With all the hype around weddings, sometimes it’s hard to remember that they are supposed to be romantic affairs meant to highlight the love between two people who are ready to make a lifelong commitment to each other.
If you’re not into themes, elaborate decorations, or big fancy weddings — but still want a day that will reflect the love you and your spouse have for each other, you can use the details of your own lives to create a simply romantic wedding day.
We’ve got a few special ways you can capture the romance and make your wedding day a true celebration of love.
Recreate Special Dates
Did you have your first date at a movie theater? Transform your venue into your first date. Hang movie posters, get red velvet seat coverings, serve popcorn and candy…maybe even have the movie playing in the background (check copyright laws!). If you didn’t go to a movie, use the theme of your first date restaurant. Did you have a few memorable dates? Design each “station” in your reception hall (the bar, the gift table, the dessert table) to resemble some of your most special dates.
Recapturing sweet details from the days your story began is a great way to make your wedding day uniquely yours and create a wonderfully romantic day you’ll never forget.
Invite Guests Into a Circle of Love
No, we’re not talking about a peace circle where you all sing Kumbaya. Instead of the traditional rows of seating for the ceremony, where some guests might have their view impeded by Aunt Gertrude’s giant hat, try setting up seating in a circle. A circle represents wholeness and when you invite your families to watch your union from a circle, you are inviting two families to become whole.
This seating arrangement eliminates both “his and her” sides and the “hierarchy” that comes from seating certain people in the rows closest to the bride and groom. If you’re worried the circle would be too big with the number of people you’ve invited, you can do multiple circles, one inside the other.
The circle is also infinite, so what better way to express your undying love for each other?
Write Letters to Each Other
Love letters are pretty romantic. They take you back to a time when lovers may have been separated by distance or war without phones, text, or FaceTime to keep in touch. Instead, they wrote long letters expressing their love for each other, put them in the mail…and waited.
Today, we don’t have to wait for, well anything, but keeping letter writing alive is a great way to add a romantic flair to your wedding and create a piece of memorabilia you can treasure.
Write letters to each other that you and your spouse can “send” to each other and read while getting ready or when you’re dressed but before you see each other. Have your photographer capture your reaction or just enjoy this timeless tradition sans technology. Bonus, you can take the letters out every year on your anniversary to recapture the feel of your special day.
Incorporate Family Wedding Photos
On your wedding day, remember the generations of loving couples that came before you (they’re why you’re here, after all!) by honoring their images. Use their images as a key part of your decorations, hang them on the head table, display them during the ceremony, or write a nice poem to go with them and use them to welcome guests.
Or, you could ask your guests to send you their wedding photos ahead of the big day and use them as part of the table centerpieces. Honoring the successful marriages that came before yours is a great way to add an extra blessing to your nuptials.
Create an Anniversary Box
Take a step beyond saving a slice of your wedding cake to eat on your anniversary (frozen wedding cake doesn’t sound that romantic). Create something that will truly last, that you can open and enjoy ten or more years after your wedding day.
During your ceremony, instead of a Unity Candle (or in addition to) place your vows in a box along with any other special keepsakes (a bottle of wine from the year of your wedding is a great idea) and seal the box, only to be opened on your ten year anniversary.
Or, take some time after the celebrations and create multiple boxes for each year after your wedding. The cake could be the first year and then something that will keep a little longer for subsequent years.
The romance and love surrounding you on your wedding day doesn’t have to end when the day is over. For more unique wedding ideas, check out more of our blogs. To start planning your own romantic, wedding day, reach out to our wedding planners. You can reach our event coordinators by email or phone at 877-545-1002.