Plan Your Fantasy Theme Wedding in 6 Steps
We love fantasy books and movies, it’s our kryptonite. A fantasy theme wedding is great way to include your favorite stories to your big day. Fantasy can be difficult to bring into real world without a million dollar budget and one Oscar winning film crew behind you but you shouldn’t worry! The easy solution would be hiring a wedding planner but sometimes their vision isn’t quite there or you just don’t have budget for it. Good news is, that planning and designing is not a rocket science and you can do it by yourself! Download our easy to use wedding theme planner for FREE!
Let’s get started!
A way to get the Oscar worthy fantasy weddings is simple when we divide the process in two parts:
Forming the theme
1. History vs. the fantasy world
2. The source material
3. Finding main element.
Achieving the right feeling
4. Getting a good venue
5. Using elements from the source material
6. Having one main element
We wanted to share our top tips to rule any fantasy wedding theme without looking tacky or cheap. As a former theater professionals, we know tons about creating imaginary worlds. Really, there is so much same in theatre and weddings! So, here’s our six step way to create a stylish fantasy wedding with any theme of your choice.
If you’re interested to see more designing examples, do head to our blog post How To Design A Wedding Theme -Example: Fantasy Wedding With Lord Of The Rings Woodland Elves Aesthetic. Check out also our inspiration posts: Moody Viking Wedding, Rivendell Inspired Wedding, Cinderella Wedding, Moomin Wedding and Black And Orange Halloween Wedding.
1. Compare your theme to real history – what does it remind you of?
Thing about good fantasy is that it should remind real things enough that it’s believable. Love or hate Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings, but they worked miracles with Weta and one thing they kept as a guide was that the viewer should believe what they see.
That’s the thing – believable fantasy.
You can make your fantasy atmosphere to feel more real by tying it to the historical era it reminds you of. Be it Lord of the Rings in Middle Ages, Steampunk Victorian times or Antique Midsummer’s Night Dream. Sometimes the era is easy to find: like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in the 1920’s. In some other case you might need to just roughly decide the era you are going for in your fantasy theme wedding.
2. Use the source material to dig deeper
If there’s a movie or tv-series, watch it through once more and pay attention to the visual world. What colors do they use or where it is filmed. Put down the adjectives of the mood (dark, jewel tones, grimy, light, earthy, blueish) and details. Or find illustrations to see how other people have visualized the story. You can also check the book covers or fanart or inspiration boards made by others to get a better feeling of things. For a quick reminder sometimes just watching the trailer can sum up things nicely.
3. Determine the main element
Try to pin down one thing that makes the story look just so. What is the main element that separates the movie/show/book from all the others. Then make sure you have that one Thing in your wedding. Sometimes it can be a color, item, shape or motive. Sometimes it’s more difficult to pinpoint: light or music or some specific scene. But it’s the main element that takes you right to the mood, what makes you say “Oh! This is just like in that one movie/book/story/series!”.
You’ve got the idea, let’s make it reality!
It’s time for you to take your notes and move into booking, ordering and making things for your wedding. There’s two good ways to include something to your wedding: through small details or going big.
If you want a more traditional wedding then the small details are the way to go. That way you can keep the overall tone close to what people expect a wedding to look like but have little personal touches to make your smile even wider. A guest can spot the small details hinting to a certain theme if they know the couple well and have eye for details.
Big elements make a big impact. They embrace the whole wedding design and set the tone to make your wedding different from others. Your guests can see the big elements starting from the invitations and later all around the wedding venue.
Budget wise these two options can get close to each other. Bigger the things the fewer you need, on the other hand you might spend major part of the budget to the small details if you need several of them. It’s like comparing a huge flower arch, fantasy menu and a themed band to stationary, place cards and a headpiece.
4. Book a good venue
Space makes the biggest impact. Now it’s good time to think of the real historical era you decided and try to find a venue closest to that era in time or in style. Castles or old manor houses are great, maybe old library or townhouse. Woodlands, parks and barns are good in a way that they don’t really have an era and can be a venue for almost any fantasy realm. The more ambient place you can find, the less you need to work with decorations later and it really can save you some cash. This is the GO BIG kind of a way.
5. Pick elements from the source material
Now bring in the colors or visuals you have picked from your source material. Compare them to the historical era and pick things that work well in both: history and fantasy. Let’s say you’re having a Wizarding World themed wedding. We would use royal blue and velvet and a star motive. Pick one or two things and use them in your decorations and stationery or even in your bridal party outfits. Maybe use colored ambience lights or cinematic music. To keep everything neat pick just few things.
6. Use the main element
Use it in as many places as you can. In a Wizarding wedding wands and magic would be my pick as the main element because J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World wouldn’t be the same without wands. Put them on invitations, as part of flower centerpieces, tie rings into a wand, and have more wands as favors or place cards. Why not put them on top of the wedding cake too. Use the main element in the details as much as you like. To learn more about choosing a main element and using it, read our blog post How To Design A Wedding Theme -Example: Fantasy Wedding With Woodland Elves Aesthetic.
Now you’re ready to rock your fantastic fantasy theme wedding! Don’t forget to ease your fantasy wedding planning with out easy to use wedding theme planner. It has all that I have talked here in a form of handy visual guide you can print and fill as you go. Checklists, moodboard worksheets and inspirational examples teach you even more about visual wedding planning. If you liked the content, leave a like and follow us in our Instagram and Pinterest.
Love,
Iida
Iida Silvennoinen
Designer, author, blogger
Iida is a bridal designer at Heili Bridal and her passion is to help brides feel special in their big day. She grew up in the middle of wedding dresses and has been dressing brides in all shapes and sizes for years. She loves gardening and relaxed evenings at home.
Iida Silvennoinen is the author of The Wedding Dress Book in which she walks the bride through the wedding dress searching and shopping.
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