I’m getting married in March and my hubby-to-be and I both used to work at our college library. He’s got an MLS and currently works at a university as a reference librarian. We’re both raging bibliophiles and we’d like to incorporate that into our wedding and reception.
We contacted the college library but they didn’t get back to us so the wedding will not be held there. We may have some pictures taken there later but the ceremony is not an option.
Any ideas would be welcomed!
Thanks!
How about using the Masterpiece Theatre theme as a processional or recessional? (My husband and I jokingly suggested that we’d do this at our wedding, but didn’t.)
I’ve read (in an Agatha Christie novel) that some brides used to carry a prayer book down the aisle, instead of a bouquet. You could carry a different book instead, or maybe attach flowers to it somehow?
My parents were married in 1944 and my mother carried a prayer book with orchids on it.
I’m a librarian but I have no ideas for a creative wedding. I used to live in Washington D.C. and attended a wedding at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Do you want a destination wedding? Perhaps the Library of Congress!
Bridesmaid outfits like stereotypical librarian wear? Glasses, hair in bun, button up shirt, knee length skirt?
Invitations/placecards that look something like library cards?
Donations to some literacy project in lieu of gifts?
Groom’s cake shaped like an old school card catalog?
party favours - books!
(This actually occurred at a wedding I attended for a book editor!)
Especially love poetry!
I didn’t think about a Groom’s Cake. It’s not a tradition here in Pittsburgh. I think he’d appreciate that.
What a great theme!
How about for the tables (I’m assuming there’s going to be a sit down meal), they are each catalogued using the Dewey Decimal Classification system, e.g.
700 - Arts and recreation
800 - Literature
900 - History & Geography, etc.
…I’ll be in my bunk.
Have a card catalog at the front of the reception hall. When the guests arrive, have them look up their names and pull their cards, which will have their information (name, relation to bride or groom, maybe a neat personal fact about them, and their seating assignment).
Book wedding cake: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4694278938_dbc5dc2843.jpg
Or a slightly more lighthearted version: http://mymrandmrs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/book-cake.jpg
Well, you ought to be reading Offbeat Bride (offbeatbride.com) for a start, as there’s tons of bookish weddings on there. There’s a tutorial for adorable book pocket card save the dates here, for example.
And you know that in Pittsburgh you aren’t allowed a groom cake because where are all those freaking cookies going to go? (What IS it with Pittsburgh weddings and cookies?)
After my wife-to-be and I saw the Woburn Public Library, we desperately wanted to get married there. It LOOKS like a church:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoS7jWkdQ21MAb6eJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dwoburn%2Bpublic%2Blibrary%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D12&w=320&h=240&imgurl=www.osmond-riba.org%2Flis%2FGraphics%2Fblog%2F2008Q3%2FWoburnPublicLibrary.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fosmond-riba.org%2Flis%2Fjournal%2F2008_09_21_j_archive.htm&size=29.8+KB&name=The+interior+of+the+Woburn+Public+Library%2C+as+taken+by+my+little+...&p=woburn+public+library&oid=e2e8a1e050ccd187d369004ede42e1d1&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=The%2Binterior%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWoburn%2BPublic%2BLibrary%252C%2Bas%2Btaken%2Bby%2Bmy%2Blittle%2B...&b=0&ni=21&no=12&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11rargpfr&sigb=13k2uifif&sigi=124bspda3&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH
Unfortunately, the logistics of getting everyone there wouldn’t have worked out. I’m not sure they’d have allowed it, but it’d be worth a shot.
Maybe some library near you would let you use it on a Sunday, or something.
Aside from that:
Books as favors/centerpieces/bridesmaids-grooms gifts
Old library cards as place-markers or notepaper
book-decorated wedding cake.
“Marian the Librarian” from The Music Man among the wedding music. And any other library-themed music you can come up with.
drunk guests propped up by giant bookends
How about a paper flower bouquet
Book stacks, for centerpiece bases, is brilliant, Ludy!
You could also do a tie in to a literacy campaign, donation for every guest sort of thing! Maybe slip a note into the book favours?
Name the tables after authors you like.
Seating arrangement via the Dewey decimal system?
Obviously the place cards should look like library cards.
The entire ceremony whispered.
Not sure about this, but I should think, 'Sssshhhh’ing would definitely be in order. Right before the ceremony, their entrance to the reception, the toasting. It’d be the joke that just keeps on giving!
Great theme for a wedding!
Zyada and I didn’t think of books as party favours! 
We did have bookmarks printed up, with names and the date in a nice Deco-ish font.
Hm! I said it two posts earlier.
I salso said the Place Tags as Library Cards there, too.
how about referring to all the guests as “patrons” ?
And if they delay notifying you of their attendance before the RSVP date, they have to pay a fine for each day late. 
