Photo by Marie-Luise via Kathryn & James’ Relaxed Urban Melbourne Wedding

Your wedding day is over. Done. Finished. So how do you make sure you remember every moment forever?

The Memories issue has been all about the best ways of preserving and reliving memories. Today, as we head to the end of the month, we want to give you a  guide to inspire your memory making. Enter our 15 ways to preserve your wedding memories. From keeping the cork you pop as you get engaged, to choosing a scene that will remind you of your wedding for years to come. Here’s all the inspiration you need to make sure your wedding day memories are crystal clear forever.

If you’re a sentimental nerd like me, you can complete everything on this list, or if you just want to make sure you have a few preserved memories to carry on, just one or two. Either way, let us know your favourites!

Keep a planning diary

Newly engaged and want to capture every moment? Start writing it all down now. Write down the stories of how you became engaged, of how you found your venue, your florist. Document all these little adventures, the memories and journeys that time will soon make fuzzy in your mind. And after your big day? Document it. Sit down while it’s fresh in your mind and write the story of your day. This idea is a treasure to look back on.

Keep the cork

Secret: I collect corks from every single happy occasion. Your milestone birthday? If you’re throwing that cork out, chances are I will sneak it into my pocket and put it with my collection. To me, corks are a little token of joy and they don’t take up much space. So it’s a great little memento of popping bubbles for something very special!   Click here for our own cork shadowbox tutorial.

Choose a special scent

Smell is one of the most beautiful ways to evoke memories. Choose a special, unique scent that you’ve never worn before and spritz it while you’re planning your day. Inspecting your dream venue – wear it? Meeting your wedding florist? Tasting cake? And then, use it again on your wedding day. This scent, when you spray it again, years on, will always bring you back to that day.

Photo by  Gez Xavier Mansfield Photography via  Lauren & Michael’s Modern Winery Wedding At Ironbark Hill Vineyard

Buy a newspaper on the day

This is a special way to remember exactly what the world was like on your wedding day. Enlist a family member or friend to buy a local newspaper on the day and store it in your wedding memory box. You’ll stare in wonderment in years to come for hours at prices, the openings of stores, the current news and what was happening in the world the day you tied the knot.

Start a memory box

All that wedding memorabilia needs a home, so why not add it all to one special box (organisation win!) Think of this as a wedding time capsule. Add one of your wedding invitations, your wedding cards, the special notes you wrote one another, one of your wedding favours (non-edible variety of course!). Anything and everything that you want to keep from your wedding in one special place.  Check out some of our favourite handmade beauties here.

Choose a guestbook

A guestbook can often be seen as an unnecessary extra, but we hereby declare them one of our favourite ways of preserving wedding memories. You might choose a traditional book – (for something different, think a recipe book created by the chef of your favourite restaurant), or notecards, a polaroid picture station, or an art print guests can sign. Choose a guestbook that is meaningful for you and is something you will hold close. There is nothing better than pouring over the well wishes from your favourite people.

Photo by Smith + Archer via  Jess & Kevin’s Rustic & Elegant Yarra Valley Wedding

Add the decor around your home

There is absolutely no reason your wedding decor cannot be woven throughout your home. The boards you used for your grazing platter could live in your kitchen. That beautiful woven backdrop could be hung over your bed. A centrepiece could become a favourite piece on your bookshelf. You chose your wedding decor because you loved it, and a great way of keeping it in your memory, is to include it in your own home space.

Preserve your bouquet

Framing your bouquet may not be as popular as it was many moons ago, but there are still many beautiful ways to preserve that beautiful bunch of blooms you carried.

One of our favourites is to have a painting created of your bouquet, drying it and keeping the arrangement in a vase on display, preserving a piece of it in jewellery. (Check out some of our favourite bouquet preservation here)

Box your dress

It may be tempting to leave your gown in all its muddy state, but it is worth it to preserve your gown. Whether you then decide to sell it or keep it as a memento for generations to come. It is worth preserving and cleaning the gown you spent so much love and dollars on for safekeeping (see tips here).

Get a wedding album

It may seem like one more thing to do after the wedding is over, but this one, is one that perhaps isn’t just for you, but it is for years to come. Having a hard copy of your wedding story, in all its beautiful glory, so you can pour over the memories together. That your family can check out and laugh at mum and dad’s funny of the moment fashions, in thirty years. A wedding album ranks right up there when it comes to making golden wedding memories come to life.

Photo by Matt Elliott Photography via Is Having A Professionally Made & Printed Wedding Album Worth It?

Print your photos!

We know this one for our every day, but don’t forget to actually get those photos you love so much, that you invested in, printed. If a giant wall canvas isn’t your thing, consider a few printed favourites.

Book a wedding filmmaker

We watch our wedding vows every single year on our anniversary. And I know many of the moments of our raw uncut footage off by heart. The wedding film captures a completely different side of the story to the photos. I can hear the voice of my loved ones, see the way they move, their laugh. A wedding film is something I will always recommend if wedding memories are something very important to you.

Collect the cards 

The well-wishes of your favourite people are something dear to treasure. So if you’re a lover of those, make sure you keep the cards from your wedding and engagement in a very safe place (perhaps that aforementioned memory box).

Freeze the cake

The way we celebrated our first anniversary? Unfreezing the top layer of our cake (vanilla, with buttercream and chocolate ganache) and diving in. Freezing a wedding cake is a little old school nowadays, freezing a fruit cake even more so. But if you’re a lover of old wedding traditions like I am. this one is a delicious way to preserve the memory and enjoy it.

Frame your vows

Those words? The thing that your wedding centres around? Why not have a calligrapher or hand-letterer (or even handwritten by yourselves to each other) write out your wedding vows to frame. I love framed wedding vows because they’re always around as a reminder to yourself. And it’s oh so romantic, let’s be honest!