Wedding Invitations

Mail all the wedding guests a small piece of fabric several months before the wedding, with instructions to decorate it with a permanent message or image. For a Jewish wedding, the fabric pieces can be stitched together into a marriage canopy (or chuppah) that you and your groom stand under during the ceremony.

For a non-Jewish wedding, the fabric pieces can be made into a bridal quilt that will be a beautiful and personal keepsake to hang on the wall of your new home or to use at the end of your bed.

An alternative to this idea is to send a piece of beautiful paper to all the guests beforehand and have them inscribe a message to the newly engaged couple: a piece of advice, a poem, or a though about marriage. These thoughts can then be put into an album or scrapbook for the guests to peruse at the sign-in table.

For Jewish weddings, have your ketubah (marriage contract) designed by an artist instead of using a traditional document completed by the rabbi. You and your fiancé can work together to add symbols significant to your relationship. Later, you can hang the ketubah in your bedroom as a permanent reminder of the commitment you two have made.

One couple designed a travel-theme ketubah with painted images of landmarks of places they had visited together, while another incorporated meaningful quotes, colors, and symbols of their love. Be sure to display the ketubah prominently on an easel at the reception for guests to view.