The OurWeddingDay Blog

It’s no wonder you and your fiancé are having a celestial themed wedding, because you’re a match made in heaven! Make your celestial themed wedding reception heavenly with the perfect wedding reception supplies and accessories. Trust me, you’ll have so much fun picking out gifts from the sky that you won’t want the wedding planning to end!

• Candles: Buy star shaped candles and place them on tables throughout the reception from the entrance where the guestbook resides all the way to the dj’s table at the far end of the ballroom. Don’t forget about the restrooms!
  Favors: Send your guests home with a silver bag of star-shaped sugar cookies. If you’re not a fan of sending them home with edibles, then find star and moon shaped soap or candles.
• Table Numbers: Bring your theme home by purchasing compasses to use instead of paper place cards. Place the compasses on a table at the entrance to the reception and have them faced open with the guest’s names and table numbers on them. These double as wedding favors that your guests can take home and can use any time they feel they’ve lost their way.
• Special Touch: Anytime you make use of ribbons, tulle, confetti, or want to make that flower arrangement look extra sparkly, make sure you do so with the stars and moon in mind. For example, if you need to decide on a ribbon to tie your bouquet together choose a silver ribbon with star and moon shapes and those perfectly aligned stars will walk you down the aisle on your big day.

Read more:

• Integrating Your Wedding Theme
• The Benefits of a Small Reception
• Selecting the Right Reception Venue

The great thing about having winter themed weddings is you can allow the season itself to guide you when choosing your wedding color themes, winter wedding flowers, and overall wedding theme. The following tips will get the wheels turning in these areas of your dream winter wedding.

Wedding Color Themes
When creating your color palette for your winter wedding theme, think of what nature is offering during this season: snow, pine cones, holly leaves, ice, and berries. There is a strong contrast between light and dark during winter so consider choosing colors that accentuate this, such as black, white, and red, or a dark emerald green, burgundy, and white.

Winter Wedding Flowers
There is a wide variety of flowers that are in full bloom during winter. Consider using one or a mixture of the following varietals when choosing your flowers: holly berry, acacia, gerbera daisies, irises, lilies, orchids, roses, carnations, camellias, poinsettias, snowdrops, Queen Ann’s lace, holly, winter daphne, alstroemeria, ginger flower, witch hazel, and bergenia. Winter flowers are not limited to the flowers listed here, so consult your wedding florist when narrowing your choices. Explore popular wedding colors, choose yours, and then decide wich flowers match them.

Winter Wedding Theme
Communicate your winter theme by using winter flowers, pine branches, wreathes, and potted evergreens. Consider bringing in fake snow, or cover the walls with all white drapes and coverings to indicate a winter wonderland and accentuate the brightness with white twinkling lights, bells, and shimmering ornaments.

Read more:

• Winter Wedding Trend Alert: Crystals!
• Themes to Match Your Winter Wedding Colors
• Winter Wedding Flowers to Match Your Theme

Theme weddings are a great way to give your ceremony a unique touch. Not only do you get to put a stamp on your ceremony, but they’re fun to plan, and more fun to celebrate. Since you don’t want to end up with a cheesy affair that looks like a kid’s birthday party, here are 5 ways to take inspiration from sources near and dear to your heart.

1. Time of Year. If December is your wedding month, consider a Christmas or Chanukah affair. You can do New Year’s Eve as well, but that one’s harder to pull off unless it’s actually on December 31. Similarly, fall weddings can translate to Halloween themes, Thanksgiving motifs, even football affairs. One big advantage of holiday weddings is that reception sites might already have many of the decorations set up. This is especially true of Christmas weddings and Valentine affairs.
2. Location. If you’re marrying in an unusual spot, like a plush garden or historic home, go with it! A Hawaiian theme works wonders (think leis and tiki lamps), and an Art Deco affair can be gorgeous if it matches the surroundings (a vintage dress for you, a smoking jacket for him). A pool party theme can be quite elegant if it’s in a sophisticated environment, and you can set up cabanas and bar service around the area. Just make sure you change out of your wedding clothes before you dive in!
3. Ice, Ice, Baby. Ice bars are all the rage now, and make for a chillingly good party. If you live somewhere where planners have the right tools, have them set up a frozen bar, and wear cool blue colors. You can serve ice cold drinks in glasses made of, yes, ice. If you’re not able to go that far, set your cocktail hour around a signature drink and dress accordingly. Summer weddings call for a Mint Julep and khaki colors, and winter nights mean Manhattans and a black and white affair.
4. Surprise Them. Surprise weddings can be a great way to treat your guests to a thrill, and are guaranteed not to be forgotten. They’re best for guests who don’t want a lot of fuss or gifts. The invitations can be a celebration of your engagement, or, even more off-putting, a birthday or other common celebration. At a certain time, an announcement is made, the “I Do’s” are said, and voila! A wedding they’ll never forget. The hardest part is getting long-distance guests to show up, so choose a time when most will be together, or reconsider this theme if you want all your relatives in attendance.
5. All in the Family. If you want to honor your parents, or both sets of parents, you can use your wedding to celebrate their long and happy marriage. You already know they’re going to be at the rehearsal dinner and the main event, so turn a portion of your celebration into an occasion of honor. Have your DJ or band leader introduce both couples, together or separately, and play their favorite song. You can also use the skills of a videographer to collect film clips and photos, and show a mini-movie of their lives together. Not only will it be an everlasting joy to them, it will remind you of why you decided to get married in the first place.

Read more: 5 Smart Ways to Save, Making Sure They’ll “Save the Date” and Planning Beach Theme Wedding

As different as every couple, wedding color schemes have become another way to distinguish and personalize your special event. Once you pin down your wedding date (or at least the season) and look into venues, tackle this topic to bring more clarity to your vision. Your wedding color scheme not only enhances your best look on your big day, but will add richness to your wedding theme. The following wedding color schemes tips do not spell out trendy color combos—since words hardly give justice to a hue—but they do suggest where to go for inspiration before the infinite color wheel saturates you...

Keep reading here because where and when you get married will have a big impact on your wedding color scheme.

A bride never forgets her wedding flowers. From the selection of flower varieties and color, to designing the arrangements and even assembling them yourself, wedding flowers demand much of your attention as the bride-to-be. Little surprise, wedding flowers also require a large part of your overall wedding budget. Adopt one or several of the following strategies to help lower your expenses while still meeting your budding expectations.

Quantity vs. Quality
When it comes to floral design, high quantity of blooms equals or surpasses high quality. Bunching and repetition of even the most ordinary, economical flower can make a lovely impact. Every flower naturally is gorgeous; use large or exotic blooms sparingly. Gladiolas exemplify high value flower varieties.

Slim Down and Simplify
Reduce the overall quantity of flowers. Appropriately fit the flowers to their vases. By tightly bunching them in small-mouthed containers, smaller quantities will appear more abundant. Alternatively, embrace the sleek minimalist style with a few long-stemmed varieties that elegantly hold their own in tall vases. Double the overall floral affect with mirrors. This works well for a black and white wedding theme.

Let Them Live
Incorporate wedding flowers that don’t require cutting or picking. Use colorful potted plant displays to decorate. Marrying outdoors in a blooming neighborhood garden would suffice, providing the right blossoming background for your ceremony and other wedding theme ideas.

Reuse
Put your bridesmaids in charge of transporting the flowers from the ceremony to the reception hall. Altar flowers become banquet bunches. Aisle bouquets transform into table centerpieces. Find bouquet stands to turn your wedding party’s handhelds into reception table décor. Rent large potted flower displays or trees that can be reused.

Show Off Your Green Thumb
Grow your own wedding flowers, gather them from friends’ gardens or order them from the nearest flower farm. Plan a wedding party activity to pick-your-own the day before. Store them overnight in a shaded room in buckets of cool water.

Do-It-Yourself
Assemble your own centerpieces and wedding color schemes instead of hiring a florist. Flatter and ask a creative friend to design and craft the arrangements with you. Get quality time together and save. Providing your own vases or other creative containers for a hired florist is another way to save a little.

Time It Right
Plan your wedding in the season that your favorite flower will naturally bloom in abundance. Avoid holiday mark-ups, like roses around Valentine's Day, by planning your date accordingly.

Awesome Alternatives
Add simple alternative décor into your wedding theme ideas and displays to pare down the flower order. Search through the second-hand shops, garage sales and craft stores for vintage goodies. Add candles, paper lanterns, balloons or twinkling light to the design. Weave into the floral bunches ribbons, buttons, paper or silk flowers, or theme-related trinkets. Use nature’s collectibles, like dried leaves or flowers, driftwood, sea shells, feathers, rocks, nuts, vines and twigs in lieu of flowers.

Eat Them, Too!
Incorporate edible treats into your arrangements. Create eye-catching food art—desserts or fresh fruits and veggies—to share the expense of flowers and décor with your food budget.

Beautiful wedding flowers make such a significant impact on your big day. Remember, it's hard to go wrong with wedding flowers. Follow your instinct and have fun with the arrangements and your wedding color schemes. Finally, make sure all your hard work stays well preserved in photographs and by going home with your guests. They’ll continue to cherish your wedding flowers and memories of your joyous day.