Ideas to Make a Wedding Uniquely Yours

Congratulations—you’re engaged! As we’re sure you know, a lot goes into planning a wedding, with so many decisions to make regarding how, when and where you’ll say your “I do.” There are myriad ways to celebrate pledging your eternal love, and a lot of decision-making goes into making a wedding uniquely yours.

Perhaps Long Island Wine Country has played a part in your love story and you want to serve local wines; or you met on a summer night in Montauk and have to have a beach theme; or you and your fiancé had your first date at an East End coffee shop, and you think their beans would make the perfect gift for your guests. From grandiose, daylong festivities to simpler, down-home affairs, there are multiple decisions to make regarding the special day.

Here, five brides-to-be share their best tips for making a wedding uniquely yours.

Right after getting engaged, my fiancé and I each made a list of the five wedding-related things that were most important to each of us (i.e., “groom’s attire” was his #1; “meaningful location” was on both of our lists). This is the single best thing we could have done, because we then planned a wedding that prioritized what we cared about and didn’t sweat the other details.

—Marley, planning a wedding for April 2015

At the time of publication, my fiancé and I will be four weeks away from the big day. I, like most millennial brides, strove to plan a wedding that is meaningful, authentic, special and, dare I say it, unique. In attempting to do so, I learned that using “the U word” means: disregarding the budget, devoting all your “spare” time and energy to curating each and every selection, and driving those close to you positively batty. So in the interest of time, money, energy and sanity of myself and those I love, I decided to focus on personalizing key elements that were of most importance to my fiancé and myself to up the event’s “u-factor.” The rest of the minutiae (yes, it is just that) will fall in line.

—Allison, planning a wedding for April 2015

We’ve found the most enjoyable part of planning our wedding is discovering the quirky things that define us, then finding ways to incorporate them into the wedding design. In this way, our guests will experience a totally unique wedding that is distinctly our own. This allows for us to not necessarily include all of the traditional and expected elements, instead allowing us to be creative and craft a more memorable experience.

—Leesie, planning a wedding for August 2015

My fiancé and I love to travel, so instead of having “table 1,” “table 2,” etc., each table will be the name of a city we’ve traveled to. So tables will be Paris, Sydney, New Orleans, etc. and we want to have cute signs or cutouts of the names to display on each table.

—Katelyn, planning a wedding for September 2015

Stick to the things that you and your fiancé both love. Start with setting a date and a location and from there you can choose flowers that are in bloom and decorations that are appropriate to the time and place. Homemade decorations add a personal touch and allow your inner Martha Stewart to shine through. If you want your wedding to be unique and personal, the best advice is to not overthink it. You have a favorite color, a favorite type of beer, maybe a favorite cuisine, so just pick the things that matter most to you both and let everything else fall into place naturally. Avoid being sucked into doing things you don’t want to do by feeling free to just say no. After all, it’s your special day!

—Stephanie, planning a wedding for September 2015