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WHY ARE PROGRAMS IMPORTANT AT YOUR WEDDING?

A wedding program is often one of the first design elements that your guests will see at your wedding ceremony and can help convey the theme, color palette, and level of formality that they should expect throughout the day or night. Many couples like to match or echo their design with invitations or other wedding day-of essentials such as place cards, menus, seating charts, and signs.

Aside from setting the aesthetic, a printed ceremony guideline is important to inform guests about the roadmap for the ceremony and the special events of the big day. Whether you’re having a civil, a religious, or an alternative ceremony, there’s a strong likelihood your wedding will be different from any event that your guests have attended before. For that reason, a schedule to orient them will help them follow the important moments. For couples hosting guests from a different faith or cultural background, it is often helpful to explain the origins or significance of certain traditions so they feel included and, more importantly, can appreciate and celebrate those moments with you.

Finally, a wedding program is one of the best keepsakes that you and your new husband or wife will take home as a memento of the events of the day. Many guests also like to take a wedding ceremony program home as a souvenir (and, for those with their own nuptials in the future, to reference any readings or music they don’t want to forget)!

WHERE TO START AND WHAT TO INCLUDE

Minted makes it easy to design a perfect chic, fun, or classic wedding program —depending on your wedding’s theme and your personal style. First things first: Begin by planning what content you would like to include for your guests. Although designing and creating your special wedding ceremony program at Minted is the fun part, it’s important to remember to include some must-have essential information about the ceremony. A standard wedding program example will include:

• The names of the couple
• The venue, date, and time of the ceremony
• The prelude and bride’s entrance music title and composer or artist
• An order of ceremony events
• Any details about any poems, songs, or readings, including readers or cantors
• The recessional music title and composer or artist

In addition to these essentials, many couples will include introductory details about the following special guests:

• The names of parents
• The wedding party members
• The officiant name
• An in-memoriam section
• A special thank you to any guests who have traveled long distances

Finally, you can use additional space to provide deeper explanations about:

• Special participation instructions
• Special cultural ceremonies or traditions
• Wedding hashtags and social media details
• The couple’s story and meaningful moments featured in the wedding

That being said, many couples will mix and match what they include based on what is most important to them. Some couples devote most of the wedding guide to thanking family and friends and listing out bridal party members — only a small portion may be devoted to the ceremony itself. This often works best if your ceremony is quite straightforward. Others use the space to refresh guests’ memories about how they met and why a certain venue or tradition might be important. Your wedding program is just that — yours. Most couples will happily deviate from a strict formula to make sure all guests feel excited and included.

After you’ve drafted the content for your wedding ceremony program, it is time to start personalizing it! Based on how much content you would like to include in your custom wedding program, you’ll probably have to narrow it down to a specific format that is offered by Minted. In general, you can fit around 100 to 150 words on the front and back of a flat program. Additionally, 75 to 100 words will fit in our folded presentation program, and 200 to 250 words are available in a minibook.

Next up, you will want to decide what style of program you would like. Start by thinking through whether you want to match your day-of stationery and signs to your initial wedding invitations or if you want something different to better match your venue. If you opt for the latter, you can narrow down your options on Minted by general destination themes, such as beach, nautical, or city skyline, or by design elements and styles like botanical, painterly, vintage, and rustic. While you’re looking at wedding program examples, we encourage you to look at our matching seating charts, menus, and place cards and/or escort cards to make sure you like the cohesive set. Most couples like to match these elements, even if they aren’t the exact same design. That way, there is a consistent look for guests throughout the day.

With Minted, personalizing your design is easy. Just click “Personalize” on a design you like, and you’ll be able to edit text boxes, select your desired colorway, and make any other special requests you may have for our experienced design team. You can choose specific colors to match other design elements of your big day or even get different text elements pressed in foil for an elevated touch. Choose gold or rose gold foil for an elegant look, or opt for a more celebratory look with silver sparkles or glittery gold.

You will be able to personalize both the front and the back of the wedding program templates, and can even add a photo to the back to show off some of the beautiful engagement photos that you didn’t use for your save the date.

After your first design is submitted, your personal Minted design associate will send you a proof for review. You’ll be able to provide unlimited rounds of feedback with your design associate until your program is ready for your wedding day.

We offer multiple shipping options, including rush and super rush print to make sure all your beautiful wedding materials and stationery arrive in time for your wedding day.

If you don’t find a wedding program design that you like in our selection on site, Minted also offers custom design services. A dedicated artist will create a design that specifically matches your vision. We can design a full end-to-end look based on your guidance. Think of us as your personal graphic designer!

When ordering, you should plan to order one program for each guest that will be in attendance plus 10 to 15 extras for keepsakes. This can be difficult as final RSVP confirmations and last-minute cancellations trickle in, but a good rule of thumb is that roughly five to six additional guests will cancel from the initial round of RSVPs. If you are planning on laying the programs on chairs at the ceremony, make sure you have one for each seat. Minted allows you to order programs in increments of 10 starting at 25. It’s always better to have too many programs rather than not enough. For eco-conscious consumers worried about the impact of printing, we offer thick recycled paper that is manufactured with wind power.

CHOOSING YOUR DESIGN

We’ve laid out the core styles in our collection below so you can start thinking through what might best suit your wedding and overall theme.

Bold and Typographical: Many brides are gravitating toward wedding ceremony programs that feature large block or hand-lettered words or phrases that nod to the wedding in a fun way, such as the couple’s initials at the top, the phrase “I do” or a large ampersand. This is a great style for modern couples in urban settings or who want to juxtapose their modern sensibility with a rural or botanical environment.

Modern: Modern themes often feature color blocking or other abstract or mosaic-like work reflective of contemporary art. These are a fun option for couples that want to buck tradition and enjoy a punchy and visually interesting contrast to a more formal venue.

Botanical: The most versatile of designs, botanical options generally feature light illustrations of florals or greenery at the top or along the border of the program. However, there is a wide variety of art styles used to depict plant life, ranging from pop art to watercolor illustrations. Botanical designs tend to be best for more traditional weddings or weddings where you are setting aside a reasonable budget for live florals. Review our complete wedding flower guide for further ideas on this theme

Vintage: Vintage programs can still be fresh, and work particularly well with venues that were built or decorated in another era. Minted offers designs that are suitable for Art Deco, Victorian pre-war, and other eras, all under this style category.

Rustic: Perfect for barn weddings or weddings set in the mountains, these wedding programs reflect the scenery of the ceremony. Many of the designs have beautiful touches like small ribbons up top, which help play to a rustic theme. These make fantastic keepsakes because they tie directly to the venue and will help keep memories fresh for your guests.

Painterly and Illustrative: This is the most versatile style as it is more a “mood” than a design option tied to a specific venue. These designs are marked by watercolor or hand-drawn elements that feel very elevated and art-forward.

All in all, your wedding will be a special day no matter which ceremony program you choose. As always, feel free to reach out to Minted through our online chat or email tools if you need a little extra assistance to get started on your wedding program design.

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