While wedding program fans can be specially ordered, they are also a fun and easy craft that the wedding party can enjoy putting together to save your budget. The raw ingredients are a good card stock, tongue depressors or popsicle sticks, and decorative ribbon. But the decorating possibilities don't stop here, and may include ink stamps, pressed flowers, confetti -- you name it. Sometimes the card stock itself can be bought with some of these ingredients built in.
The printing of the programs is most efficiently done on your home computer, experimenting with fonts, colors, and design. Check out WeddingClipArt.com for high-quality downloadable wedding clip art to compliment your programs. Consider your wedding colors, theme, and overall design: is it minimal and elegant, or whimsical and fabulous? Remember that these programs are going to have a longer lifespan than most, so they might as well be distinctive.
The text printed on your wedding-program fan examples will include four essential parts:
- The welcome and introduction; include any musical interludes.
- The speakers or spiritual blessings.
- The exchange of vows and rings.
- The final blessing, including any traditions you may be observing.
- A formal listing of the bridal party.
- A "Thank You" and acknowledgements.
- An explanation of ceremony traditions for guests of different faiths.
Most wedding programs have the ceremony text on one or two pages, which for our purposes can be converted to two columns on one wider page. This will be seen on one side of your wedding program fan. Before you print your wedding program fan examples, make sure your text format works with the shape fan you've chosen.
Once the wedding program fan examples are printed, cut them carefully into that shape. This may be as simple as rounding the corners, or you may prefer a traditional fan design or perhaps a heart. Cut the cover and the inside page together so the shapes match. Then glue the two pieces back to back with the top of the stick handle in between. Viewing the cover as the front side of the fan and the text as the back, finish with your decorative ribbon, and voila!
Is your program too long to fit on one side of the fan? If so, you will want to use the collapsible fan design for your paper fan crafts. For this you will need at least five card-stock panels in thin, conical shapes. (Panel length should be the height of the fan; top width should be at least 2-1/2 inches for a five-panel fan.) If you have only three pages of print, make alternate pages a complementary solid color. Print and cut each panel to match, then stack them in order. Punch a hole through the program at the point of the fan and secure with a braid. The pages of your custom wedding program fan should spread consecutively from cover to back.
With these smart and pretty favors, you will save yourself a few of your wedding hostess worries, and have happy guests before, during, and after your summer wedding.