Atlanta Business Daily

Wedding consultants: When did weddings start to need a 'theme'?

I don't get it. Isn't the theme the nuptials? the celebration of two people in love? the beginning of two people becoming one? I understand the colors for the bridesmaids, flowers, tuxes, tablecloths etc. but that isn't a THEME. It's a color scheme. When did weddings become places for masquarade parties, fish, and teacups? Is this the way most brides plan or is this for a rare few? to Siren: I didn't say i was against it or disapproved of it. I wanted to know when it started. Reading is a skill.

Public Comments

1. I don't think all people choose to have a themed wedding... but the ones who choose a theme, I think just want to have something different from everyone else. Something they can say was theirs....like under water for the serious scuba divers, etc.,..... I think some people also want to try to make it personal. Something that fits only the couple but everyone who knows them would appreciate as well..... I don't think it is a necessity, but just another option.....
2. Your color scheme can be considered your "theme". Having a theme gives brides (and grooms) the chance to individualize their weddings/receptions. Most people do not want to have the same exact thing as everyone else (a cookie-cutter wedding), so having a wedding that represents you (the couple) is a good way to make it unique and memorable. You will get those who post: "The theme of a wedding is wedding/love"....but, more than likely, they are of an older generation.
3. People want to celebrate their big day and make it a huge event! A lot people call their color scheme a 'theme' but it's really not. We don't have a theme. We do have a colour scheme though.
4. Weddings do not NEED a theme, however, many couples find it fun to have a theme for the reception festivities; and for some a theme makes it easier to give it that "pulled-together" look. Statistics-wise, I wouldn't say it is most couples.... probably only 50% of the weddings I have done went beyond the color scheme, and of those most of them were not outlandish (something more subtle like autumn breeze, or flowers abloom). As for when the trend picked up, well honestly I suppose it has always been there (most of your typical older weddings had the "fairy tale" elements behind them, even if werent classified as a "theme" yet), but the classification of themes and the popularity of them, started booming with the increase of 2nd marriages (so late 70's to mid-80's maybe). I would suppose that this was due to people wanting to make the second wedding different and special, more memorable than the first.
5. It was only a matter of time . . . if you've ever attended a bar/bat mitzvah for a 13 year old, you realize the parents are throwing a weekend celebration that matches/exceeds what most people do for weddings these day. These events start with a Friday night dinner and end with the Sunday brunch. They have themes, DJs, a couple hundred people, and are no different than a wedding reception in cost. It is only natural that now that these children are adults getting married that they want to top the event they had back when they were a kid!
6. Weddings have never required a theme. However many couples want a unified look rather than a mismash of things thrown together. They may want to include something that defines who they are or a common interest. Other people choose to center it around the season or a favorite holiday. Many people simply use their favorite color scheme and if they consider that their theme, then that is up to them, not you. It is one way to make the wedding more personal to them. Why does it matter to you if that is what they want? You have every right to do things your way at your own wedding just as they do at theirs. My mother had a daisy theme at her backyard wedding 30+ yrs ago, and her friends and family who got married around the same time had a similar theme. A friend of mine when I was in grade school (20+ yrs ago) had a Christmas theme (she was 10yrs older than me). People having been using flowers and colors as themes for a long time. It's only in the last 15-20 yrs that that they started using other elements instead or in addition to colors/flowers.
7. Well The wedding is about two people well until the third party gets involved which is the state. Now your taxes go up everything you do they are in your business. Until you both give up get a divorce and pay another lawyer, who's a officer of the court by the way which is a conflict of interest, then split up the family and everybody is miserable. Do a common law wedding change names file taxes separate live happy ever after
8. A color scheme is a theme. The theme is what you choose to base your decorations on. If you decorate with butterflies, you have a butterfly themed wedding. A white wedding is themed as white. Most people don't call it a themed wedding.
9. I myself never even heard about theme weddings until I started reading stuff on Yahoo!Answers. Personally I think their d@mn silly....if people want to do that sort of thing, hey, their coin but for me, a theme belongs to a prom or a b.d. party....not a wedding....it turns something almost sacred into one big whoop-de-do costume party and frankly I don't get it.....good taste is classic......Pirate weddings, Fairytale, Little Mermaid, Fishing, Nascar, Circus, Halloween, Vampire, Goth........the more outlandish the better it seems........ ..People will say that they want the wedding to reflect who they are....dressed as victorian vampires?.......or they want their wedding to be special and memoriable...oh yeah, I'm certainly gonna remember a wedding where the bride looked like Maid Marion and the groom Robin Hood......or when the bride rode down the aisle on an elephant, camel, etc.....or when the officiant asks for the rings and the family bulldog's got 'em tied to his back with ribbons....oh yeah that'll leave an impression all right...just won't say what kind..lol