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Offbeat Bride reader Alex has finally revealed to us the amazing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy programs that her husband created. Thus renewing my faith in wedding programs in general. And with that, Alex's husband may have the satisfaction with the knowledge of a job well done.
Alex's clever husband says that all he did was choose a template on Word, delete everything, choose colours that matched their wedding colours, and let his imagination run wild! All Alex did was proofread, design the wordsearch and then spend five harrowing hours printing them all out! 🙂
Plus they double as a great way to explain your offbeat wedding…
THE CEREMONY
What kind of Wedding is this?
When people get married, they usually do so in front of family and friends. They will also have it confirmed by an official organization. For a Religious Wedding this is usually represented in the form of a blessing from their chosen Deity. However, in a Civil Wedding, the (some would say even more powerful) Local Authority bears witness to the legal joining of the couple in question.
Alex and Scott have decided to make their all-powerful organization the belief system called Humanism. This wedding then, is called a Humanist Wedding. This system seems to be based on the assumption that we should all just be nice to one another. This assumption is backed up by the impressively concrete argument that, well it's nice to be nice, isn't it? The best and most wonderful thing about Humanism is you get to have a fully customizable wedding!
Feynman-style Hindu wedding program
Kiersten decided that instead of explaining their upcoming Hindu wedding ceremony to everyone who would be attending, that she would just make a very detailed... Read more
So what happens now?
The ceremony will have some familiar things in it like songs (you don't have to sing along but feel free!), readings and an exchange of vows, rings and kisses. The actual words used in the ceremony will be a bit different from what you will have heard before. This is because every word (unless otherwise stated) was put to paper (or screen at least!) by the happy couple themselves. All Alex and Scott ask of you is to sit back, enjoy and maybe even participate in their best day yet. You can make this dream a reality by joining in with the reciting of a traditional Scottish blessing, the words to which can be found on the inserted readings list. The Celebrant (the Humanist equivalent of a priest or a rabbi) will direct you as to when you should begin, should you feel the urge.
Once the Bride, Groom and Wedding Party are safely out of the hall, this would be the best time to amble or perhaps even run, upstairs to the bar for finger food and drinks!
THE REST OF THE DAY
3:30ish Afternoon drinks reception
This part of the day shall be spent, for most, up the stairs from the main hall. Finger food will be provided along with a glass of bubbly! A complimentary soft drink will be available for guests who don't or can't drink alcohol, and can be obtained from the, one hopes, friendly bar staff. Anyone wishing to catch up with the Bride and Groom, or any of the Wedding Party may be disappointed to hear that at this time the Wedding Party shall be going to Princes Street Gardens for a photo shoot lasting one hour. They should return by 5ish, so leave them some finger food! By 5:30ish most of you will be prompted to go back to the hall for the speeches, beginning at 5:40. Make sure to peruse the dinner seating plan, which will be on display throughout the afternoon to help you find the location of your table.
6:00ish Dinner is served
Yes, after the speeches you shall feast on a wonderful three-course dinner with wine and water provided at the tables. Soft drinks will also still be available free for teetotal or underage guests, behind the bar. Immediately after dinner, the Bride and Groom will ceremonially feed each other cupcakes. The floor will then be open to all who want cupcakes! They will come in three flavors, which, along with the dinner menu shall remain secret to maintain an air of suspense! Once dinner and cupcakes are in the past, you will retire back up the stairs for drinks, while the lovely clever people of The Caves turn the dining room into a dance floor!
8:00ish Evening reception
This final section of the evening will begin with Mr. and Mrs. Arnott's first dance as a married couple! Hopefully the dancing will continue until the last wave of food is served, (bacon or veggie sausage on a roll), at 9:45ish. The partying will continue until its stunning climax is reached at around 1am. Transport will unfortunately not be provided for the way home, so booking a taxi earlier in the day is advised.
Here's hoping you all have a wonderful day out to celebrate the marriage of Alex and Scott on today, October 3rd 2009.
Thanks for reading and more importantly, on behalf of the couple, thank you for coming!
The Alex-designed word search, just in case you get bored…
So long and thanks for all the fish inspiration!
This is an amazing idea. I love The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I actually thought about having my officiant hold my copy instead of a bible because its leatherbound and epic looking. =]
You totally have my permission to do this. 🙂
That is awesome.
ok, I am TOTALLY stealing that idea. genius!!! what else could we possibly swear our wedding vows over! angie, you just became a wedding-idea-goddess 🙂
This has got to be the best idea ever!! I may steal your *wonderful* idea, both my Fiance and I love everything that Douglas Adams has ever written. Kudos to you and remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery 🙂
Of course, feel free! 🙂
I’m afraid I will also have to snag this idea! My fiance and I are planning on having a reading from Hitchhiker’s as part of our ceremony…this is just too perfect a fit! 😀
Which selection? I’m so curious!!
Did they give towels as favors?
Haha, no. We actually met in a video shop, so we used stacks of videos as centrepieces, which people could take away as favours, too.
So delightful! Well thought out and designed.
Don't forget your towels!
Thank you!
Yay, thank you so much for featuring these!
Alex – may I also ask permission to use your awesome programs as inspirations for our invites? We are not having programs, per se, but we are rewarding the "yes" RSVP's with some sort of wedding day survival guide. Since our wedding is binary for 42 (101010) we have been toying with a Hitchhiker's Guide theme for the survival guide. Thanks for showing us one great way to do it!!!
"binary for 42…" ROFL! you rock my world!
I already knew this. My best friend-and bridesman-is getting married that day, and said that one of the table numbers HAS to be 42 because 101010 is binary for 42. He's also doing all table numbers having to do with math…such as 3.14, 1123581321…
Of course! You just have to, with your date!
I love this SO. HARD.
Love love love this idea.
When they send out their thank you cards after the wedding, they should thank everyone "for all the fish," haha.
Haha, too late! But a great idea, nonetheless. 🙂
Haha, too late! But a great idea, nonetheless. 🙂
lol… this is so great! love love love love!!!!! & so does the new hubby!
So cute! We did something sort of similar with the games and factoids and other fun stuff in our programs. I don't think anyone got around to looking at them though, so I was kind of bummed.
I love it! Makes me think I might actually have to design some programs myself. Maybe make them look like the programs you get at our local ren faire as a nod to the medieval clothes we and the bridal party will be wearing.
This is amazing!
That is seriously awesome!!
Wish I had done it, I got a bit of HHGTTG in my wedding though. My right has "thanks for all the fish" engraved in bad latin.
Ring. I meant Ring….
Oh, My, GOD!!!
You guys have the best Ideas!
I'm totally going to have to toss this by the future hubby, but a nice copy of the Origin of Species (he's an evolutionary biologist) and greek lettered tables (I'm in Mathematics)!!!!
And I'm going to have to go the multi-day program route for yes RSVPs: We're getting married in Glacier National Park.
I'm so excited right now.
Holy Douglas Adams!! These are amazing! That is all.
I love love love this
I love this idea so much. Do you mind if we borrow the idea of it?
This is a brilliant idea..thank you soo much..I wasn't sure if we 'needed' programs, but they do give people the heads up of whats gonna happen…and with an idea like this…who wouldn't want wedding programs…(totally stealing this idea…thanks!!!)
i think i might have to steal this idea too. i absolutely love the hitch hikers guide!!!!!
When my fiance and I got engaged, we put “DON’T PANIC” on our wedding planning binder, and we plan to give out towels as favors. SO cute! I may steal your program idea!
I laughed heartily and burst into tears after reading this entire program. My guy LOVES this movie. He forces me to watch it at least once every three months, and quotes it often. I am more a Monty Python girl myself, and was trying to incorporate both somehow into our day. KUDOS to you for coming up with this idea, and please, please, pretty please may I hack it? xo
Our theme is very set so I don’t think that I will be using this whole idea, however, I did customize my own “What kind of wedding is this?” and “So what happens now?” Because we are having a Humanist Civil Service that we wrote, with audience participation too! Thanks for the template!!!
OH! Oh I love it! It’s wonderful that these great books could be the inspiration for even for creativity and awesomeness.
This is so awesome and am completely stealing your creativity with some changes of course lol. Ours will be the guest guide to our surprise wedding. They will need instructions and are likely to panic! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Theres no way I wasn’t going to include some Douglas Adams references (yes Trillian is my real name, thank you Dad), this is an amazing way to do it. Great idea
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Weddings make me panic, even though I am very excited to marry the wonderful dude I’ve spent the past 7 years with. I think leaning into the panic through nerdy pop-culture references is clearly the way forward.
Shortly after our engagement, my FSIL made us a card with a picture of Prince Humperdinck, scowling, with a speech bubble attached that says “Man and wife! Say man and wife!” Clearly, we need to make this part of the ceremony.
Oh. Em. Gee. If I wanted programs at my wedding (which I don’t), I would TOTALLY steal these!