I must admit to having a bit of a love-hate relationship with the concept of a wedding theme.
It can conjure up images of super matchy-matchy weddings. You know, ones where the flowers must match the EXACT shade of the chartreuse bridesmaid dresses. (Yup, I learned all my fancy color names from my childhood Crayola crayon set!)
Or it’s easy to think of it as just a novelty… like a Star Wars or Harry Potter themed day (both of which I’d LOVE btw).
But, here’s the thing:
That’s not what a theme for your big day HAS to mean.
How to pick a wedding theme that suits you
If you’re thinking ‘I don’t know what kind of wedding I want’, I’m going to let you into a little secret:
Your “theme” should reflect how you want yourselves and your guests to FEEL on the day.
So, if you want your guests to feel relaxed and casual, your style is probably not going to involve formal black tie or super traditional invitations. It’s not so much about colors or novelty details, but more about having a cohesive style for the whole day.
How to decide on a wedding style… some things to consider:
Q1 – What time of year is your wedding?
You don’t have to choose a theme that fits with the season, but it can definitely help to consider what kind of flowers will be in season or to give you ideas for textures and details that you might want to weave in.
Q2 – What’s your venue like?
Are you getting married in a barn covered in hay bales, with ducks waddling by? Or in a fancy hall with vaulted ceilings and candelabra on every table? Both are gorgeous options, but they feel very different.
Q3 – What memory would you like your guests to take away from your big day?
My husband and I were adamant that our wedding should feel like a party. We spent most of our budget on food and drink and a venue where everyone could stay over (because of all that drink!). So, our style was fairly relaxed with some fun details thrown in.
Putting it all together:
It’s time to grab a piece of paper and brainstorm what words or images those 3 questions conjure up.
So, if I answered the following:
- Season = Winter
- Venue = Stately home with gardens
- Memory = Fabulous style
I immediately start to get visions of a stylish winter affair. I’m thinking a Russian vibe, with fur stoles, vodka cocktails and cold marble detailing.
Or, if my answers looked like:
- Season = Spring
- Venue = Mountain lodge
- Memory = The amazing food
Now I’m getting a more pared-back vibe. I can see natural flowers, simple decor to allow the beautiful scenery and delicious food to shine.
See? It’s pretty easy to get a feel for what kind of wedding style will work for you.
Related reading:
- Should you Buy or DIY Wedding Stationery?
- How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations
- Tips for Printing Wedding Invitations at Home
How to find unique wedding theme ideas:
Once you’ve cracked your overall style, it’s helpful to create a wedding moodboard to collect your ideas.
You can do it the old-fashioned way by collecting magazine images and fabric samples. Or, if you’re like me then you might prefer a ‘virtual’ wedding mood board. And those don’t come much bigger than Pinterest.
But, here’s the thing with Pinterest:
It’s SUPER easy to fall into the trap of creating a Pinterest moodboard that is 1) WAAAAY out of your budget, and 2) just not realistic given your venue/ location/ time of year etc.
So, you’ve got to be realistic. Use Pinterest wisely to get some ideas that can work for your budget.
Here’s how to find inspiration for creative wedding themes…
1 – Create a new Pinterest board for your inspiration. Make it secret if you don’t want your friends spying on all your new wedding pins!
2 – Start by searching with a couple of words from your question list above – for example: ‘spring mountain lodge wedding’ throws up the following –
So, lots of green and blue hues, some lovely scenery and foliage-heavy decor. If that’s what you’re looking for then start pinning. If not, try changing up the search criteria until you start to see images that you’re drawn to. Pin as many images as you like to your chosen board.
3 – Open the board and take a look at all the images in one place. What is it that you like?
Is it the detail of the images, or is it more around the scenery/ lighting? If it’s the latter, is it realistic that your day will look like that too?
I totally made that mistake:
I was very drawn to gorgeous bright and sunny images from California vineyard nuptials. BUT, the reality was that I was getting married in Ireland where it rains a lot. I soon realised that my theme had to take account of grey skies and potential rain.
4 – Once you hit on a few (realistic) images that seem to work together you can try to put into words what your theme is. So if you’ve hit on a lot of images with foliage, perhaps your theme could be ‘natural botanical’. The key way to test this is to use this phrase to search for things like wedding decor and wedding stationery. If it’s showing up ideas that you like then you might be onto a winner.
Still can’t decide what type of wedding you want?
Ok, so what if you do all the above and still can’t decide what type of wedding is right for you? Never fear. You can have someone literally TELL you what wedding theme to go for. Just Google ‘wedding theme quiz’
I like this quiz – apparently, mine should be ‘earthy industrial’ which I think sounds bloody amazing!
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I hope this post has been helpful in helping you choose your wedding style.
But remember, you don’t HAVE to have a wedding “theme’… Just plan a day around you and your guests and it will be awesome!
See, not so difficult to choose a wedding theme that works for you!
