For my own wedding, Jillian created the profile of my dog, and the image of a tree.  It sounds basic, but it worked, and it was wonderful!  My dog, who I’ve written about in a previous blog, was representative of the intimacy between Brendan and myself and the “pack” that we’ve begun developing.  The tree was representative both of the setting of the wedding (Harvard, Massachusetts), and of the season in which it took place (fall).  These images/motifs were everywhere in the paperwork of my wedding, from the stamps on the invitations to the cocktail napkins at the bar.

A great way to try out a motif on your guests is by personalizing your save-the-date stamps to see how they react.  Whether people are traveling a great distance to watch your nuptials, or they’ve spent a pretty penny on your Cuisinart, they like to see that you’ve put a lot of thought in to your event.  And although your wedding is not a theme party, per say, motifs and themes show an attention to detail, and a thought-out plan about what your day will look like.  This makes people feel comfortable.  Believe me, people will forget that your veil fell off, or that a hurricane took over your ceremony, if they’re presented with recurring images throughout the wedding event.  It seems silly, but I do think that people associate an attention to detail with a more comprehensive thought process about getting married.  And although it is nice to be the center of attention for a day, it’s also nice for guests to have other images to focus on: “Oh look, there’s that damn dog again on my menu,” or, “Yeah, look at all these trees; we must be in the right place.”  

Megan