If you didn't know any better, you'd be using your pre-wedding shots as a montage for your wedding reception presentation. You'd also probably have them bound in a photo album so your guests can have a look at the pretty pictures you've taken. And after your wedding you'd have your picture album compiled and uploaded on Picasa, Flickr, or on Facebook for everyone to see. Why not try something different?

Your wedding photos don't have to be restricted to the few and typical options. Here are some ideas of how you can include your photographs to other parts of your big day:

1. Be The Centrepiece



Who needs expensive flowers anyway? You can create a photographic centrepiece of pictures of you and your spouse when you were dating, all the way up to the wedding. You can purchase or DIY your own photo frames, cubes, or clips! Your pictures will definitely be a conversation starter.

2. Be The Favours



You can print your photos onto cookies, or chocolates and let your guests have a bite off your face! Or if you find that repulsive, you can present your guests with photo frames with your pictures in them. Your guests may pick out your pictures to put their own in, but that's fine. Chances are they'll stash your photograph somewhere and when they resurface, they will recount your memorable wedding and favor.

3. Everybody's A Star

Let your guests feel like stars. Instead of having most of the lenses on you, there are a few ways of entertaining your guests and giving them a thoughtful gift to take home.


a. Hollywood Red Carpet - you can create a Hollywood-style red carpet where all your guests can get their photographs taken. When their pictures are taken you can have them Photoshopped onto a gossip magazine cover template and have them printed on the spot.


b. Photobooth - You can create a photobooth for your guests to snap pictures of themselves. If you don't or cannot find a proper booth, you can always create a backdrop and get a photographer to take pictures of your guests and print them out for the guests to take home.


c. Paparazzi - You can get your photographer to snap many shots of your guests and compile the pictures into a society magazine format. Of course if you have the $$$ for it, you can print them all out so it looks like a society newspaper. Otherwise you can always put it up online for everyone to see.


d. Photo Shoot - Your guests become models in front of one of your backdrops. It can be a funny backdrop, or it can be a design which both you and your spouse like. Your guests can get their pictures taken during cocktail hour or after the wedding, and if you like, they can get a copy printed to take home, or you can upload the pictures online, after the wedding!

4. Use Photographs As Video Entertainment



Apart from streaming your wedding and pre-wedding photographs as entertainment while guests tuck in to their meals, upload and present a picture slideshow or videos of your guests at the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour. That will give the guests something to talk about during the dinner.

5. Turn Your Albums Into Books



Instead of having the usual cardboard photo album pages, opt for a coffee-table book version of your wedding album. It's absolutely presentable and you can print smaller or thinner versions for your family and close friends who want to have a copy.

It will definitely feel as if you're publishing your very own wedding book, and if you want a written story/narration, you can get someone with good writing skills to add beautiful notes and captions to your wedding book. You can also pen down names of your guests and if you like, bring out the book so your guests can sign them on one of your anniversaries!

6. Preserving Your Photographs



Enlarging some final prints on museum-quality, fiber-based, silver paper will definitely be worth the purchase down the road when your precious memories are still intact. "A photograph on this paper could last for several hundred years," says Jen Kroll, a photographer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When archiving your photos and negatives, choose acid-free boxes, negative-sleeves, and binders. They're pricey, but the absence of acid prevents your photos from yellowing or deteriorating.