When it came to wedding gifts for our parents I knew I wanted to get the something special. It was was hard to think of a gift for people who already have it all. I didn’t want the gift to be just another “thing”  to put in their homes. After weeks of brainstorming, the idea finally came to me when I was looking through old photos with my parents. When I was little my mom always had a film DSLR camera there she took everywhere {I later used it for my high school photography classes} so we have a ton of photos. She loved to have her favorites made into 8x10s which really helped me out with this gift idea. Both of my parents happen to point our their favorite picture of me and them. I took the photos home with me to scan to my computer for our DJ slideshow. For their gifts, I scanned their favorite photos to Snapfish and ordered two 11×14 sepia toned canvas prints. They came out great and I was able to use a coupon code to get a good deal!

I wanted to get Mike’s parents the same gift, but unfortunately all of his baby pictures were small and I wasn’t able to get clear scans. His siblings live out of state and since we’ve been together we haven’t had the chance to get many family pictures. We did manage to get a great photo together at our engagement party. I had it made into at 10×25 sepia toned canvas. I love the shape and size of this one. All three canvas’ came out great and our parents loved them. My mom hung hers up as soon as she got home from our rehearsal dinner.

My uncle is an amazing florist. I knew he was going to make our wedding day beyond beautiful and I was right! I LOVED our flowers. They really pop in our photos and we received so many compliments. To thank him and my aunt for all their hard work and generous gift we got them tickets to a Broadway play. Ticket to a show would also be a great gift idea for parents. It just so happens that’ my dad really doesn’t like going to plays {sorry mom}.

We had a few more special guests that we wanted to acknowledge at our rehearsal dinner. My aunt who helped out a lot with my planning along with aunts, uncles and friends who would be reading during our ceremony or singing at our reception. As a little thanks, we got them our favorite bottle of while or a book along with a sweet thank you note. I think the key to wedding gifts is to remember to be simple, practical and thoughtful.