Even in the digital age of online wedding scrapbooks, videos, and slideshows to share with the wedding party, a wedding time capsule offers another opportunity to hold onto some cherished memories in a unique way. Time capsules have long been a fun and mysterious way for kids to capture their memories and mark significant life transitions, and make a great gift or accessory to your wedding event.
You can create a wedding time capsule to treasure some small gifts you receive, accessories from your wedding outfit, and other simple tokens from the big day so you remember it ‘just as it was’ for years to come.
If you’re ready to put together something beyond the scrapbook or digital slideshow, here are eight things to include in your wedding time capsule:
1. Flyers or bulletins announcing your wedding reception. If you’ve chosen to print flyers or bulletins for guests, friends, and neighbors to remind them about the reception, include this in your wedding time capsule as a commemorative token of the event. You can also laminate this if you think it might fade over time.
2. Place cards for the bride and groom. Dinner place cards at the dining table are great accessories to include in your time capsule. Pick up those beautiful calligraphy cards and cover them with plastic sleeves for safekeeping.
3. Polaroid pictures – preferably candid shots of the big day. These are a fun and light-hearted touch to the poised photography collection you have in your scrapbook or slideshows. Snap a few of these as you both prepare for your big day, and capture a few friends and family in candid poses for a unique and comical collection of ‘wedding outtakes’ to look back on.
4. The cork from your champagne bottle. Keep track of that cork when you pop the bubbly, and hold onto it for your wedding time capsule! Both the bride and groom can sign and date it for an extra touch.
5. A note to the bride from the groom/from the bride to the groom. This can be a wish or prayer to each other that gets sealed and only opened at a future date. Use your wedding stationery, jot down a few ideas or quotes, then sign and date it before sealing the envelope tight.
6. A copy of the wedding vows. You may already have this framed separately and kept aside, but you can include a copy for the wedding time capsule as well.
7. Predictions from friends and family members. Pick 5-10 people to jot down their predictions for your life at the 5 year and 10 year mark. This can range from how many kids they think you’ll have, where you might end up living, or any other insights they want to share. When you open your time capsule, you can contact the ‘winners’ of each category!
8. A list of toasts from the wedding day. If you managed to jot down the toasts given at your wedding party and ceremonies, leave them in the time capsule to re-read them at a later date.
Putting together a wedding time capsule is a great way to preserve your memories beyond the conventional ways. You can use any secure and solid box or metal can to put together your capsule, and just store it in a safe place so you can open it together at a later date!
