Best ideas for wedding gadgets
19 January, 2023
Weddings are all about giving and receiving. Love is in the air, spread all over your guests by vows, promises, sentimental songs, bride and groom’s gaze.
Guests are there for you, to celebrate your special day with you, but we all know that the leadup the wedding is a busy time, and there’s often not enough time or chances, to greet your guests before or during the nuptials (sometimes is all about a hasty “hi”, and newlyweds fly away in a blink of an eye).
That said, there are several ways to make guests feel at home. Often, a special “wedding bag” or “gift” for guests, is the most special way to thank them for their attendance at the wedding.
Wedding gift can be funny, useful, just for the wedding or something that guests will bring with them and that will always let them remember that day. It’s not just a “party favor”, it’s something more.
Here you can find some of the best ideas we were lucky enough to see during the wedding we performed at, and some ideas we heard about and we for sure can’t wait to see in the future - maybe while playing at YOUR wedding ;)
We can categorize them in:
SEASONAL
If you’re planning to get married during a sunny, summer day in Tuscany, you may want your guests to enjoy that day without worries and inconveniences. So why don't you think about a special seat marker made with sunglasses, paper umbrellas (if it’s an open-air wedding) or colorful fans (to defeat the heat)?
Or maybe a straw hat (for him, more classical, and for her, with a nice ribbon on it) or a more structured “summer wedding kit”, with mosquito repellent, wet wipes, maybe a tiny deodorant, and some tissues (for both tears of joy and sweat). Every item can be customized with a logo or the initials/names of the happy couple.
And when the sun goes down, and the air starts chilling, there’s nothing better than a good pashmina, especially if your wedding party is set in the countryside.
KIDS
We all know that weddings are not the easiest experience for kids (and families with kids too). Kids often get bored, tired, unsettled, and parents can’t really enjoy the wedding either. So it might be a good idea to offer kids (and parents) a “wedding survival kit”, with a coloring book, face masks (the carnival type), balloons, temporary tattoos/watercolor tattoos for kids, and an activity book with reusable sticker pads. Kids are smart, and if there’s more than one kid at the party, they for sure would start playing together. But giving them some options is a good trick!
WEDDING GREETINGS
The wedding ceremony is over, all the guests are out the ceremony venue (church, city hall, dedicated venue, and so on) waiting for the new couple, and here comes the rice. No, no more rice (it’s bad for birds, it’s bad for nature, it’s a waste of food): let’s talk about “confetti” - colored, funny (and not toxic), small paper disk of joy, that both adults and kids will always love to throw in the air (and to the happy couple).
If you’re worried about the environment (or you’re been banned from making waste), you might want to use wedding (soap) bubbles or dried and/or fresh flowers. Whatever you choose, your guests will love greeting you at the end of the ceremony.
PARTY HARD
Love is the best medicine, but after a crazy night, we often forget about this truth. And here comes a nice, funny idea for your guests. If your families and friends like to party hard, or they simply are open-minded and playful people, you can set a “hangover kit” (might be a paper bag, a tote bag, or a nice, decorated box), fulfilled with tissues, chewing gum, sunglasses or panstick, a small bottle of water and a bunch of painkillers or plasters. They will thank you while recovering, and if you customize items, it will be an unforgettable memory (even if they drank too much).
But, there’s no wedding without dancing. And especially for women, with their nice dresses and heels, it’s a challenge to last on the dancefloor till the end. But here’s a gadget that will help all your guests enjoying the party at the very best: a wall of (customized or not) slippers (or ballerina flats AND slippers) to give your guests both an effective gift and something useful to enjoy the party. You can also consider making the “shoes wall”, so that you can hang up your shoes while taking some “dancing” slippers.
Another nice idea, that might also put a specific wedding moment under a “special light”, is giving your guests some sparkles, and turning them on during the wedding cake cutting moment. It will add a special hint, a sparkle of joy to both the newlyweds and the guests.
SMART WEDDING
In the modern era, we can barely survive without smartphones. A wedding is that occasion where all the guests start taking photos with the couple, with friends, new people, the food, to decorations, during the first dance, while drinking, the wedding cake… photo moments will drive everyone crazy! And the phone battery will fastly die. But, with the battery charger panel, you will save your guests’ lives, giving some extra energy to their devices. And to satisfy their photo craving, while their phone will be back to life, you can set a polaroid spot, where guests can take instant photos and leave a dedication, a quote, a special thought to the couple. It might also be nice to create a special frame, or box, where you collect all the polaroids together.
MORE IDEAS…
We are now at the miscellany, where we collect a bunch of ideas for gifts that are not so strictly linked to any of the above categories. A nice gift, especially if your wedding is set in the South of Italy (but any region of Italy is fine for these ideas), might be a couple of small bottles of extra virgin olive oil and limoncello (or nocino, or mirto, or amaro, or grappa...it’s up to you). It will be a special memory and a tasty gift for anyone.
If you’re a more pragmatic person and want to give your guests both a memory and something useful in case of needing during the venue, you can go for a mini stain remover, or a mini sewing set and a bottle of extra-strong glue (for the heels).
There’s a world of possibilities, a sea of ideas, but the most important things for your guests will be the joy in your eyes while pronouncing “I DO”, the greetings, clapping of hands, yelling of families and friends after the wedding ceremony, and all the love spread away.