Tips on Avoiding Tacky Wedding Themes

By: Alexine

Choosing your wedding theme is one of the most crucial parts of the planning process. It is the backbone to the whole wedding and requires more attention than most brides give it. There are more chances that the theme will be a total disaster than turn out just as you imagined. With that it mind, I’ve come up with a few ways you can avoid having a tacky wedding and be closer to the perfect day.

Brainstorm Your Expectations
While brainstorming the theme of your wedding it is important to think about the expectations you have of the day as a whole.

• Do you want lots of entertainment or an intimate evening?
• Are your grandparents going to be there or is it a more contemporary crowd?
• Would you like dance music from the 80’s and 90’s or strictly classical?
• Do you want your bridesmaids in the same dress or choose their own shade of color and style?
• Would you like a more unique feel and look to your wedding?
• Are you and your fiancé known for anything in particular like a sport, hobby or social activity?

By asking questions like these, your list will begin to emerge and you may see a pattern for your theme. For example, if you want an intimate evening with all the family, a wide variety of music to suit the mood and a formalized reception. This type of wedding would be considered more formal and you wouldn’t want to choose a funky theme.

Choose Your Location
Whether you want a military base wedding to celebrate the safe homecoming of your fiancé or a tropical theme to highlight the wonderful parts of living in Hawaii, location is the key. No matter what you brainstorm, it is important for your theme to make sense based on where the wedding is located.
While it is easiest to do a traditional wedding, you can be creative with the wedding theme and do something out of the ordinary.

An example could be a sports theme to show support for a favorite team you both share where you live. While this could be disastrous, instead of going all out with the team name and logo, keep the details more elegant. Use their team colors for your bridal party and for the décor on your cake. Also if you want more color, the linens can be coordinated to contrast the dresses and vests along with the flowers. You will still have greens and other flowers that are more neutral colors mixed in to keep the arrangements balanced and beautiful.

Think Each Decision Through
At the end of the day remember that it is very important to think through all your wedding details to eliminate the possibility of disaster. Go through the decisions you and your fiancé made to really put the big picture together.

• What location did you choose?
• Who did you invite? How many people does that come to?
• What type of decorations did you order on the cake?
• Which color and style of linens, flowers, dresses and suits did you choose?
• How well do the wedding guests know you and your fiancé?
• Would your theme be comfortable for all the guests?

The most difficult task is going through the list and changing things that seem too odd or over done. However, you will appreciate simplicity when it comes to your wedding date.

For my wedding I had a theme of summer on the coast and to show that my flowers were put in glass vases with seashells in the bottom. The color for the dresses and tuxedo vests was a peony pink and the flowers had shades of green, coral and pink. The last coordinating details I had was a pattern on the white wedding cake in the peony pink. These subtle details kept the wedding from being overdone or tacky.

Keep Things Simple
While it is way too easy to get over your head in detail, try and keep things simple for the wedding. The worst thing you can do is stress yourself out so much with tons of over the top additions that make your wedding both overwhelming and tacky. Choose one or two colors, coordinate accent parts of the wedding, make subtle decorations with your theme and focus on the union of you and your fiancé. Shy away from worrying too much about the guests and focus on your love. That’s what it all boils down to!

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our Wedding Planning Checklist that is full of helpful tips on planning your wedding.