Weddingbee Blog

Programs were one of those things that I was insistent we did not need. It seemed superfluous to have one for a simple, 20-minute-tops ceremony with no special readings or rituals. People would tell me it would be nice to have something for guests to read while waiting for the ceremony to start, or to let them know who the members of the bridal party were. “Pish posh,” I’d say. “Nobody cares. It’s a hassle! We shall have no programs.”

And then I saw Mrs. Tartlet’s posts on Mr. Tarlet’s program project. And then I knew we needed programs.

Mine would look nothing like theirs. I’m just not that crafty. If I attempted, it wouldn’t look nearly as good! So I searched for something that would work with my skill set, time, and money.

I don’t know when I had the idea, but I decided to incorporate the belly bands from our invitations and the paper flowers from our hanging initial decor (more on that recently completed project soon), with a simple trifold program. I had some leftover ribbon (though I ended up needing a couple of extra spools) and plenty of paper, along with about a gajillion leftover paper flowers and a box of buttons I’d bought off Etsy back in January.

I’d initially priced a printing job that would have fallen at about a dollar a program. But then! MOH Ginger casually mentioned she had an extra printer because she’d just purchased a new one, and would I like it? Yes. Yes, I would.

I practically finished this project over the weekend, with just one more spool of ribbon and another pack of Velcro needed to complete the 10–15 more needed for our full quantity of 50. I decided on 50, even though we’re having about 60 guests (based on early RSVP estimates) because…it’s a nice round number and I felt like it.

For the belly bands, I just hot glued the ribbon to the back of the trifolded program, and made another hot glue dot to the left side of the ribbon on the front of the program. This was covered by a piece of Velcro, with the Velcro mate on the facing end of ribbon.

It was pretty simple setting these up in Word, with just three columns and a couple of purchased fonts. Funny side story: I sent Mr. Ladyfingers a proof of the programs just so he could see what they looked like, and he diplomatically said, “They’re…nice! Kind of cluttered, though. Do we need the music?” And I snapped at him and informed him EXACTLY WHY we needed every single thing on there, and what was he thinking? Duh.

And then about an hour later, he was looking at it again and said, “Why are there exclamation points in between the paragraphs there on the right?” Exclamation points? The particular font I’d used there replaced the squiggle you see with exclamation points. And it was then that I realized I’d sent him the Word version rather than the PDF. And since he didn’t have the fonts on his computer, this is what he saw:

Whoops. He liked the real one a lot better.

Ready to transport

Did you have a project you initially rejected, only to take it on later because of some random inspiration? Are you having programs at your wedding?

*All personal photos