5 Meaningful Ways to Incorporate Your Travel Experiences Into Your Wedding

If you and your future spouse love to travel together, finding creative ways to incorporate your travels into your wedding is a fun way to make your big day unique. There are many ways to highlight your experiences, from incorporating foods from your favorite place (or places) into your wedding menu to adding music you've discovered during your travels to your cocktail hour playlist. Ahead, check out our favorite ways to make the adventures you've shared together a part of your special day.

Create a menu inspired by your travels.

Team up with a caterer who is game to create an internationally-influenced menu, or one that features foods from your favorite American city. Start cocktail hour off with mini tacos, hand-tossed pizzas, Chinese takeaway containers of noodles, or any of your favorite street foods from your travels. Move on to a dinner that explores more international or regional cuisines that you've discovered on your trips together. Planning to serve a late-night snack? Opt for more street food, Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, New Orleans-style jambalaya, or Canadian style poutine. And for dessert? Think towers of French macarons, assorted Jamaican rum cakes, Australian lamingtons, Mexican churros with rich hot chocolate, or platters of Russian teacakes.

Show off your favorite travel photos.

If you and your fiancé take lots of photos when you're traveling, consider getting some of those images enlarged and printed so you can create a gallery wall on your big day (you can hang them at home after the wedding!). Another way to highlight a favorite image taken during your adventures—of the two of you or a beloved view—is to print it onto your save-the-date. If you go this route, consider making the note a post card to play up the travel component.

Highlight the music you've discovered away from home.

If you've spent enough time overseas, or in major music cities like Nashville or Austin, there's a good chance that you have discovered quite a few musicians along the way. Why not highlight their work at your celebration? Simply curate a cocktail hour playlist dedicated to these songs—or scope out a local band that specializes in a style of music you've enjoyed listening to on your adventures.

Buy from regional and international artisans when shopping for your wedding.

Supporting artisans in the places you love by importing their handmade goods isn't just a surefire way to share your love of travel with your guests—it's also an incredible opportunity to give back to the people who have enriched your lives. Perhaps you found an amazing milliner during a recent trip to London; it may be worth reaching out to see if they can create a custom piece for your wedding day or Sunday brunch. Welcome bags are another great place to spotlight special wares: Try anything from bite-sized snacks to handmade artisanal gifts. If you have appreciated your time on the West Coast, for example, you could include handmade lavender soaps from Washington, beeswax candles from Oregon, and olive oil from California.

Mix ingredients from different locales into your signature drinks.

Cocktails are a tasty way to incorporate ingredients from different regions into your event. If you're big fans of Tulum, adding a tamarind rim to your margaritas can add a little global oomph to your cocktail offerings. Or, if you've traveled extensively through Italy, Aperol spritzers are a festive fit. Whichever signature sip you choose, be sure to name your drinks after the places in which you've enjoyed them.