1) Design your own centerpieces using  things you love. Bookworms, for example, can tie ribbons around stacks of old tomes. If you’re a gardener, decorate with the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor.

2) Bottle your own wedding-day wine or brew up a special beer—complete with romantic custom labels—to serve at the reception or give as gifts. Two local places to try: Vintner’s Cellar Custom Winery of Greater Sacramento (985cork.com) and Brew It Up! (brewitup.com).

3) A disco ball says John Travolta, but a Gobo spotlight projecting the bride’s and groom’s names or initials onto the dance floor says you. Any event planner or DJ who specializes in weddings can hook you up.

4) Nowhere is it written that your bouquet must contain flowers. If a nosegay made of Christmas ornaments or salvaged metal is more “you,” by all means, go for it.

5) Brand your wedding with a logo or monogrammed initials that show up on everything from the invitations to the napkins and favors. To keep costs down, try doing most of it yourself. “Now with the Internet and graphic capabilities, you can personalize anything on your home computer, from save-the-dates to menu cards,” says Amber Novey of Platinum Planning in Sacramento.

6) If you’re not a particularly churchy couple, don’t feel pressured to exchange vows at the altar. One couple from Illinois said “I do” at a Taco Bell because they shared a love of cheap faux-Mexican fare. You needn’t think that far outside the bun, but do consider marrying at a venue that holds significance for you. The vineyard where he popped the cork, and then the question, perhaps?

7) Engraved invitations are appropriate for an elegant wedding, but if it’s rock climbing you plan to do, feel free to solicit your RSVPs creatively. “For a destination wedding I was invited to at Tahoe, I received a box that had a survival kit in it,” recalls Carmichael-based event planner Joe Wilson of Joe Wilson Presents. “Along with the invitation itself were ChapStick, a compass, a bandana, a map of the area—everything a Boy Scout might have to be prepared.”

8) Create your own wedding website (or hire someone to do it for you). Include photos of you and your spouse-to-be, the story of how you met, lodging information and directions for out-of-town guests. Blog about the state of your nerves or the fact that you can’t decide whether to wear your hair up or down. Your online presence will keep friends  and relatives in the loop and build excitement for the big day.

9) Pick wedding colors that mean something to you both. Many a local couple has chosen purple and black to signal their allegiance to the Sacramento Kings.
 

10) Share an indispensable part of your life with your guests. Local wedding planner Lora Ward worked with one couple, a pair of coffee addicts, who did just that: “These people, you would never see them without a coffee cup in their hand. [At their reception], there was the aroma of coffee beans in the room. We had coffee beans in vases and scattered in designs on the tables. People walked in and said, ‘Are we in their house?’”

11) If you met on a blind date, make “blind” seating arrangements.

12) Serve wines from the year each of you were born or the year you met. For a less costly option, select vintages from the year you met.

13) Research customs from your country of ancestry to incorporate into the festivities. One Irish custom, for example, is for the bride to carry a “magic” handkerchief. It can later be turned into a bonnet for the couple’s first baby with a few stitches.

14) Include an “About the Wedding Party” section in your program. Not all of your guests will know that Pam is your soul sister in all things Elvis, or that Steve bunked with the groom at Scout camp when they were 10.

15) Order personalized photo stamps online. The image can be of anything that captures your fancy—an engagement photo, perhaps, or a graphic that corresponds with your wedding theme. To find out more, go to stamps.com and click on the PhotoStamps section.

16) If you and your sweetheart share the same occupation, make that your wedding theme. A firefighter wedding, for example, can really sizzle with your friend’s Dalmatian as ring bearer and an engraved axe for the cake cutting. Don’t forget to play Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

17) Food stations, rather than the traditional buffet table, are a great way to personalize your reception dinner. “They can be thematic of the couple’s interest,” Ward says. “Say you love traveling. You could have a South Sea Islands station, a Mexican station, and an American meat and potatoes station.”

18) Turn your guestbook into a showpiece and a keepsake with the help of a custom designer. At PersonalizeYourWedding.com, choose from several styles, colors, and sizes of books, and include your own photos, inspirational messages and poetry.

19) Who says your guestbook has to be a book? For example, if you and your honey like to ride the waves, prop up a surfboard and let guests scribble away. Ward recalls one groom who played in a band and was crazy about the guitar. She says, “He bought a special guitar to use as their guestbook, and people wrote on the guitar. It was an electric guitar—all white.”

20) Use personalized M&M’s to decorate with or give as gifts. At mymms.com, choose from 22 colors and include your names, initials, or photos plus a sweet message like, “Meant to Be.”

21) Don’t number the reception tables—name them after your favorite date places, pets, travel destinations, movies, songs, and the like.

22) Inject your personal style into your ensemble with a favorite pair of cowboy boots or funky tennis shoes.

23) Choose your getaway vehicle to complement your personalities and the overall theme and mood of the wedding. A fun-loving couple with a boisterous wedding party fit well with a Humvee limo; a sedate, elegant wedding calls for vintage or antique, like a white 1963 Rolls Royce. If neither of those appeal to you, bid adieu on a tandem bike, a golf cart or a boat. Try Antique Limousine Company for a classic rental.

24) Write a letter to your parents and have it waiting at their seats during the ceremony. It could be about anything: what stellar role models they’ve been for marriage, how grateful you are for everything they’ve done for you. Write your future in-laws, too. Express what a wonderful job they’ve done raising your spouse-to-be and how much you look forward to being part of their family.

25) During the Victorian era, flowers replaced words in the language of relationships. For example, lavender represented constancy; chrysanthemum, great friendship; dahlia, good taste; and white jasmine, cheerfulness. For a special touch, research each flower’s meaning, then present each of your bridesmaids with a single bloom and a note telling why you chose that particular flower for her.

26) Get a caricature artist to create a humorous picture of you and your betrothed to include on the invitations.

27) For the eco-minded couple, “green” up your wedding. Minimize the amount of driving guests have to do, donate leftover food, and print your invitations on 100 percent recycled paper. More eco-friendly wedding ideas are available at greatgreenwedding.com.

28) Leave a blank note beside each guest’s plate so they can offer advice and write their well-wishes to you as a couple.

29) Pick an unconventional ceremony start time, like 4:23—the exact minute he proposed.

30) For friends and family members who are gone but not forgotten, or are physically unable to attend the wedding, wear something of theirs to make you feel closer to them. Your grandmother’s brooch, your uncle’s handkerchief—anything can be pinned to your clothing, tied to your bouquet, or otherwise carried.

31) Ask your parents and grandparents about their own wedding traditions, and steal as many as you can.

32) Get creative with your registry. If you love home entertaining, sign up for a Wii or a collection of DVDs. Or, to hop on the latest fad, register for honeymoon activities such as a couple’s massage, a hot-air balloon ride, or a candlelit dinner on the beach. (A good website to try: distinctivehoneymoons.com.)

33) Write your own vows. But be sure to check with your officiant first to make sure it’s OK.

34) Make your ring bearer’s pillow with material from your mother’s wedding dress.

35) Include conversation cards that pose questions about the bride and groom at each place setting. This is a great icebreaker for guests who don’t know one another. 

36) Have your DJ or live band play songs that were popular when you and your sweetheart were growing up.

37) Put your reception on ice, literally. The Party Concierge, Inc. in Sacramento can create made-to-order ice sculptures of just about anything, including centerpieces, serving pieces, even 8-foot long, 2,500-pound full-service bars that can be monogrammed with your initials. (Don’t worry—they take 24 to 48 hours to melt.)

38) Create a song with customized lyrics that tell “your story” to be played at the wedding dance. Enlist the help of a musician friend or customweddingsongs.com if you’re not up to the task yourselves.

39) For a more intimate wedding—or if you’re feeling really ambitious—include a handwritten personal note beside each guest’s place setting. Tell each person how much he or she means to you, mention a special memory the two of you have shared, and thank them for coming. Wedding planner Michaela Rodgers of Plush Weddings says this is a sure-fire way to get the mascara running.

40) Create a signature drink or drinks and name them after yourselves or your favorite places or things. Check out stirrings.com to find drinks that match your wedding’s theme and colors. You can even use the site to print custom labels and drink menus.

41) Theme weddings, which have become popular in recent years, are limited only by your imagination. Western, beach, butterflies, medieval, Harley Davidson—any of these can be the focal point of your celebration from start to finish, and there are plenty of specialty websites and event planners to help you out.

42) Place blown-up photos of yourselves at a younger age (or, if you were high school sweethearts, of your prom picture) at the entrance to the reception. It’ll prompt fond memories of way back when.

43) Set your gift table or sweetheart table with prized family linens.

44) Excerpt romantic notes you and your partner have written to each other to include in the wedding program.

45) Burn a CD for each guest with the music played during the ceremony and dancing. It’ll bring back fond memories each time they listen.

46) You don’t have to let them eat cake if you gag at the thought of the stuff. Substitute the traditional tiered confection with pies or brownies.

47) Rent a photo booth to get great snapshots of all your guests. Put the pictures in a special scrapbook or give them as favors.

48) Incorporate a family dish into the meal and give out the recipe as favors.

49) Add your favorite dishes to the menu. If you love cheeseburgers, serve mini cheeseburgers during cocktail hour. If your fiancé is nuts about chocolate-chip cookies, serve them with milk for a midnight snack. D

50) In these tough economic times, videography is often the first casualty, according to Rodgers of Plush Weddings. In lieu of a guestbook, set up an area, maybe a bench with a fun backdrop, where guests can take turns leaving their audio and visual signatures.