.
For the couples who love traveling and venturing off together, a passport wedding program may be the perfect way to tie in the event details.
For this theme, try and tie in some of your exciting trip explorations together on a few of the pages (or explain to your guests where you’re going on your honeymoon and why you chose that location).
13. Turn them into photo props.
Is it even a wedding reception if there isn’t a photo booth to document the shenanigans at the reception? We didn’t think so.
While a Photo Booth company/provider will likely supply your guests with fun props, why not give your guests more incentive to head over to the booth than buy transforming your wedding program into an innovative camera prop? Both useful and playful.
14. Create bookmarks.
In the age of digital e-readers and kindles, you’d be surprised with how many folks still love feeling a physical book in their hand when getting lost in a story.
With this idea in mind, and if the couple happen to be bookworms, creating a wedding program that doubles as a bookmark will not only be useful but a cherished memory your guests remember with each turn of the page.
15. Choose an off the clothespin line.
While seemingly simple and cheap, adding a clothespin prop to a wedding program can make this staple wedding feature extremely versatile.
Some ideas include: attaching a photo of the couple to the program, hanging the programs on the back of chairs, or even attaching little knick-knack (like a bag of candy) to the program.
Elizabeth Blasi is a New Yorker. A lifestyle & travel writer, who is often seen with a suitcase in hand, jetsetting to her next location. But as a true Digital Nomad, her love of writing and romance novels means her laptop is always beside her.