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Original Wedding Idea: Wedding Wish Tree
Many brides these days are going back to the tradition of a Wish Tree instead of the usual sign in book at their reception. The wish tree is a actually a Dutch wedding custom. It is used to shower the newly weds with the guests’ wishes and blessings. Traditionally, guests would write their wishes on a piece of paper and hand it over to the couple. The couple would read the wish and then hang them on the tree.
While we like the original idea of the wish tree we have put our own twist on if for the wedding ceremony. If you are planning to get married under a traditional huppa or arbor of some kind consider this: when mailing your initiations include a ribbon along with the RSVP cards. Ask your guests to write a wish for your marriage on this ribbon and send it back along with the card. Take the wishes that have been returned and tie them in a decorative manner along your arbor/huppa on your wedding day. Make sure to mix in a few blank ribbons to create a fuller effect. This way, when you are standing under your huppa to be married you will also be standing under the wishes of your family and loved ones.
After the wedding you can create a scrapbook with the wish ribbons. Find pictures of the guests who wrote each one and place it next to their wish in the book. We like to tell bride and grooms to take out the book and read the wishes on their one-year anniversary as a way of revisiting their vows.
Top 3 Tips:
1. We recommend using 1 ½” wide hand dyed ribbon in the colors of your wedding. You just want to make sure there is enough surface space on the card for the guest to write her message.
2. Make sure to have extra ribbon this way if guests have forgotten to mail back their ribbon in the RSVP card you can
a) have extra ribbon in their hotel rooms (if they are out of town guests) for them to write their wishes. These can be collected the morning of the event OR
b) have extra ribbon on site at the ceremony. Guests can write their wish before they take their seats you’re your coordinator or a family friend could tie these on quickly before the ceremony starts.
3. Keep it simple!
Jodi Cohen and Sarah Lowy are the masterminds behind Jowy Productions, a professional event planning company in Los Angeles, CA. During their careers in the event industry, Jodi and Sarah produced notable events all over the world including: Opening of the Atlantis Dubai Hotel and Jumeirah Island in Dubai; The opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa; Oprah Winfrey’s Legend’s Ball; Cash Money Records’ Grammy Party; Mattel’s Barbie’s 50th Anniversary/Birthday Party; Royal wedding for 2000 in Qatar; The Cove Atlantis hotel opening in Bahamas and many more.
