To Theme or Not to Theme
What could be more fun than selecting flowers, linens, lighting, and finding inspiration for other special touches for your wedding? If you are like most brides, you have been looking forward to this aspect of the planning. When designing your wedding, remember the theme should work with your locale and the formality of your wedding, but most important, it should reflect your style. Your personality, interests, and creativity should guide you in designing the wedding of your dreams.
Selecting a Theme
A theme can make a wedding unique. You can explore your fantasies of living in another time or transport your guests to another place. When selecting a theme, look for inspiration in your everyday life: a favorite vacation destination, a favorite flower, a collection, a hobby, the season, or even the location of the wedding. If you throw a theme wedding, be sure to let the guests in on the plan. Part of the fun is for everyone to be involved. If your theme would be enhanced by the guests dressing the part, include information on costume shops in the Save-the-Date or in a separate mailing.
Here are some themes to think about:
Ethnic flare. There's no better way to say “I'm proud of my heritage” than to orchestrate an ethnic-themed wedding. It is the perfect way to highlight the culture and costumes of your ethnic background.
Western bonanza. This style includes everything from cowboy hats to fiddles, square dancing, horses, barbecue fare, and anything else that's associated with the wild frontier and the pioneer spirit.
Happy holiday. Take advantage of the decorations and spirit of a particular holiday. Valentine's Day, with its emphasis on love and romance, is a popular wedding time; the winter holidays are also popular. Easter and Passover are less popular because of certain religious restrictions, but a patriotic motif, complete with fireworks, might be a great idea for the Fourth of July. Halloween weddings are popular, with the wedding party and guests coming in costume.
Movable feast. Like to travel? In the progressive wedding variation, the bride and groom attend a number of wedding festivities carried on over a period of days — and located in different places!Depending upon your budget, your love of travel, and the availability of friends and relatives to celebrate, you might start with your ceremony on the Eastern Seaboard, have a reception in the Midwest, and wrap things up in California. (Not all progressive wedding celebrations are that far-flung; many stay in the same state, even the same city.)
Trip down Memory Lane. Stroll down Memory Lane with your groom, family, and friends by having the wedding at a place of special significance to you as a couple. Perhaps you want to return to the college where you met or to the park where he proposed.
All-nighter. This is a wedding celebration that's planned to last through the entire night. In some cases, the group rents an additional hall after the first reception. In others, the festivities continue at a private home. The wedding usually comes to a close with breakfast the next morning. Coffee, anyone?
Destination wedding. Guests are invited to a romantic honeymoon-type locale such as a resort or an inn, where they can stay with the new couple for a few days. After wedding is over, the bride and groom depart for the real (and much more private) thing.
“Surprise! You're a wedding guest!” The surprise wedding is a surprise for your guests. Invite people to a standard-issue party, and if those in the know can keep a secret, your guests will be completely surprised when they arrive at a wedding.
No frills. After all these grand suggestions, it's easy to forget that sometimes the most beautiful and enjoyable weddings are the ones that are the simplest. Without frills and thrills, the meaning of the marriage celebration becomes clearer, and you realize that no matter where you are, it is the people you're with who are important.
If after pondering some of these choices, a theme still doesn't appeal to you, relax. A theme is not necessary to create a memorable wedding. Many couples select a color or a small detail — such as a ribbon, flower, special motif, or a monogram — to style their event. Use one of these special items to carry out a consistent look by incorporating them into the various elements of the reception and ceremony.
Style Worksheet
If you are still trying to determine the theme or style of your wedding, jot down some basic dos and don'ts, likes and dislikes, and favorites, and you may begin to see your wedding style emerge. Also, comb through your bridal magazines and books. Certainly, you have earmarked pages that appeal to you. Pull all of these elements together along with the information on the following Style Worksheet and a style plan will begin to emerge.
