This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Make Your Wedding Your Wedding

Sometimes I have trouble remembering the name of the venue where I got married. It has nothing to do with how much time has passed or the open bar at the reception. It's the fact that no matter where we had our wedding, it would have been our own, as we personalized every bit of it from the ceremony to the table décor, from the music to the guest book.

Making the right choices, on matters both big and small, can ensure that a wedding ceremony and reception can reflect and celebrate the couple and their relationship.

While I walked down the aisle, one of my oldest friends played the guitar. My husband's uncle performed our ceremony, which we wrote ourselves. My dress was a simple off-the-rack pick paired with light blue Converse sneakers, and my flower girls wore bright orange, my favorite color.

For the guest book, we had people sign small squares of colored card stock that could be easily added to the wedding scrapbook I was making. I had also made a scrapbook page in memory of my husband's mother that told guests that in lieu of favors, we had made a donation to a charity with which she was involved.

For centerpieces, we had vases with two goldfish. And we worked with the DJ to make sure all of our favorite music was included.

Michal DeMiceli, a sales director who was married at the Madison Beach Club in 2012, made sure the love of travel she shares with her husband, Joe, was on display.

"Each table was named after an international city that we had traveled together during our courtship and was marked with a photo of us in that country," she says.

"Working off of the beach theme," she says, "each table was adorned with shells from Captiva Island, Florida, a place that I had been to every year since I was a child. My grandmother spent four months collecting all of them."

Nancy Hilton and Kate Brunson, a mother and daughter who founded Maple and Mum Floral Design, get to know the couples they work with so they can create designs unique to each event.

"

We look for ways to incorporate their style beyond just sticking to their desired color scheme," says Brunson. "Talking to a recent bride, she was describing flowers she likes, and we were surprised by how many varieties she knew. We learned her mother is an avid gardener, and we suggested we source some of the wedding flowers from her garden. The bride was thrilled to have that personal connection to the flowers she'll be carrying down the aisle."

Maple and Mum used snapdragons for one bride, because that was what her grandmother carried down the aisle. Another bride requested different flowers reminiscent of the time she spent in her grandmother's garden when she was growing up. The designers have also added personal items to bouquets, such as a loved one's locket.

"We've been seeing brides incorporating their own unique style or personal history in their wedding flowers in a variety of ways," says Brunson. "A few examples are adding interesting ingredients you might not expect into an arrangement, like hops or wheat for a reception at a brewery or in-season fruits like herbs, unripened berries, or artichokes for self-proclaimed 'foodie' couples."

Some people focus on a theme that ties into how they met or something they enjoy as a couple, while others take bits and pieces from ideas they've seen. Steve and Lauren DePino, a Guilford couple, were married on April 9, 2016. As a professional wedding photographer, Steve has seen his fair share of weddings, and he and Lauren wanted to personalize every piece of their wedding. They love their hometown and wanted that reflected in their wedding day.

"We wanted to keep it all about the town and had gift baskets with things from local businesses," says Steve. "We actually asked local businesses if they wanted to donate items to our basket. We told them our story and what we wanted to do and it worked."

There were bookmarks from Breakwater Books and pencils from Page Hardware, along with many other local items.

Steve has always dreamed of getting married in an orchard, and the couple's original plan was to follow that ceremony under a big tent. Unfortunately, after researching the idea, they discovered it was actually more expensive than hosting it at a facility. They were back to the drawing board.

"We happened to be at the Marketplace [at Guilford Food Center] talking about our options," says Steve, "and our friend who runs it asked if we wanted to be their test run for their new catering venture. The place kind of picked itself. I never would've thought it was available for a wedding. A lot of locations would be open to a wedding if you ask, and it's nice that ours was in a place where we spend so much time."

Steve and Lauren worked with the staff at the Marketplace to transform it into their reception venue, creating a menu of comfort food like macaroni and cheese and pulled pork. They also purchased a variety of pies, desserts, and other items that their guests could enjoy as they pleased.

As for the ceremony, Steve's longtime dream came true as he and Lauren were married at Bishop's Orchards. Steve spent the entire winter building custom benches for the ceremony. Since they were married in early spring, the trees weren't yet in bloom, so Steve reached out to one of his friends, who is a florist.

"She redid the tree that we held the ceremony in front of to make it look like it was in bloom," says Steve. "I was probably most excited to see that because it was so visually stunning. I had always loved the idea of having something in an orchard; we both love being out there in the forest."

The couple added small, personalized touches throughout the entire wedding and reception. Since Steve and Lauren are crafty, they executed many of the ideas on their own. He hand-painted their invitations. This helped them stay within their budget, but it did take a lot of time.

"I can't tell you how many people say it was the coolest wedding they'd been to because it was so different," says Steve. "Adding that sort of personal touch helps tell a story of who you are as a couple. It wasn't all perfect, but if you have the ability to do it and you want to do it, you get something so much more personal. I don't think we could've done it any other way."