One of the hottest trends in wedding favors is a customized CD with music about celebration, inspiration, and love. Wedding CD’s are increasingly popular gifts because they reflect your personal style, the emotion of your wedding, and can be enjoyed by your guests for a lifetime.

Begin creating your Wedding CD by determining your budget for favors. Once you have a budget, you can decide on your priorities, including if you will purchase a CD from the Internet or from a record store, the number of songs, and the look of your favor -a pre-packaged cover or one designed by your custom invitation designer.

Decide how you will purchase the music. The Internet provides a wealth of sites that have pre-packaged Wedding CD’s with options for listening to the songs. Other sites offer CDs that you can customize with pay-per-song downloading options featuring classical, world, and contemporary artists. Local record stores have compilations made specifically for weddings. Try soundtracks to romantic movies like Casablanca or Four Weddings and a Funeral. Consider the recent soundtrack for Love Actually with Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, and Emma Thompson. Check with your live entertainment for the wedding – the band may have a CD of their best hits that you can buy. Your guests would really take home part of the event!

Choosing the songs is a great time to orchestrate a romantic evening with your fiancé. Decide on the overall idea of the CD and then group the songs according to mood themes, and then tempos. Themes could include songs for a Sunday morning brunch, afternoon driving tour, cocktail hour, or dinner party. Once you have the songs grouped by mood, then consider how they flow together. Grouped slow songs are a good way to ease the listener into a mood, and fast songs are a great way to finish the mood on an uplifting note. Focus on 10 – 15 songs, which is standard for most CDs.

Once you have selected the songs and themes, work with your custom invitation designer or contact an Internet site to explore semi-custom design with photographs or design. The unique CD cover used by Lisa Breckenridge and Andy Cohen features their engagement photographs taken on the beach. The front cover shows an intimate portrait, which hints at the inside songs’ meanings to the couple. The back cover shows a fun picture of the two walking along the beach along with a message thanking the guests for being part of their special day. The jacket design for their Wedding CD reflected their fun and romantic spirit. The guests received a favor that truly reflected Lisa and Andy.

Creating a Wedding CD with your fiancé is creative and unique. Your guests, of all ages, will appreciate the time and effort you have invested in giving something that truly reflects you as a couple. You and your guests will listen to your Wedding CD for years to come.