There are lots of wonderful things about keeping your wedding an intimate gathering of loved ones. You can actually reach out to each of your guests and have some time to thank them for coming to your wedding unlike a receiving line where your entourage welcomes each guest by a handshake and a smile.
Other than making it intimate, you can make your wedding a more enriching occasion by choosing a wedding theme that fits your personality and the preferences of your guests. Here are some tips on how you and your fiancé can do just that.
How to Choose a Wedding Theme
1. Personality – Take some time to sit down and talk about how you each envision the wedding individually. Your visions don’t need to be similar or complementary to each other at this point. It’s just about showing your personal flair by imagining how your wedding will look like. Take down notes on the features that both of you would like to have. This will help you identify your overall preferences.
2. Interests – Consider your individual interests but highlight those that you share as a couple. Your interests are a great source of ideas on creating a theme that your family and friends can easily identify you with as a couple. For example, you may both love to read and drink coffee, and may have even met because of such interest. Then a coffee-shop theme would be perfect for your wedding! It’s a special way to share your love story and interest in such activities.
3. Narrowing It Down – With your initial notes as possible ideas for a general wedding theme, identify specific elements that you want in your wedding. You begin with your individual visions for your wedding. Perhaps you want a romantic wedding while he wants it laidback. From there you can consider a garden setting and after incorporating your interests in books and coffee, you specify it further by identifying a book you both love and complement the experience with your favorite coffees.
4. The Right Details – A smaller wedding doesn’t automatically mean that your preparations will be simpler. This is because, unlike in a grand wedding where some details can go unnoticed, guests in an intimate wedding will pay closer attention to your set-up, decors and other features of your wedding. You can focus on your details and make your theme as rich as possible for your guests to experience at a more personal level. Carefully select the wedding decoration and be sure to follow a coherent look in all aspects of your wedding, from invitations to favours.
Once you know what you want, preparing your wedding won’t feel like work for you anymore. It can even be so much fun when you are recreating your interests and incorporating them into your wedding. With enough inspiration, you can come up with your own wedding theme or customize any of the following to make it uniquely yours.
Theme Ideas
1. Eclectic – A mix and match of wares, furniture, and wedding decor that creates a blend of elegance and a rustic ambience. But no matter how varied your items are there still has to be a unifying factor to achieve an eclectic look. You can use wooden chairs in various designs as long as you only use pastel colors. You can throw in some Victorian throw pillows for a garden setting and even have a chandelier hanging from a tree branch. You can also feature some family heirloom for décor.
2. Coffee or Tea Party – Have your favourite caffeine fix as a couple the centre of your intimate gathering. Think of it as another coffee date or a tea party but extra special. Use coffee or tea inspirations from your wedding hues to your favours. The rich brown colour of coffee is a lovely colour motif for a rustic wedding. Tea bags are a wonderful giveaway. You can have teacups, pots, and saucers or mugs as centrepieces. For food, serve coffee-flavoured dishes or desserts, then have biscuits, milk, and honey for “tea time”. This wedding theme is relaxed and intimate but still has an elegant feel and look.
3. Boho Chic – If you have a love for travel as a couple, you can share this through a boho chic wedding theme. Get the wanderlust vibe of bohemians set in a lush garden or in a romantic park. Use photos of your travels as centrepieces to tell your story. Incorporate your collection of souvenirs and memorabilia from different destinations into your décor. If you love the styles of Nicole Richie and the Olsen twins, you will love this wedding theme where you can create a bridal look influenced by your fashion icons.
4. Classic Romance – Having classic romance novels or love poems that have a sentimental meaning in your relationship is a wonderful wedding theme idea for your wedding. You can be playful with words in your wedding by sprinkling your wedding with your favourite quotes and then putting them in your invitations and centerpieces.
5. Chic Vintage – One of this year’s trends in wedding themes is vintage, which creates a romantic and nostalgic atmosphere. Select a decade that you want to recreate for your wedding, and identify items that are iconic of those years, then use them as your wedding decoration to highlight your theme. You can have pearls in your centerpiece and a mix of flea market wares for your tablescape. As wedding decor, you can also use old photos of couples from the 1920s to the 1950s in vintage picture frames to create a more nostalgic vibe.
Staying true to your personalities, your couple’s flair, and interests will greatly help in choosing a wedding theme that’s perfect for your intimate wedding. You can make your wedding theme an enjoyable experience that you will be pleased to share with your closest family and friends on your wedding day. When it’s true to who you are as a couple, they will definitely remember it and cherish being a part of such a unique and special day.