25 Ways to Upgrade Your DIY Wedding Programs

March 08, 2012

These ideas will add a personal touch to your big day and are a cinch to pull together.

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With these easy ideas for sprucing up your wedding programs, you can add a special detail to your ceremony on your own or at the last minute—and help all your guests delight in following the order of events from the very sweet beginning to the very sweet end.

Confetti Pocket Programs

Rather than handing out a separate something to toss for the recessional, attach glassine envelopes of paper confetti to your programs with double-sided tape. 

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Motif Wedding Program Labels

Emily Roemer

The tiniest things can make the biggest impression. Case in point: our compass-, tree-, and flourish-adorned program covers. Just add your names and wedding date to our template (we used a sans serif font), print on letter-size paper or stock, fold, and bind with string.

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Luggage Tag Programs

For a couple that travels, a booklet resembling a bundle of luggage tags is an inspired choice.

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Envelope-Inspired Programs

These programs feel like personal letters to your guests. For each, cut a strip of card stock, trim the corners of one end into a point, and fold ends inward to overlap. Stitch computer-printed pages on a sewing machine, and seal with a sticker; we used a tree image that we printed on sticker paper.

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Binded Programs

Make These Classic Ceremony Program Covers

To make these program covers, type in your wedding date on our free template, print on letter-size paper or card stock, fold in half, and bind with rayon cords.

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Felt Pouch Programs

Make These Warm and Fuzzy Program Pockets

Why not give programs their own toasty wraps? Felt pouches bring a warm touch and bursts of color to the ceremony and make pretty mementos for guests.

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Origami Programs

THUSS+FARRELL
Make These Fold-and-Tie Origami Ceremony Programs

Delight your wedding guests with these string-tied origami programs, whose corners unfold to reveal all the need-to-know info. 

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Stitched Programs

Bryan Gardner

You don't have to be a master seamstress to pull off these program covers. Simply slip your paper pages into a folded piece of faux suede, and then bind near the fold by running the whole shebang through a sewing machine. 

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Poem Programs

Krause, Johansen

Branch out beyond typical wedding programs by adding a touch of fun and whimsy to them. "What Tree Did You Fall From?," a Celtic version of astrology, is the perfect distraction for those awaiting the Wedding March.

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Laced Programs

Make These Ribbon Program Booklets

A lot can be held together with two ribbons tied into bows.

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Tissue Holder Program

Guests prone to waterworks at weddings could use one of these: a ceremony program that doubles as a tissue holder.

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Accordion Programs

Divide your program into four sections with this accordion fold.

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Custom Stamped Program

Get a custom stamp made for the cover of your program and stamp it on paper (in this case, we used wooden sheets).

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Beribboned Programs

Use a wide ribbon, cut your paper to fit, and glue the pieces together along the top inside edge to create this ceremony program upgrade.

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Pamphlet Programs

An everyday supply turns loose pieces of paper into a polished pamphlet. To replicate this one, print your information on rectangles, then cut the corners to look like tags. Select various shades of the same color paper for an ombré effect, and use heavier card stock for the cover. Stack, punch a hole, and insert the brad fastener.

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Bowed Programs

Matthew Day

To make these programs (one letter-size sheet yields two programs), arrange your text horizontally on the page in landscape mode over four columns. Cut the sheet in half, wrap a 10-by-7/8-inch band around the center, and tape in back. Bend the ends of each program toward the center and tuck them under the band, making sure they overlap slightly.

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Pocketed Programs

Make These Program Pockets

Set the tone right from the start by greeting guests at the ceremony with colorful programs suspended from every seat.

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Tri-Fold Programs

This classic program features letterpress text on textured paper. Slip on a bellyband for a finishing touch.

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Sewn Booklet Program

This ceremony program is easy to make if you start by purchasing a booklet that is preassembled but not bound (ours is made of a vellum cover over green paper, with white pages inside). Print your text on the pages, then secure the book, as well as a card printed with the names of the bride and groom, using a sewing machine's zigzag stitch.

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Fabric Programs

Thayer Allyson Gowdy

For this ceremony program, cut fabric into an 8 1/2-by-11-inch rectangle, fold it over a booklet of paper the same size, and staple the spine. 

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Accordion Booklet Programs

For this mini program, six pages of text are printed on a single strip of paper, which is then folded in an accordion fashion.

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Polished Programs

Wide moiré taffeta ribbon becomes a shimmering jacket for a wedding program. A narrow brown ribbon tied in a simple bow holds the finished booklet closed.

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Confetti Toss Program

Bryan Gardner

Make it easier for attendees to shower you with extra love after the I do's by incorporating the confetti right into the notes. Gather up punched holes of paper, fold the program, stash the bits on a glassine envelope, and staple the pack to the bottom of the page. 

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Tissue Packet Program

Bryan Gardner

Fold a program over a mini tissue pack ($0.50, USImprints.com). Tie it with colored twine to make it as pretty as it is practical.

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Water Bottle Program Label

Bryan Gardner

Outdoor celebrations call for a bottle of cool H2O. Curl a strip of vellum around the glass and attached it with a single glue dot so it's easy to remove. Invitees will stay hydrated through "You may now kiss ... " 

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