Every girl (or most girls) dream of their perfect day when Prince Charming bends on one knee with a 40-carat (ok who are we kidding…we’d be happy with any ring) diamond ring and declares his love to you with the million dollar question “will you make me the happiest man on earth by marrying me?”. Most of us would proclaim our ‘Yes’ in many forms and ways. After a couple weeks of glowing with the newly ‘engaged’ status we then start getting into wedding planning mode.

Once all parties are happy with the proposed wedding date, time to set a wedding theme. Setting a theme is a very important key before you even plan your budget, as it determines your style and a combination of both your personalities that will be reflected in every aspect of your wedding day. Your theme will also influence your budget either elaborate or simple and romantic. Either way it is important to decide and stick to it through your whole wedding planning process! Trust me, it might mean that you would have a whole month free before your wedding to pamper yourself or spend some quality time with family and friends before you tie the knot.

Cindi explains the theme, look and feel she and David wanted for their wedding day. “We wanted a 1920s vintage Shanghai theme, because the whole East meets West thing makes sense to us; I was born in Hong Kong which is a place that is strongly steeped in Chinese culture with a huge British influence from its colonial days, and now I’m a Chinese lass marrying an Aussie fella, again East meets West.  The colour scheme of the wedding is red, turquoise and black as we wanted something bold and not fussy, and because the colour red is considered auspicious and connotes happiness in the Chinese tradition, therefore the colour of choice for weddings.” Image by Lara Luz via Cindi and David’s Shanghai Inspired Wedding

So how do I pick the perfect theme? ( I was just going to answer that question!) Consider noting down 5 main points relating to your wedding:

– Your wedding date
– The season you’re getting married in
– How/where you were proposed to
– You and your fiance’s culture and background/family traditions
– What your passions are

Just to give you an example, when I got married last October 2012, it was Spring, I was proposed to on Pearl Beach with a pearl ring (pearl is my birthstone), I am Malaysian and my husband is Australian and my passion was the colour red (quite simple but its a bit obsession of mine) and his was nature and art! So we knew we wanted a daytime wedding in Spring with our main theme, lovebirds and roses and accents of red and pearls on our invitations and throughout our wedding. This helped us plan our budget, venue, photographers, videographers all to the tiny details of the bonbonniere! (it wasn’t easy peasy, but it wasn’t rocket science either it was very manageable) And we had a whole month to relax and spend time with family and friends with no stress before our Big day.

invitations

Image by Beth Joy Photography via Rachelyn And Kevin’s Red & White Wedding In Sydney

Ms Gingham says: Nice words of advice and a great place to start for everyone.

If you need any ideas regarding your wedding theme or all things wedding, drop me a line for Central Coast Wedding Invitations (I do work with brides all over Australia though). At Pocadot Invitations we also create exquisite wedding invitations and stationery according to your theme and colours and match them perfectly (or as close as we can with Pantone colours) to all other aspects of your wedding like your bridesmaids dresses and Your Wedding Dress! Which by the way if you have picked it out before you see us, bring a photo of it, we would love to obsess about it with you!