Getting Married With A Victorian Wedding Theme
Many people do wedding themes that are often based on different eras from our past such as medieval, Hawaiian, a flapper style wedding from the 20’s, to a western style wedding theme, all of them are unique depending on the elements from the past that you want to add to your theme. Even with all of these great themes it is the Victorian style wedding theme that is truly the most refined and it is also where most of our wedding traditions that we have today started from. After all, this time period was considered one of the more romantic periods in time.
The Victorian style wedding is very classy, graceful and can have lots of romantic and dainty touches added to it such as beautiful china with flowers on them, beautiful roses and lots of amazing lace, either vintage or new. There are many ways to throw yourself a Victorian style wedding theme without it being to tacky or stuffy, simply by taking bits and pieces of that time era’s custom and mold them into your wedding.
The Outfits
Without a doubt the dress is the one of the most important choices for your Victorian style wedding theme, and maybe the most fun. The dresses in the Victorian era were super extravagant and full of ruffles and lace. Of course the dress will have to be white after Queen Victoria, who started the white dress fashion statement for her own wedding. This will make it easier to find since you will not have to search for antique colors or dresses and there are quite a few dress makers that still make styles similar to the Victorian era.
The most popular shape of the time was the hour glass shape because it was said to fit the shape of a woman the best. Women in this time would have to wear restrictive corsets to achieve the perfect shape and at times would faint because her strings on the corset where tied to tight. During the Victorian era of the 1850’s the style was a fitted top with a small waist and a big skirt that was achieved with the help of the hoop under the skirt. In 1890 the Victorian era wedding dresses were more of lace, silk, linen or tulle fabric with fitted sleeves and a bustled skirt.
Even though the styles changed throughout the Victorian era the dresses were always beautiful, big and extravagant. The wedding accessories of the time included short or long white leather gloves, a cameo necklace, silk stockings and an embroidered handkerchief. The groom’s clothes of the time were a lot simpler as they would wear a top hat, waistcoat, trousers and an ascot tie.
The Decorations
The second most important part of your Victorian style wedding theme will be the decorations that you use in your wedding and reception as they will set the mood for the type of wedding you want. One of the decoration elements that the Victorians used often was lace; therefore you will want to hunt down as much antique lace as you can. Have large vases filled with romantic flowers like roses, which was a very popular flower during that time period.
For other decorations, you will need to have quite a bit of fine china at each table along with a teacup, as tea was, and still is, widely used in England. Name each table at the reception after someone famous or well known from the Victorian era or perhaps name them after popular movies depicting this time period. Now would be a good time to ask your relatives if you can look in their attics or basements for antiques that they might have. Now would also be a good time to attend yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores to try and find little treasures that will add to the ambiance of your wedding.
Everything does not have to match perfectly as long as it is from that time era. Consider getting different sets of saucers and teacups at your tables. In addition, the Victorians loved to layer their fabrics so when doing your tables have long table cloths with a lace overlay, along with silk dollies and coasters. At your gift table you can have black and white photos of couples, either family members or friends. They can either be really great photos of the couple or perhaps their wedding photos. This is a great way to tell their love story and enhance your celebration.