Handmade ideas for a marriage certificate
When it comes to weddings, there are many keepsakes you’ll want to hold onto, and it’s natural to be particular about them.
Among those, the marriage certificate comes in many forms and styles, and it’s something many couples want to personalize or make by hand.
Here, we’re sharing plenty of DIY ideas for marriage certificates.
From easy, budget-friendly options to designs that use store-bought items or templates, as well as certificates where guests can help on the day—these are memorable pieces you can display even after the ceremony.
Handmade ideas for marriage certificates (1–10)
Wedding Smile
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTncFrNPdpm/Have you heard of the classic “wedding smile” used as a marriage certificate? It’s a guest-participation style where guests draw smiley faces or facial expressions, and that becomes the marriage certificate.
You can buy ready-made versions, but if you make it yourself, it will surely be many times more memorable.
Paint circles in your favorite colors using stamps or paint.
Write each guest’s name beneath a circle, and it’s ready.
On the day of the ceremony, guests draw a smiley face or a face in the circle with their name.
It’s a marriage certificate that will make you smile every time you look at it.
Sign above the sand ceremony
A sand ceremony where you fill a jar with colorful layers of sand.
It’s vibrant and one of a kind; once the sands are blended, they can never be separated again.
It symbolizes the two of you blending together and building a new kind of family.
The idea is to use the sand art created during this ceremony as your marriage certificate.
Some jars have glass engravings on the surface, and you could even sign there.
It becomes a marriage certificate that doubles as art you can display—two birds with one stone.
Welcome tree
Have you heard of a “welcome tree”? It’s an illustration of a tree with only bare branches, placed alongside the wording of a marriage certificate.
Guests use their fingers to stamp it at the reception, and those stamps gradually turn into the leaves of the tree.
It’s a popular idea for marriage certificates.
It’s perfect for couples who want something they can display as interior decor and who’d like their guests to participate.
Using a variety of ink colors so the tree becomes colorful is also really cute.
Guest caricature
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR1JT6gHqTx/It’s an idea to turn guests’ portraits into a marriage certificate.
Each guest’s portrait has their name beneath it, and they place their stamp there.
If drawing the portraits yourselves feels daunting, you could ask an artistically talented friend or commission someone whose style you like.
Another option is to use an app to convert guests’ photos into illustrations.
With the guests’ faces included, it becomes a wonderful certificate that conveys and brings back their feelings and memories.
A frame using preserved flowers
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQDxtBzgJCb/Here’s an idea for a marriage certificate that uses preserved flowers, which are as beautiful as fresh flowers and can be enjoyed for a long time.
When guests arrive, they place a preserved flower wherever they like, and at the end the bride and groom add theirs to complete it.
It’s a delightful idea for couples who love flowers, isn’t it? It blends into your interior so well that you wouldn’t even recognize it as a marriage certificate when displayed.
It’s also guest-participatory while remaining simple enough that it doesn’t burden your guests.
Engraving on glass and mirrors
Marriage certificates made with glass or mirrors have a luxurious feel and make wonderful interior decor items, don’t they? Glass engraving can seem intimidating—something you have to commission from a professional—but how about joining a class or workshop for glass or mirror engraving and trying it yourself? It might become a great hobby that makes you want to engrave all sorts of things, not just a marriage certificate.
Visually striking and elegant, it would stand out at the ceremony and look impressive displayed at home as well.
A guest stamps the brass.
There are many guest-participation wedding certificates, but most involve signing names or stamping, right? This wedding certificate, however, is very simple: guests make an engraving—just a single dot.
In the center of the brass plate, the names of the bride and groom and their wedding date are engraved, and each guest, before entering the venue, adds one stamp around the plate.
The result is a brass plate sprinkled with star-like marks—an elegant, stylish certificate that also works beautifully as interior decor.