How To Choose Creative And Functional Signs For Weddings
Planning a wedding is a complicated affair and takes a lot of time, money and effort. When the big day arrives, you want things to run as smoothly as possible – and this means making sure that everybody knows where they’re supposed to be and when they’re supposed to be there.
Most couples choose to achieve this by investing in wedding signage and, in this article, we’re talking creative and functional signs for weddings and explaining which to choose.
What are wedding signs ?
Just like road signs, wedding signs are designed to create a seamless flow on your wedding day by letting your guests know where they should be and what they should expect during the big day.
There are a number of different signs that couples can choose for their wedding day and these can be ordered relatively cheaply from sites such as Etsy and eBay (or, you can even have a go at making your own if you’re feeling creative).
Functional signs for weddings
These are the most important signs for weddings as they’re all about making sure that everybody is in the right place at the right time and, in this section, we’ll take a look at which kind of signs you might need:
Welcome sign
As the name suggests, this type of sign welcomes guests to your wedding as well as assuring them that they are in the right place. This is particularly important if your venue is a hotel or public building which may be holding more than one event on the same day.
Your welcome sign should be placed in a prominent position close to the door of the room in which your wedding ceremony will be taking place and should include the names of the couple and the date of the happy occasion.
Order of service
Another of your really important wedding signs is your order of service as this tells your guests what they should expect from the day. This sign will include the times and locations of:
- Welcome drinks
- The wedding ceremony
- Reception drinks
- The wedding breakfast
- The evening reception
This sign is a vital part of your wedding as it, in essence, provides a map of the day.
Table plan
If you are having a formal sit-down wedding breakfast as part of your celebrations then you will need a table plan. This sign is placed close to the door inside the room in which your wedding breakfast will be held and is a map showing the different tables and the names of the guests at each table.
A table plan / seating plan is important for your wedding as it prevents chaos ensuing as guests all stampede into the room, taking whichever seats take their fancy.
Creative signs for weddings
We’ve taken you through the important functional signs that you’ll need for your wedding but, in addition to these, a lot of couples also choose to include some fun and creative signs and we’re going to explore some of these in this section:
Take your pick
In most instances, couples don’t have a seating plan for their wedding ceremony (although the front rows are usually reserved for the wedding party). Because of this, many choose to install a fun sign such as the one pictured.
Entertainment
If your wedding celebrations are going to include some fun features such as a photo booth, games or dressing up boxes then you may want to create some signs to point your guests in the right direction.
Photos / social media
When you’ve spent a huge amount of time and money on your venue and your wedding attire, the last thing you want is for the first picture of the happy day to hit social media to be a blurry unflattering one. Because of this, lots of betrothed couples choose to request that guests refrain from posting their pics on social media until the happy couple has done so themselves and this can be done politely using a wedding sign.
Freebies
During the course of the day and night of your wedding, you may wish to offer your guests some items designed to increase comfort such as portable fans or flip flops for dancing. If you are not planning to announce this formally, a sign will do the job perfectly well when placed near the items on offer.
The practical stuff
If you’re ordering signs online, be sure to shop around for the best deals and always always insist on seeing a proof before the signs are shipped out to you to ensure that there are no embarrassing typos!
After the wedding
Once your wedding day is over, you may be wondering what to do with your wedding signs. You might, of course, choose to keep these as souvenirs of the day, however, this can be tricky if you don’t have a lot of storage space in your home.
An alternative is to dispose of your signs and, if you’re going for this option, you should always do so responsibly. Take your signs to your local tip or recycling facility or get in touch with your local council who may be able to do this for you.
Although you may be a little sad at letting your signs go, you’ll have photographs of these in your album.
A sign of things to come
While wedding signs do require some financial investment, they are almost always worth it in terms of providing a seamless flow to proceedings and reinforcing the structure of your day. Before ordering your signs, it’s a good idea to check with your venue in case they have any specific rules or guidelines for these. You should also check to see if any of these signs are included in the wedding package provided by your venue. Finally, you’ll need tripods on which to display your signs – in most cases, your wedding venue will be able to provide these but, if not, you can get hold of them fairly cheaply online.