There are so many special pieces from your wedding day that you might not know what to do with after the big day is over! Where do you keep your garter? Do you save your invitation? Where should that go? What about our cake topper? I had all of these questions in my head after our wedding day and I knew I wanted to find something to store them all in together that wasn’t just an old shoe box. I also didn’t want something that was supposed to hang on the wall because that would mean I had to pin all of the items to the backing and essentially I wouldn’t be able to fit everything. I wanted a storage box that was pretty, and also wasn’t something that was permanent. (like pinning everything down) That’s when I found this gorgeous keepsake box and I fell in LOVE! This one is a little on the pricier side (around $50) but I wanted to invest in one that I love and am happy to display, and also a great quality one that will hold up over time. This one is made of really nice wood and has some weight to it! I can’t recommend this one enough!
I’ve shared this keepsake box on social media a few times and I always get questions about it so I thought I would make a blog post about it! If you’d like to get one for yourself, you can find it HERE!
I love that it opens on hinges and the “mr. & mrs.” etching on the glass! The inside cut out is very deep too so you can fill this thing with a lot of stuff! I keep this stored on our bookshelf in our living room laying flat and I have a framed wide shot photo of our ceremony that sits on top of it. I love that I have a place to keep all of these special items away from dust and getting damaged, and also that I can keep them all together when I want to go down memory lane and look through it all!
Now, let’s dig into the goodies inside! :)
My bouquet wrap ribbon! I got this custom monogramed ribbon from Oatmeal Lace ! You will notice in this post that I am a HUGE monogram gal. Anything that I could slap my new initials on, you better believe I did it. Haha! I never really had anything monogramed before I got married because my initials were “MMM” and didn’t look cute as a monogram. Haha! I LOVED that I was a “3M” baby (what my mom called me!) but I was super excited to rock “MGM” so I put it on everything!
Side note and cool story - My parents actually got married at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and now that is my new monogram. Love that!
LEFT - I saved the tag, extra beading and the original belt that was from my dress. I had a different belt sewn in but I still wanted to keep this one too. I also kept the fabric swatch that I got from my wedding planner that I used to match everything from the table linens, the floral ribbons, Brian’s tie, etc.
RIGHT - Our vow books ( HERE ) and a candle that my maid of honor gave me that I lit the morning of our wedding day and set next to me on the bedside table in our hotel room sipping my Starbucks as I wrote in my vow book. I smell it every once in a while and the scent takes me back to that exact moment!
This is probably my favorite thing that is in this box. This is a keepsake journal made by Southern Weddings. (unfortunately they don’t make these anymore, but I found a similar one HERE ) I am a huge journal-er and I love writing everything down! This book has prompts in it starting with “How we met , A date we’ll never forget , Our favorite traditions , etc. “ Then it goes into the section of the proposal. “Planning the proposal , The Proposal , The first people we called after our engagement , How we celebrated , The Ring , Favorite memories from our engagement , etc. “ then it goes into the details of the wedding day “Why we chose our locations and date , What the weather was like , My gown and how I found it , What the Bridesmaids wore , What the Groom and Groomsmen wore , Bouquets & Boutonnieres , How we spent the morning , etc.” Then it goes into the details of the Ceremony like “Our Vows , Songs we used , Traditions we followed, New things we tried , Most special moment, etc. “ Then into the Reception section “ Centerpieces & Table Decor , Favorite design elements , The food we served , The sweets we served , The First Dance , The Toasts , etc. “ Then there are more prompts like “The best decision we made , Happiest Splurge , Favorite Vendor , Funniest Moment , What made our wedding unique , Things we’ll tell our children about our wedding , etc. “ Then it goes into the Honeymoon section. At the back there are 30ish lined pages to write about your anniversaries, favorite parts about being married, memories during our marriage , etc. “ This book is jam packed and I love it so much! We are coming up on our 3rd anniversary in October and I still come back to this book and am filling out prompts from the wedding day because there are so many! But this will become such a special heirloom that I can pass down to generations after me! You can definitely make your own wedding day keepsake journal by just using a lined notebook and making prompts yourself at the top of each page! Whatever type of book you have, I think this is SUCH a special keepsake to have and cherish along with your album and video!
Brian and I love to travel! So we made a display of hand painted post cards of all 50 states that my bridesmaid Caitrionna drew and painted (in gold and burgundy to match the wedding colors)! Our guests were to write something on the back of the post card something that Brian and I should see or do that is in that state! It turned out to be such a hit and we got so many ideas for each state! I saved all of the cards in a different place but I put South Carolina and Tennessee in this keepsake box because that is where we went on our honeymoon!
Our invitation suite! I tell this to everyone, but it is so important to save one FULL set of all the paper items that were in your invitation suite, even the envelopes and stamps you used! You’ll want to be able to look back and see how the styles have changed and having a physical copy instead of just a photo is so special! So while you are making your guest list to send out your save the dates and invitations, make sure to put a spot for YOU to keep a set for yourself! I would even address an envelope to yourself to the place you live in while you are getting married! (we don’t live at that address anymore or I wouldn’t of included that in the photo!)
I also kept a copy of all of the other paper items we had during the planning and post wedding like our Save The Date , return address stickers, the Thank You card we sent out after the wedding, my bridal shower invitation, and our first married Christmas card!
The ribbons that were wrapped around my bridesmaids bouquets! I got these through my florist but you can also get monogramed ribbons from Oatmeal Lace for your bridesmaids too!
My garter! We did not do a garter toss during our reception but I still wore one. Of course, with a monogram on it in blue!
Our cake toppers that actually didn’t make it to our cake! We had a small 6 inch cake that we cut into but we also had a big dessert table display with 6 flavors of cupcakes, 2 flavors of macarons, and pumpkin spice and apple cider donuts! The toppers ended up at the top of the cupcake display but that’s okay!
I kept one of the small paper bags that we used for our favors! We are huge coffee drinkers so we filled these with our favorite blend, Veranda from Starbucks!
This is another favorite that is in this box. My handkerchief that was made from the fabric of my moms wedding dress that I had Oatmeal Lace sew my monogram on it! I also had a piece cut into a heart and sewn on the under layer of my dress! My mom really wanted me to wear her dress, but I think this was the next best thing? Haha!
I also put our honeymoon notebook that I got from May Designs that I customized in here! I brought this along with me during the whole trip and wrote down favorite memories, things that happened, and all the details!
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Our Wedding Day | October 5, 2017 at The Redfield Estate in Glenview, IL
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