A theme is an overarching idea that ties everything together. It’s the centerpiece on the table of mismatched cutlery and crockery or the star stickers, used as page numbers, on your grade 6 school project of the moon. A wedding theme is no different: it provides an idea for everyone when deciding what to wear, and will push at your food, cake, décor and even conversation choices.
With wedding theme choosing comes great responsibility. What wedding theme will not encompass everyone, but will be simple enough to find decoration and food for? There are thousands, if not millions of themes (most of them were crossed out for your 18th birthday party), that can be used for your wedding day. But, along with making decisions about your wedding dress, which canapés to have, the font used on the invitations and whether you prefer the white or red wine (or neither), choosing a wedding theme is just something that falls to the bottom of the list; something under the title of ‘last minute decisions’.
Instead of grabbing at the first wedding theme that comes to your mind (which will probably be ‘fairytale’, ‘white wedding’ or, (if you’re going for obscure), ‘the 3rd Star Wars film’), I have made a list of two major types of wedding themes that can be simply achieved (or can act as base ideas, so you have a place to start)
- Garden Party
This is a classic and practical wedding photography vision as it will work with (mostly) everything, and it is workable through different seasons (add a gazebo for winter).
Props:
– Umbrellas – big floral sun umbrellas would be beautiful in the background and would offset your white wedding dress. If you’re wearing something colourful, buy umbrellas in block colours that are either complimentary or contrasting to your outfit (extra points for themed umbrellas)
– Off-white furniture so not to clash with your white dress (or vice versa). Even if you have a themed wedding, I recommend white furniture because it’s the prop that screams (or politely yells) ‘garden party’ the most
– Green grass (or leaves in Autumn) and, if possible, trees in the background. If you’re brave you can lie in the leaves/lean on the trees (but be careful of your dress!)
Bonus: use little cocktail umbrellas to put in your hair - Sunset Romance
This is a beautiful timeless look (but beware of mosquitos!) It works better in summer, but if you’re lucky (and Melbourne is great for unpredictable weather), you’ll get a good winter day. Props:
– Sunset (or sunrise if you want to get up early). Sunrise would probably be much quieter, but having children ohhing over your dress is part of the fun (although watch out for a) babies b) dogs and c) birds). There’s also the issue of possibly getting your dress wet/your shoes ruined but this works better if you a) have a short dress or b) hike it up, and c) don’t wear shoes (just wear thongs because you won’t be able to see them anyway). If you need heels to keep your dress up, buy a pair of ugly wedges from an op shop (it doesn’t matter if they get ruined and you’re donating to charity. Win-win!)
– Groom needs to wear a light coloured shirt to offset the sun’s vibrant rays (and I wouldn’t recommend green or another cold colour; think warm reds, pale oranges or even a light shade of yellow.
Note – if you’re set on this theme, make sure your photographer does beach photography.