Have Your Victorian Wedding Theme Reception With Style

When most people think about a Victorian wedding theme they think of a party in a garden, a high tea, finger foods, doilies, different tea sets and cherubs. While this is a very wonderful way to do a Victorian themed wedding it is not the only option you have if your heart is set on that theme. There is another Victorian style that is a little more formal called the evening Victorian wedding.

To get a better image of what this might be like, try to picture the movie Titanic when they had the ballroom scenes. Candle lights and beautiful chandeliers with lots of nice lace fringe and crystal will do the era just right. Add a piano player to set the mood of the evening.

Cocktail Hour

Most people these days will have a cocktail hour for their guests so that they do not have to sit and wait for the bridal party to take their pictures. During this time, and to bring a Victorian flare to your cocktail hour, you could research what type of drinks were popular back during 1837-1914 years, which is considered the Victorian era. You could choose a drink from back then and add your own flare, and then give it your own name.

In addition, cigars were very popular at this time, so if your reception place will allow it, have a nice little cigar room or have it outdoors and try to find some Victorian style cigar memorabilia. To add some Victorian touches find some old news papers from this time to decorate the area so that you can keep your guests entertained. You can also use these news clippings in other areas of your Victorian wedding theme like on your wedding programs or even with your wedding invitations. Be creative and have fun with it

The Reception decor

For you Victorian themed reception make sure you have lots of crystal and silver on display, such as silver trays, cutlery, candlesticks, crystal wine glasses, candelabras or a beautiful crystal chandelier. Prior to the wedding, plan to get the wedding party’s pictures taken at a photo location that dresses you up in old fashion clothes, then you can put these pictures in nice antique frames and have them at each table or you could give them as wedding favors for your guests. You could also hire a photographer that specializes in that era’s settings and style to attend your reception and do your photos in that same old fashion look.

Another idea that could be fun to entertain your guests during the reception would be to have a cute little silent film that you, your groom and wedding party put together. A Victorian custom that you can use at your wedding reception during the cake cutting could be the cake pull custom, which is kind of like the bouquet toss but only bridesmaids participate. What happens is you will have the baker put in several different charms in the cake layers attached to a string depending on how many bridesmaids you have. The cake pull has each bridesmaid pulling a charm from the cake which she will learn her fortune, such as:

Flower – blossoming love
Heart – true love
Anchor – stability
Clover – good fortune
Cross – peace
A Ring – means that she would be getting married soon

The Food

For an evening Victorian style wedding, they always had high society food that even today is still considered indulgent. For drinks, you will need to have fine wines and brandy, while the food they often served was filet mignon, oysters, truffles, duck, foie gras, which is a fatty duck liver, and caviar.

When the Edwardian period came in to play, this type of food was also served, but in either eight or ten courses throughout the reception. If you feel this is a little steep in price, don’t worry as long as you have some forms of this type of foods represented, you will do the era just right. In addition, it does not have to be this extravagant as you can just pick and choose a few food selections from this time period that fits with your tastes and budget.

Also, you do not have to do the same amount of courses; perhaps keeping it to just three should suffice. Include an appetizer during the cocktail hour, then a salad and then the main course. You can also add bits of expensive food to other dishes so that you can keep your costs down.

Maui Wedding Photographer- Nicole Sanchez