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!

Right now, Brides.com has an amazing collection of wedding dresses featured in a way that makes it easy to decide what type of bride you are. Simply choose from among “Modern,” “Romantic” or “Glamorous” to see a stunning selection of dresses to match your style. You can even research hairstyles, jewelry and flowers to match your style as well.

If you are looking for elegant wedding stationery to match your signature look, try pairing these designs from Wedding Paper Divas with the style you choose:

Modern:

Romantic:

Glamorous:

Used for practical purposes in Medieval times, chandeliers have taken on a whole new meaning as a popular decorative piece. Most recently, as Diva blogger Lea has previously mentioned, chandeliers have also invaded the wedding scene and has become in its own right a sole wedding theme. Not only decorating and adding glamour and beauty to historical mansions like my wedding site seen in the picture below, but chandeliers are now being moved outdoors for a look that is simply to die for.

Chandeliers bring a feeling of grandiosity and luxury to any room and because of this they are also finding its way onto wedding stationery. If you love the look of chandeliers and want to add this to your wedding, take a look at Wedding Paper Divas’s glamorous Chandelier Rehearsal Dinner Invitations in Almond. They can be easily made into Wedding Invitations.

Gone are the cotton candy pink chiffon weddings of yesteryears. Pink is all grown up. Dress pink with black and you get a look that is modern and classy. Take a peek at the pink and black combo I fell in love with at a wedding event recently.

Here is our take on this contemporary combo.

I love how couples are interweaving special cultural customs into their wedding. Whether it’s through stationery or in their ceremony or reception activities, I think that adding personal, meaningful traditions can set your wedding apart from the rest.

Dynamic couples may add a traditional Chinese lion dance to add a bit of excitement and luck to their wedding. Can you imagine the vibrant colors, festive costumes, and how beautiful and fun the pictures will be? In following with this theme, another couple used the opportunity to incorporate their Chinese tradition by giving out lottery tickets in red envelopes as favors. This is relatively inexpensive and will leave guests with a little bit of luck and excitement even after they leave your wedding.

In Hawaii, a lot of Japanese couples work together to fold 1,001 paper cranes that will be displayed on their wedding day. Sometimes the cranes are hung up or put together to create a design that is mounted and framed. It makes a beautiful artistic piece to bring luck and happiness to the marriage and is a great way to share your culture with others.

You can also add cultural motifs or designs that have special meaning to you and your fiance in your stationery. Here’s a Double Happiness invitation from the Wedding Paper Divas line.

In honor of Wedding Paper Divas’s newest luxury letterpress line, I decided to devote an entire entry about letterpress printing. What is letterpress? If you are not planning a wedding, it’s possible that this word is not a part of your regular vocabulary.

Letterpress is a type of printing used hundreds of years ago that involves the pressing of movable type onto paper creating an impression of the image in reverse. This is how you get that great textured look and depth characteristic of letterpress invitations.

Chinese woodblock printing started as early as 750 AD with well-known printer Johannes Gutenberg being cited as the inventor of movable print in the 1400’s. This was originally created as a faster alternative to hand written calligraphy.

What was once a fading art for hobbyists has now emerged into a cultural revival. One place where you will see letterpress printing as popular as ever is in wedding invitations. Because of its beautiful, rich look, it’s obvious that this type of printing will remain in style and continue to capture the hearts and attention of couples for a long time.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterpress

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of our exclusive Letterpress Collection and partnership with stationer William Arthur. Our new line of stationery expands our product line to include more luxury stationery options and the ability to continuously provide you with the superior quality craftsmanship that you expect from us. Now, your invitation options are expanded as you can order complete wedding suites or individual wedding stationery pieces from either our Wedding Paper Divas Signature Line or Letterpress Collection.

The Wedding Paper Divas Letterpress Collection represents the marriage of contemporary designs, state-of-the-art technology and personalization tools, and outstanding customer service with the most traditional printing method available. Our exclusive Letterpress designs will only be available on the Wedding Paper Divas, and each order placed will be printed by William Arthur on their fine signature papers.

To view our new line, click here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it will be like to have a new last name. It’s so weird and something many of my girlfriends went giddy over while they were all engaged. I didn’t agonize over hyphenating it or not changing it at all. My full name is so long that adding another thing to it would be excruciating. And leaving my maiden name was never really an option for me. I wanted to change it as a kind of ritual. Anyway, I’ve been web surfing reading about all the things you have to do to go through this process. One thing I remember reading somewhere was that it is important to do all of your name changes on important stuff like your ID and passport before your honeymoon bound. With all the restrictions at airports these days, your vacation will end a lot sooner than you think if you don’t have the appropriate identification. It is another thing I need to think about in the midst of all the wedding planning. But good to know that there are kits you can buy to help you make all the necessary changes. Before I got that far, I realized suddenly that I really need to embrace my name as it is. Soon I will have a whole new name all together. It seems so strange to suddenly have that changed after it has been part of my identity my whole life. Then I realized how important my save the dates and wedding invitations are. I get to see my full name, maiden name and all, in fancy font and in print. That’s something I can treasure forever!

I’m fortunate to have had two bridal showers, one with friends and the other for my fiancé and me with family. It was touching to see the effort displayed by all the people I loved-the handmade favors, the decorations, and the sweet gifts. One of my friends brought a miniature Christmas tree and had everyone write their advice and wishes for me on white cards with tiny ornament bulbs attached.

The creativity and the thoughtfulness wowed me and brought tears to my eyes. Although I never really enjoy being the center of attention, I admit that it was nice to feel so loved. When I look back on those two events now, what really strikes me is the details that made the event come together. My cousin decorated my shower with red and pink streamers and kitchen supplies, and friends each brought their own favors and games to the party. I think that these little touches really made me feel special. When I look at all the bridal shower and bachelorette party invitations it brings back great memories of my showers.

If you have a friend in mind who’s getting married soon, make party invitations part of the theme. It’s a great way to help make the bride-to-be feel like a queen! The Hearts bridal shower invitation in Lime is so timely with Valentine’s Day coming up and reminds me of falling in love. You know when you can’t stop thinking of that certain someone and find yourself doodling hearts nonstop? The Martini bachelorette party invitations are perfect for girl’s night out. I wish I saw them before my friend got married. They’re so ultra-hip and so “Sex in the City!” And if you really want to keep with the theme, get some great matching shower favors. My friends were so sweet to spend the time to make my favors. But for those of you who can’t, matching mint tins are really cute way to add something extra to the shower.

Have you chosen your wedding site yet? Like the color theme question, it was a difficult decision and may have been the most challenging to make. There are so many things to think about when choosing the right site such as how many guests you will have, how formal or casual you want your wedding to be, and of course cost. I know a lot of brides who were heartbroken because their guest list was too large for a lot of really cool sites. Though my guest list is small, it was still difficult to find a venue that I felt was unique.

My fiancé and I were on a desperate hunt for the perfect place. Every weekend it was an exhausting race from hotels to wineries to parks and gardens but either the cost was way over our budget or it just didn’t feel right to me. I really wanted a site that was spectacular especially since my family is traveling far to get here. Fortunately after a month of searching, I finally found the place I was looking for. I walked into a historical site in San Francisco and fell in love! I was thinking about what made it so perfect to me. And realized that similar to the Wedding Paper Divas wedding collection, it is traditional, but was updated with details and fixtures to create a look that is very hip and modern. There are a few wedding invitations that I think really exemplify this. The Modern Toile invitation takes a traditional toile design and recreates the look with fun, hip colors.

Modern Toile

And the Simple Monogram wedding invitation is simple and casual while using traditional monograms.

Simple Monogram