75 Ways to Make Your Wedding Unique

Party Tricks

53. Sirie and Chuck made their formal entrance at the cocktail party instead of at the reception. As Sirie's best friend played Rhapsody in Blue at the piano, the couple descended a sweeping staircase to greet their guests as husband and wife.

54. Play dress up! Fiona and Shawn's rehearsal dinner was a "German night," to celebrate Shawn's background. The couple served bratwurst and pretzels, and filled a hired vintage beer truck with all varieties of traditional German lagers.

55. Pick and choose what traditions work for you. Melissa wanted a relaxed vibe at her wedding, so she skipped the receiving line and bouquet toss. She didn't want multiple, lengthy toasts, so she kept it to four and asked people to be short and sweet.

56. Ask some family members for parties instead of presents. In lieu of giving a gift or cash, Fiona's sister threw a barn dance, her uncles hosted a cowboy breakfast, and her aunt organized the day-after brunch.

57. Catrien indulged her overseas relatives by allowing a polter abend at the rehearsal dinner—a traditional European roast (consisting mostly of skits) that focused on the happy couple.

58. Tell your DJ what you really want: Julie and Jeff's reception was heavy on '60s and '70s rock 'n' roll.

59. If you're worried about tripping while dancing in front of a crowd, take a hint from Kate. Her and Barrett's first-dance foxtrot, to "When I'm 64," was entirely choreographed—the couple took dance lessons beforehand.

60. Mix it up with a band and a DJ. Alexandra and Sebastian got guests in the party mood with a bluegrass band, then switched to a DJ for some serious dancing.

61. Music-lover Adam wasn't interested in a band playing the same old Village People covers. So he and Margaret hired a personal favorite jazz band from the New York club circuit.

62. Lona and Zack honored their favorite Friday night tradition—they busted out a karaoke machine.

63. At Alexandra and Sebastian's reception, his grandfather, a violin-maker, played a tune during the cake-cutting.

64. Fiona decided on a nontraditional toast, asking her brother to create a slide show of her and Shawn's childhood pics instead. It brought down the house!

65. Lona and Zack knew their Miami friends would keep the party going until dawn. Instead of hiring buses to wait around for guests, they passed out cab fare in little "taxi" envelopes.

Sweet Treats

66. Do your guests a favor. Brooke and Patrick gave out mini jars filled with honey; the jars were labeled with the couple's wedding date and illustrations of wildflowers.

67. Fiona's favors? Her godmother's homemade sugar-coated almond wedding cookies, recipe included.

68. Lona and Zack's fondant-iced cake was air-brushed purple, and it was adorned with sugar conch shells, starfish and delicate sand dollars.

69. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Margaret and Adam offered their guests a tower of pretty, pastel cupcakes.

70. Melissa gave her guests a taste of Vermont—real maple syrup in small, maple-leaf-shaped bottles.

71. Julie and Jeff placed their woodlands-inspired wedding cake on a beautiful base made from a slice of tree trunk—bark and all!

72. Top this: Bird-lover Jeff perched two sugar sparrows in a sweet sugar nest atop the wedding cake.

73. Take the cake—away. Catrien and John served guests farm-fresh peach cobbler, and Ellie and Steven had a croquembouche—a cream-puff tower.

74. Kate and Barrett's Asian-inspired cake had a different exotic flavor for each layer. Ginger-almond, anyone?

75. Offer a taste of your cultural background. For Alexandra and Sebastian's wedding, his grandmother and his aunts baked up 15 kinds of traditional German cookies to serve with the cake.