The wonderful thing about a modern wedding is it really can be anything you and your spouse want it to be–provided you can agree on what that is. Since you’re the grown-ups now, you get to decide what a wedding should look like. It can be as whimsical, nerdy, or quirky as you’d like. After all, you’re already going to be dressing up like you never would in your day-to-day life. Why not take it to the next level? Here are a few truly unusual wedding themes for the most adventurous couples.
Day of the Dead
A Halloween wedding theme might be too out there, except for the most dedicated Goth kids or heavy metal musician. But for a November wedding a Day of the Dead theme can make for a lovely wedding day. Centerpieces and bouquets can use marigolds, the traditional flower. Esqueletos, figurines of skeletons dressed in formal wear, would make fantastic cake toppers. Bright colors are a must, from the cake to the delicate cut-paper banners. Let guests decorate their own marzipan sugar skulls at the table while they wait for dinner. Day of the Dead is a celebration of life–and so is your wedding.
Harry Potter
Even though it makes us feel old to say this, folks who are getting married now most likely grew up with the Harry Potter books and films. You can bring that theme into your wedding just a little or go all the way–your save-the-dates can be themed as invitations to Hogwarts, the wedding program as the Marauder’s Map, the bride and groom in robes. Your wedding colors can be the colors of your favorite Hogwarts house, and the bridal party will have to get at least one picture where you’re all riding brooms. Bonus points if you can get a trained owl to drop off the rings.
1950’s
Poodle skirts, pompadours, and the threat of nuclear annihilation–what’s not to love about the 50’s? Put your bridesmaids in poodle skirts and the groomsmen in leather jackets. Have a soda jerk in a paper hat serve malts at the reception. Dance the night away at a sock hop reception to the sounds of early rock n’ roll and swing music. Just feel free to avoid the meat-based Jell-O dishes that were popular in that era, they really don’t need a place in your 50’s era wedding theme.
Science!
If you and your partner are inclined toward the scientific world, make science (especially mad science) your wedding theme. You can put the officiant in a lab coat, serve drinks at the reception in Erlenmeyer flasks and test tubes, and style your program as a scientific journal. If you can find a few working Jacob’s Ladders to serve as table centerpieces, that would really take your science wedding theme to the next level.
Some of your older wedding guests might find these suggestions a little too playful for such a solemn day. But you can have just as much heartfelt sentiment dressed in a wizard’s robe or a poodle skirt as you would in a froofy dress or a rented tuxedo. Follow your shared passions to come up with the wedding theme that’s just right for you.