Three Wedding Themes You Might Not Have Considered

We’ve discussed how knowing your wedding style can make or break your Big Day but brides who choose and adhere to a specific theme can transform their wedding day.

There is no shortage of fun wedding themes on the Internet. Favor Ideas lists 11 themes that can help you save money, Your Wedding Company lists 30 fun ideas and WedThemes.Com lists wedding themes they claim “suit many tastes.” All great ideas. But here are three more wedding themes you might not have ever considered.

1. First Love Wedding
Nothing compares to the innocence of a first love, so bring back the days of puppy love and paper Valentines with a First Love themed-wedding. Complete with bright, bold primary colors, this theme reminds wedding guests of grade school crushes and of the unending promise of first love.

Invitations
Choose invitations with the image of a young couple, such as Precious Moments stationery line. These invites are the epitome of innocence and are guaranteed to set the tone of your first love themed wedding. Model the reply card after a traditional children’s love note. (For example, “We hope you can come. Can you? Yes, No, Maybe.”)

Cakes
Instead of traditional wedding cake, serve brightly colored cupcakes.

Decorations
Think of over-sized crayons, hearts and a teacher’s blackboard.

Attire
Dress your attendants in brightly colored knee-length dresses that reflect the fun and innocence of your theme.

2. New Year’s Eve Party (any night of the year!)
Any night can be New Year’s Eve as long as there is fun, friendship and fireworks – oh, and champagne! Ring in your wedding night by inviting your family and friends to celebrate your wedding New Year’s Eve style.

Invitations
Choose invitations that evoke the lively celebration your guests can expect at your wedding. Consider including a champagne glass and bubbles and telling them that you will celebrate New Year’s Eve a little early this year. Make sure your wedding date is listed prominently on your invite. You don’t want invitation-skimming guests to miss the Big Day or show up on December 31.

Food and Drink
Your options here are limitless. Have a full sit-down dinner with several courses, host an all-night buffet or serve heavy appetizers for dinner, followed with a breakfast buffet post-midnight. Whichever food option you choose be sure to have plenty of cocktails and champagne to go around.

Extras
- Have a party hat for each guest.
- Drop confetti at midnight and play “Auld Lang Syn.”
- Ask your maid of honor and best man to give a brief toast just before midnight.
- Countdown to midnight and pop open another bottle of champagne.

3. Murder Mystery Romance
Surprise your friends with a Murder Mystery party turned wedding celebration. Imagine their surprise when they arrive for your “party” and get to see you and your future spouse tie the knot.

Invitations
Choose invitations that reflect the theme of your murder mystery story.

Food and Drink
About halfway through the murder mystery, invite your friends and family members to dinner. You can either choose to serve something that reflects the murder mystery theme or serve items from your favorite dinner menu.

Attire
Dress your attendants in character costumes and ask them to play important parts in the murder mystery show.

Extras
Give your guests a wedding favor that either echoes the murder mystery theme or choose “detective-type” gifts such as a magnifying glass. Have fun with this!

Are you having a wedding theme? What is it? What is your favorite wedding theme?

The Most Romantic Day of the Year: Fresh Ideas for a Valentine's Day Wedding

Weddings are always special, but nothing says “romance” like Valentine’s Day nuptials. Besides the obvious red roses and pink hearts, there are certain things you can do to add a touch of class while ensuring your Valentine’s Day wedding is a success.

A bride should always remember that “her special day” is still a-day-in-the-life of everyone else.
Think about it... your guests could go anywhere they want, but they are choosing to spend your wedding day with you. It's especially important to remember this when your wedding coincides with a holiday. So make your guests your priority when planning your Valentine's Day wedding and make them an offer they can’t refuse.



Colors
Sure red, white and pink scream Valentine’s Day, but modern brides should opt for a little diversity. Consider other romantic colors such as:
- Deep purple and regal blue
- Shades of deep red or burgundy
- Bright white and silver, with a dash of blood red

Think traditional Valentine's Day colors are more your style? Then consider
- Red and deep brown
- Light pink and shimmering silver

The key is to choose your colors and stick to them. Those red heart-shaped candles might be perfect table decorations for a Valentine’s Day wedding, but if you chose shades of ivory and blush pink for everything else, they might look out of place. Keep this in mind as you select colors and shop for items.


Stationery
Set the tone and notify guests of your Valentine’s Day wedding well in advance. Consider sending your invitations 10 weeks prior to your wedding so guests can discuss the option with their spouse/significant other or date and plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day at your wedding.

American Greetings has an array of printable invitations, bags, labels, and other printable products. Be creative. I like the idea of sending a “Be Our Valentine” card to your guests and asking them to join you for a Valentine’s Day wedding celebration.

Decorations
When I think of romance I think of soft fabrics, airy space and lots of miniature lights and candles. Think about the most romantic restaurant you and your future hubby have visited and ask yourself these three questions.

1. In general, what made the atmosphere of the restaurant romantic?
2. What one thing do you remember most about the ambiance?
3. How can you replicate it?

The idea behind a Valentine's Day wedding is romance, and that means more than hearts and flowers.

Music
Nothing says romance like a string quartet or strolling musician. If your budget allows, hire a violinist to walk throughout your reception, pausing at least once at every table. If your budget doesn’t allow for live musicians for the entire reception, consider hiring one person to play for the cocktail hour, then hire a DJ for the rest of the night.

Play Valentine songs as your guests enter the dining area, such as “My Funny Valentine,” by Frank Sinatra, “Valentine,” by Jim Brickman and Martina McBride and “Lady Valentine” by David Gates.


Extras
Consider adding these special touches to your Valentine’s Day wedding.

- Instead of naming your tables by numbers, name them after Valentine’s Day icons. You could have the “Kisses Table,” “The Red Rose Table,” “The Chalky Candy Hearts Table.” Brainstorm with your friends and have fun.

- Send your guests off with a small heart-shaped box of chocolates.

- Give each female guest a red rose as she enters the wedding ceremony.

Just remember, you will have many more Valentine’s Days to spend with your soon-to-be-spouse, but you-and likely your guests-will only get one chance for a day like this. So take the time and plan ahead to ensure your Valentine's Day wedding will be the best Valentine's Day your guests have ever had. They'll thank you for it!

Photos courtesy of Venson Kuchipudi, javaloca, and erloteiel

Christmas Wedding Theme

The Christmas holiday is right around the corner, so today I thought I would talk about having a Christmas wedding.

What's great about having a Christmas wedding is the very little time and effort it takes to put together the wedding coordinates and decorations. In order to have a true Christmas themed wedding, there are a few pieces of traditional Christmas decor that you shouldn't go without.

Colors
Sticking with the traditional colors of Christmas is a must. You could either chose to have a red, green or red-green color for your wedding. And what's so nice about the Christmas colors is the variations that are seen today. No longer are you bound to bright red and green. Chose something more formal and go with hunter green and deep red, or if you are more modern, try a brighter green. What's also great is the accent colors that go so well with Christmas. Try gold or silver, it will add a bit of depth to your color palette.

Christmas Wedding Flowers
Don't think that just because it's Christmas you have to have Poinsettias integrated into your bouquet... if you really don't want to. Many brides today are instead using red berries and twigs. This may not sound pretty, but, like this picture shows, it could truly be a beautiful bouquet and one that is very unique.



Cake
Try something a bit less traditional and put a little Christmas fun into your wedding. Spread the spirit of gifting and try a Christmas gift themed cake. I think this cake is very pretty and it looks like a lot of work went into it.





Christmas Wedding Favors
Again, lots of options. Sticking with the Christmas theme couples could give Christmas ornaments or Christmas treats like the decorated Christmas fortune cookies to the right. Another great idea is giving the gift of a donation. It is the holiday season so giving the gift of a donation is a great way to give to the community during a time of year that is very hard on some. It's also a great way to promote giving during the holiday season.

Invitations
Take advantage of the time of year and use Christmas cards as your invitations. There are always so many to choose from and now many can be personalized with custom text and pictures. If you are looking for more traditional invitations the only thing to keep in mind is to follow your color scheme and anything you pick should be perfect.



Christmas wedding theme phrase:

"Eat, Drink and be Merry-ied"

I love it!

Tiffany Blue Wedding Themes

Over the last 2 years the Tiffany Blue wedding theme has emerged to be one of the top requests from brides. Though I love the colors of Tiffany Blue and white together, it seems to be getting old and feel suppressing a brides personality. So what I have been suggesting to brides is if they love the Tiffany Blue (robins egg blue) wedding theme that much try and change it up a bit by adding other complimenting colors. Here are a few suggestions:

Tiffany Blue & Brown Wedding Theme
Much like the Tiffany Blue wedding theme, brown has become another hot color choice for brides. Try adding brown in subtly like adding a brown ribbon to favor boxes, flower girl dresses or unity candles.



Tiffany Blue & Red Wedding Theme
Make your wedding theme stand out by adding a vibrant color like red. Most people don't think that this would make such a beautiful color combination, but I think that you will soon see this becoming one of the more popular wedding themes over the next year or two. So scoop it up fast and be one of those brides that cracks into the new up and coming wedding theme.

For those that are a bit afraid of what this wedding theme may look like, turn to an inspiration board. I create wedding theme and inspiration boards for my clients and it gives me the opportunity to help others see a vision. For those that are hesitant, it really allows you to open your mind to some eye catching color schemes.

Tiffany Blue and Red Wedding Theme Inspiration Board

Here are a few other pictures from weddings that had a Tiffany Blue and red wedding theme that I like.



I also just found these candy favors and I love them! They incorporate the two colors of the wedding theme and they look so fun.

Tiffany Blue & Pink Wedding Theme
If brown and red are too bold of colors for your wedding theme, try a Tiffany Blue and pink wedding theme. Adding pink can be a great way to incorporate another color and it gives you a tone of room to play with. The easiest way to incorporate pink into the wedding theme is in the flowers. Here are a few pictures pink flowers and Tiffany Blue.




If you want to take a little bit more of a chance, try hot pink. I think this color is fun and would be great way to spice up your wedding theme without having to take a big color risk. See the wedding theme inspiration board below.

Tiffany Blue and Pink Wedding Theme Inspiration Board

Do you have any other suggestions on what other colors could be added to the Tiffany Blue wedding theme? Send me or post suggestions and I will write a post on it. Also, feel free to send your pictures and I will feature them on the blog.

A Mid Summer Night's Dream Theme

A Mid-Summer Night's Dream.

Okay, it's my favorite play in the whole world. It's romantic, funny, set in a fantasy forest and everyone is paired off perfectly at the end. All the lovers are united each to the right person and the King and Queen of the Faerie bless each union. What's not to like?

It's also a perfect theme for a wedding reception.

Your wedding invitations should be less traditional and more personal in their approach. Perhaps a touch of gold and silver fairy dust (confetti) in the envelopes will add a touch of glamour to the theme.

As the bride you should wear either a Elizabethan wedding gown or a floor-length white chiffon dress with a long, delicate train. Choose a silver tiara for a headpiece. Make a bouquet of bell-shaped white flowers that cascades, accented with ivy or fern.

As the play takes place in the woods, take that as your main color scheme: plums, creams, muted greens and blues, pastels, silver and gold accents.

Bridesmaids should wear diaphanous chiffon dresses in these colors. Those with long hair should wear it down and entwine ribbons throughout hair while short haired bridesmaids can wear a ivy head wreath. Ballerina style slippers would be more appropriate instead of regular shoes.

The men should wear suits that would blend in with a forest setting. Try dark suits or tuxedos with brown or dark green accent pieces such as ties or vests.

Create a fairyland of your reception venue with live potted plants, grapevine leaves and muted colors. Place large bare branches wrapped in grapevine leaves in the plant pots. String small twinkle lights throughout the branches for a fairy light effect.

Create several small water features throughout the room. Buy or rent some tabletop fountains or place several containers, camouflaged by potted plants filled with water. Float some lily pads across the surfaces. Add some water-loving plants in pots around edges, and have them near the food stations for a relaxing sound of water trickling.

For your tables, cover them with white cloths and add a pastel topper. Sprinkle some of the gold and silver confetti on top of each table. Fill silver or crystal bowls with water and float rose petals and floating candles on top.

At each place setting have miniature scrolls with Shakespearean quotes from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Also have some silk potpourri sachets to carry out the flower theme as a party favor.

As this is a light and airy sort of reception, you may want to have food stations set up between the large lit branches and near the water features. Lighter fare is recommended. Try a carving station for small sandwiches, a shrimp station, fruits and dip, breads, cheeses, veggies and dip, and a host of hors d'oeuvres.

Have an open bar, but include some Shakespearean favorites such as honey mead, fruit wines, beers, ales and lagers - along with the regular spirits!

Have a variety of small tarts and cakes for dessert on the table surrounding the wedding cake.

For the cocktail hour, hire musicians that can play the harp, flutes, lyre, and other instruments that were used in Shakespeare's era. Create that atmosphere.

You've earned your trip into the faerie woods, have a grand time playing there!