Wedding programs are an integral part of your wedding ceremony. Through wedding programs, your guests are able to feel more involved with your wedding. In addition, the knowledge of what is to come often helps guests have a better time at your reception and provides you with a way for keeping your guests informed about the meaning behind certain aspects of you ceremony. Programs are also excellent keepsakes for your guests.

What to Include in Your Wedding Program

Wedding programs are a fairly flexible addition to your wedding ceremony and reception. A basic program should include information regarding rituals, customs, or traditions being included in your wedding ceremony and in your reception. With the program, you can explain any aspect that may be unfamiliar to your guests. Of course, it should also include the times for certain events, particularly if your program will cover your reception events as well.

Wedding programs can also include many extras to help make them more personal. For example, you might include a brief biography of the members of your bridal party. Favorite poems, quotes, and photographs are also an excellent addition to your program. You might even honor a deceased relative or friend by including meaningful photos, quotes, or poems on the back of your program.

Program Designs

When it comes to wedding programs, anything that can be written on can be used. You might print your program on paper fans or in booklets. You can even be creative and place your program on scrolls of parchment or create a Playbill containing the names of the actors in your ceremony in order to help set the tone for your ceremony.

Winter Ideas for Wedding Programs

The time of year during which you get married can play a large part in determining the design and layout of your wedding programs. If you will be having a wedding program, you might create a program booklet that is bound in white faux fur. Or, use the traditional single-sheet program and attach a silver-studded snowflake to the top. Another idea is to create an ice-blue program and cover the top sheet with an piece of velum that is opaque and reads Welcome to our Warm Winter Wedding.

Spring Ideas for Wedding Programs

Spring is a fun and colorful time filled with blooming flowers. Therefore, spring wedding programs should reflect that same spirit. You might consider creating a two-fold program with a cover the same color as your wedding colors. Then engrave or emboss a bouquet of white blooms on the cover. Or, create a booklet and wrap it in chiffon ribbon and place a snap on it to keep it secure. If you want to keep it simple yet romantic, create a vertical program and place it on each of your guests chairs. Place a stone engraved with Love, Forever, or Joy on top of the program to keep it in place.

Summer Ideas for Wedding Programs

Summer brings with it thoughts of sunshine and splashing at the beach. To play upon this natural theme, you might create wedding programs that are bound with a string of seashells. Or, make fan-shaped programs that include all the colors of a sunset when they are opened. If you are going to lay your programs on your guests chairs, hold them down with a package of sparklers. This can be gorgeous if you are having an outdoor wedding and all of your guests light the sprinklers at the end of the ceremony.

Fall Ideas for Wedding Programs

In the fall, your wedding programs could include a leaf design. Or, create a small booklet with a mocha or cocoa colored cover and bind it with twine. Finish the look off with an attached acorn covered in gold glitter. Agold or yellow program with a velum overlay topped with a velvet chocolate-brown ribbon is another beautiful option.