WEDDING

The Top 13 Wedding Themes For Your Special Day

Bride sitting on a chair in the forest

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Picking your wedding theme is probably the most important decision you have to make for your wedding, because all other decisions rest on this. Think about it… the dress, flowers, venue, cake, food will all be influenced by the theme you choose.

You probably wouldn’t wear a large ball gown to an outdoor, woodland wedding and likewise, you wouldn’t want to have a natural, log backdrop for your high-end fancy hotel wedding. This is why wedding planners always advise brides to pick their theme prior to any other planning for their wedding to prevent stress and frustrations.

With that said, here’s a look at the top 13 wedding themes that you can choose from for your wedding day.

1- The Fairy Tale Wedding

Bride wearing wedding dress siting on a chair

 Many little girls grow up watching Disney movies and fall in love with the romance and drama of a princess or a fairytale themed setting.  Your wedding day is all about happily ever after, and your wedding theme can be just that. Also referred to as a Cinderella wedding, a fairytale theme includes a big fluffy ball gown, classic white and pink color choices and even can include a horse-drawn carriage!  Music is often provided by an orchestra and decorations will include sparkly gemstones, candelabras and beautiful white flowers in the bouquets. Fairytale weddings will make everyone feel like they have been transported to a castle in a storybook.  The added benefit to this theme is that you can elect to use a Disney movie theme specifically for a fairy tale wedding.

2- The Garden Wedding

Garden wedding venue

Outdoor weddings are very traditional and continue to be one of the most popular choices for brides. Garden venues can be very cost effective and having an outdoor setting offers the chance to select bright colors and even wear a non-traditional dress.  The garden itself will provide a large part of the backdrop for the wedding, which can save money on decorations as a whole. This is a great base for a vintage wedding as well, since a garden was one of the historical options for brides of yesteryear to get married in.

3- The Beach Wedding

Beach wedding setup venue

Beach and destination weddings are growing in popularity, largely because the beach provides a naturally stunning backdrop for a wedding ceremony. Beach weddings are often light and airy in style with stripped down, basic décor and the bride wearing a simple, practical dress.  Because the wedding party is often small at this type of wedding due to travel costs, a beach wedding is often very intimate and cozy and feels more special to some brides for this reason. Beach weddings are often paired with tropical flower arrangements and simple table settings that won’t detract from the locale itself.

4- Great Gatsby Theme

Couple sitting on a bench at their wedding venue

Historical and vintage weddings are very popular right now and the Gatsby theme takes this one step further. Outlandish and opulent styling is mandatory for this theme and for brides who want a traditional wedding with some vava voom, this is the right theme to pick. You will want to use feathers, diamonds and candelabras as well as fun flapper styling and double-breasted suits for the men. You will need a live band as well and should consider hiring a bar tender who knows how to make traditional cocktails of the era.

5- The Punk Theme

Couple on their wedding day

Does the love of your life ride a motorcycle every day? Do you both own a leather jacket? Maybe you love rock and roll. If any of these apply to you, a Punk or Rock ‘n’ Roll themed wedding is for you.  The wedding dress for this type of wedding might be a sleek sheathe dress with a leather jacket on top or even a fluffy tutu ala Cyndi Lauper.  You can leave the wedding on a motorcycle or even someone’s cool, grungy classic car. Use a white base for this wedding’s colors but add pops of red, black or any other wild color you like.  You will want a rock band to play at the reception and you can probably pare down the flowers to the bare minimum.  

6- The Holiday Wedding

Bride and groom

Weddings that take place over a holiday are often some of the most memorable.  There is a lot of thematic design already built into a wedding that takes place over Christmas or Easter, making the style choices specific and easy to choose.  If it is Christmas wedding, for example, you will select reds and greens to go with a white base, and you will want to make sure that your styling is traditional with hints of sparkle and glam. This is a great theme if you love winter and want to wear a stark white gown or if you like the idea of lots of red built into your color theme. The reception can be made to be as wintry as you want and you might consider sending guests home with cute little wrapped thank you gifts.

7- The Seasonal Wedding

Bride and groom in the farm

Like a holiday theme, a seasonal theme embraces the colors and styling we often relate to a specific time of year. If you are having a summer wedding, you will likely wear a lightweight dress, have an outdoor venue and pick tropical or colorful flowers.  Food at summer weddings can be fruity, light and sweet.  Likewise, if you are having a fall wedding, you will want to lean towards using evergreens and fall flowers in your flower arrangements. You could even include some pops of plaid in your table settings and styling and you could select homey, comforting food and drink for the reception.  Using a color palette based on the seasons is clever and effective and can make planning your wedding very easy.

8- Country Theme

Couple at their country themed wedding

This wedding theme works perfectly for outdoor settings with fun colors and lighthearted styling. Country weddings can be conducted at any hour of the day and are usually simple and basic in their styling.  Some added rodeo-style glitter and belt buckles never hurts but is not required. Use woodsy table arrangements and consider having some fun party games like corn hole for the reception.

9- Woodland Theme

Bride and groom in the forest

The woodland wedding theme embraces a rustic style featuring the woods, trees and nature in general. It’s perfect for nature lovers or a couple that just want to have a dreamy forest wedding. The color palette for woodland weddings is earthy and warm colors, typically lots of browns, oranges, reds, pinks and yellows. The flowers and décor are very natural and incorporate many elements from the woods, like pinecones, leaves, vines and so on. When well arranged, a woodland theme is an amazing choice and one that your guests aren’t likely to forget.

10- Bohemian Wedding

Couple standing at their wedding venue by the sea

Bohemian weddings are inspired by nature and the outdoors. There’s nothing flashy or extravagant about them but they’re some of the most beautiful weddings. The bride would typically wear a free, flowing dress that’s comfortable and delicate-looking, with flowers in her hair and a simple natural hairstyle, like braids or a messy bun. Natural elements and props like wildflowers and greenery, fairy lights and macramé décor beautifully complement bohemian weddings. The venue would ideally be outdoors or in a non-flashy setting. A bohemian wedding is excellent for a couple who wants to keep it simple and natural.

11- Destination Wedding

A destination wedding is an excellent way to remove the stresses of planning a wedding at home. It’s also often chosen as a way to cut down on large numbers of guests! With destination weddings, you can choose any theme you want, but the destination itself could be your theme. The overall idea is that there’s a touch of the exotic, a little bit of culture from the country the wedding is held in which is incorporated into your wedding. You can opt to embrace the culture and use that to inspire your wedding plans. For most people, destination wedding often ends up being less expensive than a wedding at home, but this is all relative so take it on a case by case basis.

12- Pink Themed Wedding

Pink themed wedding

If you love pink, there is no reason not to use all things pink as the base for your wedding theme.  Select pink flowers, wear a pink sash over your dress, maybe even consider some fun elements like pink feathers and pink jewelry.  Employing various shades of pink is important here so that your wedding doesn’t become monochromatic.  You can also add something monochromatic with the pink like dark gray to keep things from becoming too saturated in one color. Pink themed weddings are usually flower-heavy or include lots of tulle and other fluffy, soft accents. This is the light heated version of a princess wedding and can be styled to be as simple or as fancy as you want.

13- Movie Theme

Couple on their wedding day

Do you and your partner have a favorite movie? Maybe you both cosplay on the weekends. If you just can’t stop thinking about making your wedding theme surround a movie that you love to pieces, then go for it!   Movie themed weddings can be as literal or as approximate as you want. You can walk down the aisle in actual costume or you can simply add nods to the movie with color choices, your venue and your jewelry and music.  Your wedding day is supposed to be fun and a movie theme can be fun for everyone at the wedding!

Do I Need to Pick A Theme?

The answer is yes.  The wedding theme is the basis upon which every other choice for the wedding is made.  Without a theme, it is very difficult to choose flowers, a dress, the colors that will be used and so on. Weddings that are arranged without an overall theme often feel thrown together and messy, even if everything is of exceptional quality individually and a nice venue were selected.

Some brides shy away from selecting a theme because they are concerned about price or about making other people unhappy.  The important thing to remember as a bride is that your wedding day is all about you and your loved one, and the theme that you pick should be personal and make you happy. Even if budget is a factor, having a theme picked out will make budgeting that much easier as well.

How Do I Pick a Wedding Theme?

Picking a wedding theme is a very important choice that a bride needs to make and maybe even the most important one, as everything else rests on this. Many brides have always had a picture in their mind of what their wedding day would be like, and often that is the basis for their choice.  If you are still stumped about which theme to pick for your wedding day, check out our list of the top 10 wedding themes for your special day. 

The theme of your wedding is a personal choice and should always be picked you and your partner.  Having a princess wedding because someone else wanted you to will not makes you as happy as having the Star Wars themed wedding you secretly wished you could have planned.  Pick your theme before you start shopping for all the rest of your wedding needs and you will have much more fun planning your wedding day and be much happier with the end result.