Wedding Theme Tips

Were you a Renaissance bride? Or, did you have a circus theme, complete with fire-eaters and a palm reader? Brides give their thoughts and inspirations on creative and inspiring wedding theme ideas.

Scottish Bride

"My fiance is Scottish, so we're going to have an entirely Scots wedding. He's wearing a kilt, and I'm carrying a bouquet of heather. We're having a bagpipe player at the ceremony and a Celtic band at the reception. For favors, we're handing out little tiny bottles of Glen Livet." Molly from San Jose, CA

Butterfly Wedding

"I am having a Butterfly themed wedding. I am using butterflies in everything - flowers, the cake, the music, we are even realsing butterflies after the ceremony and at the reception our favors are chocolate butterflies. I have had butterflies sewn onto the back of my dress also. All the accessories like the guest book, glasses, etc. have butterflies on them also!" Katy from Blountville, TN

Renaissance Fair

"My fiance and I are getting married at our local renaissance festival. The entire bridal party is dressing up in 16th century costumes, including the minister! The guests are also encouraged to join in the fun. I have a very English and Irish background, and he has an Italian background, so by having this wedding theme, we're able to honor all of our heritages." Becky from Springhill, FL

Chinese Wedding

"My wedding was a 17th century Chinese wedding. I wore an elaborate imperial chaofu and surcoat for the ceremony with white roses and colorful lillies tied in red for the bouquet. He wore a red dragon brocade da gua. For the reception, it was Chinese immitating European court feast. My gown was a lavender brocade bodice, doupioni and organza (white and lavender) skirted ballgown--complete with hoopskirts like they were in Elizabethan England. White tiered wedding cake for dessert. Sliced fruits, chinese dumplings, and steamed buns for the main course--no meat because it was at a Buddhist temple that wouldn't allow it. For favors: chopsticks and fans. And everywhere was double happiness banners." Fengguan from East Orange, NJ

Country and Western

"My fiance and our groomsmen will all be wearing western wear complete with cowboy hats. Our flower girl will be coming down in a mini wagon filled with flowers and satin pillows. The wedding itself is being held outside with a great view." Kristine from Reddick, IL

Spooktacular Wedding

"Our fave holiday is halloween and my fiance's favorite movie is "The Nightmare Before Christmas", so we decided to have a halloween/"Nightmare" wedding. My dress is a white renaissance dress, he is wearing a pin striped suit with tails. The invitation will incorporate somewhere that people can come dressed up if they want to. We want to hire a fortune teller for the cocktail hour, the reception hall is going to be decorated with black trees decorated with halloween ornaments and jack o'lanterns. I am so excited about our theme that we totally thought up ourselves that I wanted to share it with all the people that were going nuts thinking up ideas like we were in the beginning...oh! and don't forget the "Monster Mash" during the reception..." Mary from Philadelphia, PA

Tunnel of Love

"Me and my fiance are getting married in our flower garden backyard. It is the second marriage for each of us. We wanted to do something different and what we came up with was, The Tunnel of Love theme - we saw a huge Tunnel of Love sign at a flea market and it hit us both at the same time. To use it in our wedding. We have a breeze way that you have to walk through to get to our garden area. And we decided to hang the sign just over the entrance and decorate the walls with flowers and pictures of all of our family and friends that we love and care about, so when our guest walk through, they will see all of their pictures on the walls, and what we have written about how special each of them are to us." Star from Sutter, CA

Gone With the Wedding

"My fiance and I met as a Civil War reenactment (we're both reenactors) and have both dreamed of having a Civil War themed wedding (everything will be as close to the real thing as possible). We're getting married at the reenactment we met at and we, our attendants,our family, and some of our friends will all be dressed in period clothing. Our reception is going to be a period ball with other reenactors. The reenactment/wedding site is below/next to a restaurant (on a little island on a river) and everyone eating at the restaurant and driving by will be able to see us! We're even getting a horse and carriage as our getaway vehicle!" Melissa from Birmingham, AL

Looking for Musical Ideas

"Hi there, we are going to have a beach wedding that consists of about 150 guests and the fact that both me and my fiancee are musicians, he's a guitarist and I'm a pianist so there's going to be lots of every kind of music. I'm thinking of a concert-filled beach wedding. Kristina from Singapore

Keep The Home Fires Burning

"My husband and I were married almost 10 years ago. We eloped. But, for our 10th anniversary we are going to have a full-blown wedding. Both of us are firefighters/EMTs and met through EMS. He is wearing his Class A uniform and I am wearing a formal dress. Our fire station is taking us from the church to the reception by pumper. Leann Pegg from Piner, Kentucky

Kimberly - Urban Safari?

I have some ideas for Kimberly about her Urban Safari wedding. For your dress, if you know a seamstress, get her to make you a beautiful wedding gown out of khaki material. But, I am not talking about a traditional, full-skirted wedding gown. A simple off the shoulder, floor length wedding gown. Have your fiancee wear a black suit with a traditional tie. If you want an even more safari theme, take it to the beach. But, if you can't go that far, just simply decorate your reception area with banana plants and trees and other greenery. Think about an urban menu and decorate the table wih greenery as well. Even your table wear can be decorated with "tropical plants". Take a string of lights and stretch them from one end of the table to the other, right down the middle. Make candles to reflect candle lights in the safari. Give stuffed safari animals as favors such as lions, tigers, and giraffes. There are endless ideas to your wonderful idea. I'm sure your wedding will turn out as wonderful as you imagine! Andrea Holifield, Wedding Consultant from Montevallo, Alabama

Fairy Wedding

"I am having a fairy theme wedding. The cake top is the cutest, two fairies kissing (the boy one is kneeling and the girl is bending at the waist). We're covering the ceiling with balloons and some of them will have fairies dangling from strings. The bridesmaids and I will be wearing wings. My colors are black and white with the fairies adding accents of color." Valerie from Bakersfield, CA

Rat Pack Reception

"I want to have a classic reception with a modern twist. Think Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", Sinatra, martinis and cigars, theme colors: black and white with red accents, glass bowls with swimming goldfish as the centerpieces at the reception. Stephanie

Wedding Gazette