Do You Really Need A Wedding Theme?

Wait, what?  My wedding needs a theme?

If this is a new concept for you, let me go over what a theme is and how you can use it to make decisions and create cohesiveness throughout your wedding.

Essentially, a theme is a subject or focus that can be used for inspiration in your wedding planning.  This may mean certain colors, decorations, invitations, or even attire that can be tied together by this theme.  Typically the focus is on décor, but if you stretch your imagination you can fit your theme into almost any wedding choice.

The benefit of a theme is that it sort of marries the elements of your wedding, and it can also help you make decisions because certain items either fit the theme (or not).  Once you settle on a theme it can really help guide your wedding planning. 

For crafty or creative people, the thought of a wedding theme may sound amazing. It really gets the ideas flowing, and you may get excited to pull it all together.  For the rest of us, it can seem downright daunting and overwhelming, but I promise you it really isn’t.

So if choosing a theme feels overwhelming, let’s see if I can help you sort through what might work well for you with some ideas:

SEASONS

Depending on your preferences and the time of year for your wedding, you may want to go with a Fall, Winter, Spring, or Summer theme. It doesn’t necessarily mean that your wedding has to be in the season you are using as a theme, just that you and your partner enjoy that time of year.

Here are some ideas you can use for this theme:

FALL – Red, orange, and purple flowers and décor. Leaves and foliage down the aisle. Serve a warm beverage in the evening like hot chocolate.  Incorporate boots into your attire (for either men or women).  This is a great article with lots of ideas. 

WINTER – Silver, red, green, or white flowers, maybe with poinsettias or mistletoe as decorations. Ornaments used as décor around the room. Serve a minty chocolate drink or something with eggnog as your signature beverage.  Wear a shall or have long sleeves.  For more ideas, check this out. 

SPRING – Pastel pink, blue, or green colors for your flowers. Bridesmaids with parasols. Serve strawberry lemonade as a yummy beverage. This article had lots of cute ideas. 

SUMMER – Bright peach, yellow, or blue as your colors. Your bouquet is made with sunflowers. Serve a berry mint beverage as your signature drink.  From being outside to having flip flops handy for guests, this post has a lot more creative items to think about.

As you can see, these seasons can serve as inspiration for the colors used throughout the wedding venue, and there can be very simple nods to each season throughout all your wedding choices. 

LOCATIONS

This could mean almost anything, but really I’m thinking of the beach, mountains, or a specific city. Depending on what you choose, you could easily tie in specific colors, invitations, and food to go along with this theme.

Here are some ideas you can use for this theme:

THE BEACH – Use blue or pale yellow as your main colors.  Have centerpieces that are filled with shells or sand.  Send invitations that have waves on them.  Serve drinks that have little umbrellas in them.  You can totally have a beach-themed wedding without actually being at the beach, and this post has some great ideas that can bring the beach to your wedding.  

THE MOUNTAINS – Create a rustic feel with mossy green and wood décor.  Give guests a s’mores themed wedding favor.  Have guests sign a tent as your guest book.  Hold your wedding in a barn or actually out in the woods.  Check out this article for more fun ideas. 

NEW YORK – Hold your wedding at an industrial location.  Serve New York Style Pizza as a late night snack.  Name your tables after New York attractions (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc.).  For lots of New York Wedding inspired items, check out this Etsy page dedicated to it. 

PARIS – Use cream, blush, and sage as your main colors.  Treat your guests to macarons as a favor.  Use vintage plates.  Wear a lace dress.  There are a ton of examples in this beautiful article.   

As you can see, you can really use your imagination and dedicate your wedding to literally anywhere you’d like to be. 

COLORS

This is by far the most common and easiest theme.

You really just need to pick a color (or colors) for your wedding, and go with it. I’ve been to weddings that had a “blue” feel, and those that were “purple”, you get the picture. I do suggest having a balancing color if you go this route, or using more than one shade of the color to break up the room.  However, you can do whatever you’d like. 

For an example of how to incorporate a specific color, if you choose orange, have fun with it.  Create a signature drink that is orange.  Have orange linens throughout the room.  Tie an orange ribbon around your bouquet.  Use oranges as your centerpieces.  Go for it and choose what makes you happy. 

HOBBIES

Maybe you and your partner are into camping. Or maybe reading. It could be trains. Or golfing, surfing, or boating.

The list of hobbies is endless. You can really get the theme flowing here because it’s probably already a subject you’re into.

Here are some ideas to add to this:

GOLFING – One obvious nod to this theme is to hold your wedding on a golf course.  The guys could wear those fun plaid golf socks.  Green could be your main color.  This article from The Knot has some clever ideas. 

READING – Use books as your centerpieces.  Have a little nook somewhere in your wedding venue for guests to sit and read/relax.  Have a signature drink that nods to your favorite authors (example: Mark Twain’s Martini).  Check this out for more inspiration.

TRAINS – Use old train names as your table names (full disclosure, my husband loves trains and this is what we did. Our guests sat at California Zephyr, North Coast Limited, Sunset, and The Canadian, among others).  Send “tickets” instead of invitations.  Check out this gorgeous wedding for more ideas. 

WHERE TO INSERT YOUR THEME

As you can see above, you can place your theme into lots of different wedding areas.

Here’s my list of where you might be able to have your theme represented (just ideas, not limited to these):

• Invitations/Save The Dates
• Centerpieces
• Overall wedding colors
• Attire: Bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen ties, socks, footwear
• Bouquets, flowers
• Signature drinks
• Dinner options
• Signage
• Thank you cards
• Wedding Website
• Wedding Favors
• Guest Book
• Cake/dessert

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Hopefully this post helped get the creative juices flowing for your wedding theme.  

The thing with themes is you can go full throttle, adding them into everything that you do, or just sprinkle the thought throughout the wedding. I believe as long as there is some cohesiveness, it will all come together just fine.

Did you find this post useful, inspiring?  Save THIS PIN to your Wedding Theme Board on Pinterest!