Get creative with your Save the Date cards! If you’ve decided to send a photo save the date announcement, have fun with it. Whether you hire a professional photographer or decide to have a friend take your photo, here are some unique ways to send your save the dates.

1. Great for Save the Dates or Thank You cards, this photo just requires two plain t-shirts and stick-on vinyl lettering which you can get everywhere from Office Depot to various online stores. (MarthaStewart.com)

2. Another idea is to have your photo taken during certain holidays. Dress up in costumes as a bride and a groom, or dress up your pets (costumes from Buycostumes.com) for a funny and certainly unique Save the Date Card.

3. If you are lucky enough to have your proposal on film, use it in your save the date cards as a creative way to introduce friends and family to your engagement and your upcoming wedding.

Here are a few unique cards to ask that your guests save the date!

Looking for a fun and inexpensive way to entertain your guests during lulls in the reception? Just stock your reception tables with these charming little activities that are sure to suit guests of any age!

One classic way to get your guests involved in the reception is to place disposable cameras at each table and encourage everyone to take pictures throughout the evening. Once you develop the film, you will have priceless photos of your friends and family that you can either incorporate into a scrapbook or wedding album, or slip into your thank you notes to remind everyone of all the fun they had on your big day.

Another great way to entertain your guests at their tables is with a crossword puzzle about you. Sites like CrosswordPuzzleGames.com make it easy to build your own free crossword puzzle, which you can then print and set out at each table.

You can even set out lottery tickets at each table as gifts and announce the winning numbers, or use stacks of blank stationery tied with ribbons as a way to encourage guests to write notes to neighboring tables or to the newlywed couple.

There are so many ways to add a little flair to your table settings. If you have any to share with the wedding community, let us know!

Today’s Real Wedding features the marriage of Suzy Price to Matt Marinkovich.  Suzy and Matt were married on May 10 at the Catamaran Resort & Spa in San Diego, California.  The couple have known each other since the 7th grade, and were high school sweethearts.

While their event did not center around a specific theme, the couple made sure to make one thing a priority–to make their wedding fun.

Suzy & Matt’s advice to engaged couples is to use a support system.  Suzy tells Diva Dialogue that she “wouldn’t have survived the whole thing without the support of my wedding planner, family (both sides!), and bridesmaids.”  She adds, “delegate your duties…and enjoy every moment.”

The following images were provided by photographer Sara France.

Suzy & Matt

May 2008

To submit a wedding for the Real Weddings feature, send photos and an event description to blog@weddingpaperdivas.com.

The following Real Wedding was submitted by photographer Critsey Rowe.  As you may remember, Critsey also submitted last week’s Real Weddings post.

Today’s Real Wedding couple is Colleen & Tim.  Colleen, a student, and Tim, a solider, were married in November of 2007.  Tim is currently deployed in Iraq.

In addition to the rich tones featured in the beautiful flowers and decor, we also loved the romantic photos of the couple on the Brooklyn Bridge and in Grand Central Station.

I was so sad when I learned that Polaroid was discontinuing their instant products. I have always been a fan of instant photos at weddings. I think they are especially great for creating an unique guest book. That’s why I was super excited when I recently learned that FUJIFILM also offers instant photo options. If this is something that interests you, you should check out their options.

Another recent photo find that got me really excited was the Foto Cabina instant photo booth. What a great way to give your guests a fun momentum from your event. Can’t you just imagine Grandma or Great Aunt Ida letting her hair down and taking classic candid shots? I am sure there are lots of photo booth options available but I was really impressed with Foto Cabina’s print quality and the turn around time (less than 1 minute) for my photo.