Wedding Wednesday: 10 Keepsake Ideas

I think as bloggers we probably all understand that innate need to record and preserve our memories. I know for me I've been writing down the mundane details of my life since I got my first journal aged seven. I'd write down stuff like: Today I ate macaroni and cheese for dinner and played outside with the cats. Riveting stuff. In high school I moved on to scrap booking (complete with a full two page spread on Leo Dicaprio, in all his Titanic and Romeo & Juliet glory), and now, as an adult, I blog. It's not that I think my life is super interesting, I just think I'll forget details I'd rather remember if I don't write them down or record them in some way. So when it comes to the wedding, I've probably spent as much energy looking at wedding keepsakes as I've spent on any of the actual planning. Of course we'll have plenty of photos and videos, and definitely a blog post or two, but since a wedding only happens once why not go all out? That's my rationale, anyway. So here you have my ten favorite wedding keepsake ideas: 

1. Custom wine box - I saw this marketed as the "first fight box", and the idea is to write each other love notes on your wedding day, seal them up in this box with a bottle of wine, and open them up when you have your first fight as a married couple. Or you could designate a specific anniversary to open them up and reminisce. I'm very nostalgic and I think love letters are romantic, plus this box has hummingbirds on it, so it was basically made with me in mind ;)

2. Wedding portrait - You all know how I love my yearly family caricatures, but this year I thought we'd switch it up and do a wedding portrait of the four of us instead. There are so many great artists out there depending on your budget and style preference.

3. Shadow box (inspiration photo) - Such a fun way to display all those little keepsakes that would normally get hidden away in a box and forgotten about.

4. Guest survey - It turns out there are a million fun versions of guest sign ins, and I've really had to reign myself in because I want to do them all. I love this survey because guests get to share a favorite memory, and how long they've known the bride and groom, as well as marital advice. Reading through everyone's notes will be a great way to keep that wedding excitement going after the big day has passed. I couldn't find anywhere to buy this printable, so I wound up making my own on PicMonkey. 

5. Photo booth (inspiration photo) - If you can fit a photo booth into your wedding budget it's just too much fun to pass up. We're also going to have a little scrap book and double print outs so that guests can leave us a copy along with a little note.

6. Wedding dress locket - This is a sweet way to keep a little piece of your dress with you after it's been safely wrapped up and stored away.

7. Embroidered bouquet necklace - I saw these necklaces long before I'd even thought about wedding planning and I immediately pinned it for later. So much thought and planning goes into picking out that perfect bouquet, and the flowers set the tone for the whole wedding, but then we brides just toss it and that's it. Oh My Heart Embroidery does an amazing job of replicating your bouquet into a little necklace.

8. Wedding cake ornament - I mentioned before that I was never that little girl planning her wedding, but I have to amend that a little, because if there's one thing that I have given some thought to, it's the cake. I mean how often in life do you get a tiered cake? So when I saw that Aberrant Ornaments makes these tiny little replica cakes I thought that was absolutely brilliant. It's definitely a splurge, but one day, just maybe, this would make an amazing Christmas gift.

9. Heart guest sign in - Since I've already got several guest sign ins I decided to pass this up, but it's just too adorable not to share.

10. Photo sign in book - If you know me at all you probably know that I'm a little obsessed with Shutterfly. I make several photo books a year for our family alone. And then I make more to give out as gifts. I decided to splurge a little and got the 10x10 book with lay flat pages using our engagement photos and making sure to leave lots of white space for guests to sign. I LOVE the way it turned out. I know a lot of people say guest sign in books just wind up getting put away and forgotten about, but I personally love going through our photo books, as does Ez, and probably Declan too one day, so I'm sure our guest book will be no different.

What are your favorite wedding keepsakes? Do you have any anniversary traditions, like re-watching your wedding video or flipping through the guestbook?