Wedding Program - Make It Yourself!

You can choose color and weight of paper at an office supply store. Ask for some samples. Print your program samples at home. Test the look and feel of it. Your program does not need to be expensive, but it should make you smile with joy! We kept this one very simple. Certainly you could add ribbons or other decoration.

For our daughter's wedding program shown here, I used Word for my wordprocessor. I set the layout to landscape and chose two columns, providing two half-pages. The set-up was similar to a church program, or school activities program. I created two 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of two columns. One page is the outside of the program; the second page is the inside.

When the setup and typing was done, I saved to a CD and went to an office supply store for printing. They will also fold the program for you. Ask for that service. It is well worth the time savings - and you can be sure they will be uniform in appearance.

Your cover should include:
Names of the bride and groom
Location of wedding - include address!
Date and Time

To create the monogram, I simply used the "add watermark" option for Text in Word. The Word help file says:
1. On the Format menu, point to Background, and then click Printed Watermark.
2. Do one of the following:
To insert a picture as a watermark, click Picture Watermark, and then click Select Picture. Select the picture you want, and then click Insert.
To insert a text watermark, click Text Watermark, and then select or enter the text that you want.
3. Select any additional options that you want, and then click Apply.

You can add graphics if you like. Your word processor has a number of graphics available and there are plenty of additional graphics for you to select on line.

The inside left of your program provides guests with the order of the ceremony itself. Be sure to include hymn numbers if you are using a congregational hymn. Your pastor or wedding officiant will help you with this section.

Reminder: Show composers of all music used.

Don't forget anybody! The hardest part about creating the wedding party page is being sure everyone's name is correct and that you have included everyone. This is a record of your wedding. Make sure it is as perfect as possible.

I used bold print for headings and grouped names according to type of participation.

The first item on the back page is your "thank you". This is the place to thank your parents or thank guests for attending your wedding and being a part of your special day. You can make this as long or short as you like, but again, the most important thing is that it is personal!

This is a good place to tell about special parts of the ceremony. Are you wearing your mother's dress? Are you carrying your grandmother's Bible? (Note our program - Kathy's grandmother's wedding garter was sewn into her dress, as was a special handkerchief from her aunts. Also this part of the program was the perfect time to tell guests that the wedding cake topper was from our wedding in 1964 - we recycled it!)

In our family, we always sing "Morning Has Broken" for family weddings and funerals. I included that information for our guests, so that they would understand the importance of that hymn to all of us.

If you have honors and/or memorials, this is the page to place those also.

Directions to the reception are helpful to guests. Help your guests find their way to your party!