Vintage = Romance

Think 1950s movies like Casablanca, Gone With the Wind and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How could anyone pass up the charm, the beautiful costumes, the elegance and style of such an era?

A nice point to consider is that vintage weddings are often more eco-friendly than other themes too, as to pull off the ‘vintage’ look you’ll inadvertently be using antiques, borrowed items, hand-me-downs and vintage clothing (even a second-hand vintage wedding dress, if you’re feeling brave!). You will even be able to scour antiques shops for vintage jewelery to match your wedding colours. Op-shopping has never been more fun, and you could even find that you save quite a bit of money!

Your Dress

Think 1950s movies like Casablanca, Gone With the Wind and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How could anyone pass up the charm, the beautiful costumes, the elegance and style of such an era? When it comes to your wedding dress, you may choose to have something entirely new created – or you may feel brave enough to reuse a vintage dress, keeping in total sync with your vintage theme. If you do decide to buy an authentic vintage gown, you’ll need to keep some things in mind:

Firstly, avoid buying these sorts of dresses online. People have generally become taller and thicker, and the clothing industry has also changed its sizing guide over the years, so unless it looks as though it would be able to be altered easily, you’re best off trying one on and buying it in the flesh than online.

Make sure you avoid stains and rips/tears. Stains that have been on a dress for twenty to eighty years are not going to come off easily, if at all. Again with tears or rips; you’d have a very hard time finding a fabric that matched in colour, texture and style which your dressmaker could use to repair such damage.

Work out your budget before you begin. Many brides know the pain and angst of having found ‘their’ dress, only to have then discovered the price tag was far out of their reach. If you do find something you love, yet cannot afford, consider taking lots of pictures (when the shopkeeper isn’t looking) and having a reproduction made. That way, you can have exactly what you want within your budget, and a bonus – it will be brand new, too!

Your Venue

Finding a venue that exudes vintage charm, yet is within your price range, may be trickier than you first thought. Such venues often charge premiums for the use of their historic rooms, with its antique furnishings and (probably very excessive) insurance rates. You’ll probably find that you can find a nice, basic venue and then use that money to decorate it exactly in your vintage style – hiring chandeliers, huge candelabras, floral displays, vintage chairs, tables and linen – which may actually work out more cheaply than that to-die-for historical ballroom you had your eye on. If you can afford and do decide to go for a historical venue, keep some things in mind – make sure you ask about their policy with candles (if it is heritage listed, they are often not allowed), their conditions in regards to damage (just in case a drunk Uncle Peter drops his glass of red wine all over their expensive vintage lounge), and anything else which you might have specifically in mind, such as potential finishing times (many venues have policies restricting noise past 10pm, for example).

A few examples below of some Reception locations that have a Vintage Look to them in the Tampa Bay Area are:

The Don Vicente Inn

The Kapok Special Event Center

The Ritz Ybor

Mirror Lake Lyceum

Belleview Biltmore Resort

The Crosley Mansion

Nova 535

Your Flowers

Some of the most popular flowers of the period include carnations, dahlias, old roses, sweet-peas and gladioli. You’ll need to be thinking pastel pinks, pearls, blues, creams, beige, buttery yellows, charcoal greys – and not just for flowers! The styles of bouquet changed through this period too, and ranged from simple nosegay bouquets right up to elaborate, overflowing creations. Keep in mind the colours of your venue, your dress, your cake etc. when deciding which flowers will best suit your vintage bouquet.

Transport

Buicks, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and convertibles! Many brides choose to use these styles of cars in their wedding days, but yours will be a true stylistic element. Transport is often one of the first indications your guests will get of your big day’s theme, as you arrive for your ceremony, and for some this means a racy sports car, or an old fashioned horse and carriage. Others may choose to go modern and hire a hummer, or even arrive in a V8 Supercar. For your vintage theme, however, you simply cannot go past the classics in order to make a statement.

Your Cake

For a vintage wedding you simply cannot go past a classic, elegant tier cake. Traditionally, this would consist of layers of boiled fruitcake for the guests, with the top tier to be kept for the bride and groom to eat on their anniversary. While many brides and grooms still kept to the tradition of saving the top layer, you no longer need to feel pressured to use any fruitcake layers! There are so many more unique and yummy flavours out there – how about Hazelnut Mocha, or Orange Buttercream? You may even choose to flavour your cake with liqueur – your guests would go wild over a layer of Caramel Baileys flavour! Of course, keeping in touch with your vintage theme, decorating the outside of the cake should include the use of satin ribbons, diamantes or pearl sequins, brooches, flower decorations and of course, icing which reflects your colour themes. Try using the cakes below as a starting point of inspiration.

Having Your Prefect Vintage Wedding

There are a myriad of other points to consider when it comes to your vintage wedding – which hairstyle will you pick? How will you dress your bridal party? What sorts of favours should you pick – and oh, what music should you pick to keep in with your theme? How on earth will you dress your GROOM? If you’re struggling to find inspiration on the web it’s a good idea to seek the help of a experienced wedding planner to guide you thru the process and save time and effort for the fun parts of the wedding planning process that you will enjoy researching.