Eventually, if you’ve planned your fall wedding right, there will come a time when all the big tasks have been taken care of and there’s nothing left to do but wait until the big day. So what the heck are you supposed to do to calm your nerves and keep busy in the meantime?

Here are four quick wedding to do’s to channel your energy productively and get a few more small things done for your upcoming nuptials.

1. Brainstorm a wedding hashtag

Personalized wedding hashtags, even ironic ones, are all the rage in the age of social media. It’s not just about bragging online once the photos come back from the photographer – it’s about compiling all the digital memories made by family and friends in real time under one unique, searchable title.

Will you go with a marital wordplay or a portmanteau of your first or last names? Whatever you land on, consider incorporating it into a step and repeat backdrop for your indoor photo booth for that touch of celebrity and style.

2. Stock up on last-minute supplies

Let’s pretend every detail of your whole wedding is paid for and, lo and behold, there’s a little money left over.

Hey, we said pretend.

What do you do with it? Put it toward the honeymoon? Not a bad idea. Buy some extra decorations or doodads? No, that just leads to more serious planning. Instead, spend it on emergency supplies to protect you and your guests from inclement fall weather or other unavoidable party fouls.

If your venue is outdoors with limited indoor space, think about investing in a few canopy tents, space heaters and extension cords. Don’t have that much cash left over? Snag some full-sized umbrellas, cheap fleece blankets or a few boxes of hand warmers. Fully stocked bathroom baskets with things like stain remover, tampons, sodium bicarbonate, breath mints and aspirin will save guests from embarrassment, indigestion or a bad hangover. Dime-store shopping is also an inexpensive, highly effective way to take your mind off the stress of the big day.

Who sits where depends on who’s coming.

3. Crunch the numbers on RSVPs versus seats

One possible downside to fall weddings is attendance. Turnout may be an issue. With summer over, not many people have the vacation time or expendable income left to invest in a weekend wedding adventure. And considering how popular the season is, there’s a chance attendees may have other ceremonies to attend on the same date.

So with only weeks or months until the ceremony, take a breather and review who’s coming and who politely declined. Check in with those who have yet to respond and finalize a list. If you haven’t already mapped out a seating arrangement, congratulations – you just found an outlet for all that excess enthusiasm.

4. Distract yourself with honeymoon planning

In 2017, newlywed couples spent, on average, $4,000 for their honeymoons, according to WeddingWire. But lucky you – the weddings are usually followed by late fall or early winter honeymoons. More importantly, they portend off-season travel and hotel discounts on pretty much any destination.

So let go of the wedding – for now – and start looking into day trips and restaurants you and your partner can enjoy once you both drive away from the whole shebang, happily married.

Independence Day can one of the best times to host a wedding: With many people having the weekend off to celebrate, getting friends and family to come out doesn’t require the same level of schedule juggling as other times. When considering a 4th of July wedding, try the following ideas to create the right mix of patriotic and romantic.

1. Choose a Timeless ‘Americana’ Theme
Part of what makes a Fourth wedding theme so tricky to pull off is that some people would rather have only a light touch of the more patriotic element – rather than it feeling heavy handed. Instead of overloading your wedding decorations with bright, brand-new flags, Bridal Musings urges couples and wedding planners to instead err on the side of an “Americana” theme. Look at traditional elements of the American experience and incorporate rustic details like homemade pies, locally picked bouquets, antique dinnerware and vintage flags. For an extra dash of memorable, design a backdrop for taking photos with the vintage flags and bouquets as props.

2. Have a BBQ 
For those having an outdoor wedding and looking for something that evokes the social element of the 4th of July weekend, why not skip the expensive catering and have a barbecue? Even if you hire a specialized catering company to grill up delicious treats, bringing in an unpretentious home-cooked element – along with simple cookout style plates and silverware – can be a great touch.

3. Integrate Subtle Touches of Red, White and Blue
While white has long been a go-to color associated with weddings, the other colors of the American flag can certainly have their place: Whether it’s using light blues and reds in trim, dressing the bridesmaids in different shades of navy or using striped and star-laden tablecloths, it is always better to remind the assembled of the flag rather than plaster the ceremony in flags.

4. Swap in Sparklers for Bouquets
What would a July wedding be without a few fireworks? Instead of traditional bouquets, swap in a few handheld sparklers. This will delight your guests and prove a memorable touch – perfect for wedding pictures in front of the backdrop.

5. Cut Into a Patriotic Cake 
One way to showcase the red, white and blue is in food, specifically an American-themed wedding cake. While MEG Jewelry advocates an unfrosted, naked berry cake, InStyle pointed to a cake baked to emulate an American flag or sprinkled with red, white and blue confetti. Whatever you choose, adding a little patriotic style to the cake is a nice way to emphasize your theme without being over the top.

However you choose to decorate your Independence Day nuptials, Sign Art Etc can provide you with the banners and backdrops to create stunning, memorable portraits and candid photos. Contact us today to learn more.

Graduations symbolize the end of one stage of life and the start of another. As such, they call for a little celebration! When planning a graduation party for students of any age, follow this simple checklist to make sure you have everything you need to kick the party off right.

1. Invitations
Invitations serve a valuable purpose because the end of a semester can be a busy season for everyone. By sending out your invites earlier, you can get a solid RSVP list and start planning the size of your event accordingly.

You can use the invitations to get a little creative. Customize them to look like diplomas, a report card, graduation caps or other things commonly associated with education.

2. Venue
If you have a sense of how many people will attend the celebration, planning gets much easier. A smaller, more intimate affair can easily take place at home or a favorite local restaurant. However, for larger, more involved events, securing a venue may be necessary.

Start your search for a venue early because the closer the event is to graduation, the more competition you’ll encounter. Keep an eye out for deals at function halls, recreation centers, hotels, country clubs or even somewhere fun and exotic like a music club or cruise ship.

3. Refreshments
If you choose to host your party at a local restaurant, refreshment planning isn’t likely to be a significant priority. However, most other venues may require some degree of catering if you plan on having food.

Consider foods and refreshments that don’t require a sit-down meal. Pizza, mini sandwiches or hors d’oeuvres can be great ways to feed a lot of party guests without having to worry too much about the individual plates. Alternatively, a pot luck can reduce overall party expenses and offer a diversity of flavor.

4. Photo Booth
Considering graduations are all about commemoration, you need to make sure that you have plenty of opportunities to capture the feeling of this moment before it passes. A photo booth or step and repeat area with a personalized background can be a fun way to frame graduation pictures of friends and family. Developing a custom hashtag – for example, #TonysGraduation2017 – and including that phrase on the background can make it easier to gather up the graduation pictures posted online later.

5. Decorations
No party would feel complete without decorations – especially not a graduation party. While flowers, confetti and balloons are traditional and good staples, consider hanging custom signage in the form of vinyl banners, a white board for guests to write personal notes to the grad or graduation-themed centerpieces on tables. Another fun and off-beat idea is a life-sized cutout of the grad that people can “dress” with magnetic stick-on clothing.

If you are in need of graduation-themed signage, contact Sign Art Etc today. Our designers can work with you to make sure you have everything you need to commemorate this important stage of life.