Regardless of how simple you want your wedding to be, you’ll need to follow some kind of theme, even if that theme is just “minimalism”. Determining your theme early on will help with your budgeting and planning and will let all the other little details fall into place much more naturally. Once your theme is established you’ll have a much less complicated time of choosing floral arrangements, dresses, and decorations.
Purchase After You Plan
Don’t buy anything until you’ve settled on a theme and you’re sure that’s what you want. It can be a big hassle to buy a dress you thought was your dream dress only to find it clashes completely with the rest of your theme. Anything you do buy, save all your receipts and be aware of any return policies before you leave the store. Once you have a colour scheme to follow and have visualized what you’d like your wedding to look like you’ll be able to co-ordinate your shopping efforts to ensure your flowers match your bridesmaid’s dresses and your wedding cake.
Planning a Theme around Your Wedding Date
If you aren’t already set on a theme but know your date, creating a theme that ties into that day can be a creative way to celebrate your marriage. A Valentine’s Day wedding could give you plenty of options with pink, red, and white colours along with some heart and cupid designs. For autumn weddings any earthy colours and natural leafy and pine looking decorations can add quite a bit of romance through nature. You may even choose to go a little darker and add some spook to your wedding for an October 31st wedding date. For a true white wedding, getting married in the winter can give you beautiful colour options with light blues and sparkling whites.
Keep Your Guests Informed
Whatever your theme, be sure your guests know how to dress. If you’re having a princess or renaissance type of theme, letting them know on their invitations will give them the opportunity to match their wardrobe to your theme if they’d like. If you expect your guests to dress in strict formal wear, be clear about it on the invitation. Especially for any wedding at an extremely casual venue, such as a sandy beach, let your guest know if casual wear and sandals are acceptable. If you’re guests are properly prepared, they’ll be much more comfortable and be able to more fully enjoy your wedding.
You may choose to have a theme for just your reception or you may use the same theme for your ceremony as well. Traditional white weddings are no longer the standard, so don’t be afraid to have fun with your wedding and get creative with your theme. Just be sure to plan out all the details of your wedding in advance and shape your budget around that before you start putting deposits down on anything.
