How to Theme Your Wedding around Your Song

Record Welcome Sign by No Ordinary Emporium

Do you have a song in mind for your first dance? As a couple we didn't really have an 'our song', so we ended up choosing a recent chart hit; You've Got the Love which had just been re-released by Florence and the Machine.

If a love of music did bring you together, then theming your wedding around certain melodies could be a great way to bring all your ideas together. Try labelling your table plans with song titles, or decorating your venue with bunting made out of sheet music.

Create a bespoke playlist for each wedding guest, or for a retro vibe, make a mixtape for wedding favours. Here's a few more clever ideas to help you get creative. I love the mini-tambourines!

Record Player Save the Date by Two for Joy Paper

Mini Tambourine Wedding Favours by The Celebrations House

Concert Ticket Wedding Invitation by Georgia Yates Design

Personalised CD Cover Wedding Favours by Sixpence Paperie

Cassette Song Request Cards by Hunts England Store

Wedfest - A Music Festival Wedding Theme

Glastonbury was probably one of the best weekends of my life. We got lucky with the weather, and we managed to blag VIP tickets, but it wasn't the posh loos or the free drinks that made it so special - it was the atmosphere. It felt like a mini-hedonistic holiday. No wonder dozens of couples want to recreate the same mood at their wedding - if you're going to spend all that money, you want people to dress up, drink fizz and dance like crazy. Lots of boutique stationery companies are getting on the bandwagon {sorry!}, and now you can buy festival-style wristbands and lanyards for your Save the Dates and wedding invitations. Just make sure you hire a decent DJ, or a wedding band from Leeds to create the full effect.

{Product Credits} All from Wedfest

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Pretty Unique Printable Wedding Stationery

Given half a chance, I'd spend hours of every day browsing the amazing artistic offerings that make up Etsy. If you haven't discovered it yet, you're going to fall head-over-heels. Along with Pinterest {& Before the Big Day}, it's the only website you need to create a truly individual wedding day. My latest find are the fabulous stationery designers behind Yes Dear, Studio. Aubrey and Philip create gorgeous, unique wedding invitations and Save the Dates - many printable at home - a genius idea to save you precious pennies. My favourites are pictured below - I love the vinyl botanical design {which comes with a real-life record!}, the desert-style invitations, and the library book style. They've also designed bookmark Save the Dates, so you can start your theme from the start!

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A Summer Barn Wedding with a Music Theme - The Reception

With a music theme, several naked wedding cakes and a stunning barn wedding venue, this has got to be one of my favourite big days from last summer. Katy and Mark chose the stunning countryside of West Sussex for their wedding, and added tonnes of inspirational details to their reception. My faves have to be the personalised, CD wedding favours {entitled 'Do Me A Favour', the simple but sweet menu cards and the picture-perfect bunting. Even the wedding portraits are gorgeous - I love Katy's pretty parasol {buy similar here} - a great photo prop that could come in handy in a shower! Big love to Kelly from Lola Rose Photography for her beautiful wedding photographs.

We celebrated our wedding on 17th August with a ceremony at St Andrews Church in Steyning, followed by our reception at Bartholomew Barn, Kirdford, West Sussex.

A Summer Barn Wedding with a Music Theme

This beautiful church wedding has got me dreaming about summer! Lovely bride and groom, Katy and Mark celebrated their big day in August, with a music themed, barn reception. I love the put-together look of their wedding - Katy chose a stunning blue for her colour palette, and her bridesmaids look gorgeous in their House of Brides gowns, teamed with frothy lilac hydrangea bouquets. Hydrangeas may well be my favourite bouquet blooms of all time! They're so pretty, and they take up so much space, that they may well save your budget. The ushers all looked fab in their matching River Island suits, plus blue cravats to match the bridesmaids. Other stealworthy ideas include Katy's glam Bridget Bardot-style half-up do, her fabulous Alfred Sung wedding gown, and their brilliant vintage-style wedding invitations {designed by a very talented friend!}. Huge thanks to the lovely Kelly from Lola Rose Photography for capturing every detail - I've got more from their Bartholomew Barn coming soon!

We celebrated our wedding on 17th August with a ceremony at St Andrews Church in Steyning, followed by our reception at Bartholomew Barn, Kirdford, West Sussex.

My sister's friend Becky designed our brilliant wedding invitations, which were in the style of a vintage theatre poster.

Five Ways To Get Your Wedding Guests Dancing

We went to a wedding a few years ago, where no one danced. I don't know why - they had a fantastic band and the alcohol was flowing freely, but the party never really got started. I really felt for the bride and groom, because you want your wedding to be a fantastic, memorable evening, {you've spent all that money}, and for me, a party isn't a party without a good dance. So here are five ways to persuade your guest to kick off their wedding shoes and get down and boogie.

{Wedding Photographer Credit} Matt Edge Photography

1. Don't leave it to chance. Don't think, 'oh I'll just let people put on their iPods'. Either hire a DJ and discuss what you want before your big day, or sit down and create your own song list. If you're DIY-ing, I really recommend joining Spotify. For £9.99 a month you can stream and download as many songs as you want. I'm not even that into music, and I create Playlists all the time. They seem to have every song you can imagine, including your guilty secrets {Grease anyone?}.

2. Ask your guests to send back two song suggestions with their RSVP slip. A couple of our friends did just this, and everyone danced like crazy. In fact, we had such a good night, we asked them for their song list, and gave it to our DJ as a guide. And then everyone danced like crazy at our wedding. You can take a look at our wedding playlist, but remember, it is three years old!

3. Encourage your girlfriends to kick of their heels, by providing free flip-flop wedding favours. They're super-cheap if bought in bulk {approx £2 per pair}, and if the girls are dancing, you can be sure the boys will follow.

4. Far me it for me to tell you what to choose as your First Dance. After all, I don't know all the heartfelt meaning behind 'Your Song'. But if at all possible, don't pick a slow one! The First Dance sets the tone for the evening, and if you want to party, don't pick something sway-able, you want a beat!

5. Tell your ushers and bridesmaids that one of their key tasks is to join you on the dance-floor after your First Dance, and to stay there for at least three songs. There's a tipping point at a party, where the shyer guests feel there's enough people dancing, for them to join in. You want your wedding party to create that tipping point.

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Real Aubergine Forest Wedding: Dani & Ryan

You know you're in for a treat, whenever Jose Villa pictures a wedding. He's one of the world's best wedding photographers, and he makes every big day look exceptional. Of course it helps when you have amazing wedding details like the New England Riverside Farm venue, Dani's divine Elie Saab wedding dress and stunning venue styling by Moon Canyon Design. The colour palette wings its way straight to the top of my love-list - its impossible not to look elegant in rich aubergine, and Dani's bridesmaids are gorgeous. The music-themed wedding stationery by Monumental Designs set the tone for the wedding day, as the guests were entertained by a grand piano moved outside for the ceremony. I love the barn reception and the stargazer set-up outside. You can imagine the guests searching the skies for shooting stars! For my wedding inspiration, take a look at Dani and Ryan's Rehearsal Dinner and amazing hippy-themed Engagement Shoot.

 ♥ Want to see more forest wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about barn weddings? ♥

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Real Vintage Sunflower Wedding: Chanelle & Terry - Wedding Reception

If you're a budget-conscious bride, this wedding is going to fill your heart with joy. It's a complete detail-fest, with tonnes of DIY ideas, and all of them are wallet friendly. It's all about having your unique wedding style and keeping to a particular theme. Fantastic couple, Chanelle and Terry chose a sixties vibe for their big day, and DIY'd their flowers, photo-booth, table-plan and much, much more. Armed with blackboard paint and a huge fancy dress box, they kept their guests entertained late into the night with a music themed wedding reception in Terry's parents' back garden. Take a look at all these incredible photographs by Michael at My Beautiful Bride, and be sure to read Chanelle's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire. She's a vintage genius {take a look at her retro clothes shop Annie in the Attic} full of fantastic wedding advice!



We married on the 30th June 2012. The ceremony was held in St Mary's Church in Buckland in Surrey, and the reception was held in the garden and marquee at Terry's parents' house in Buckland. Holding the reception at Terry's parents meant we had full control of all aspects of planning, styling and dressing which is exactly what we wanted.

Terry and I have known each other since high school! We didn't see each other for years and then met again in a local bar, and the rest is history as they say.

On our five year anniversary, Terry took me and our son {who was only 6 months old at the time}, to Brighton for the day, as this is one of our favourite places to visit. We spent the day there, trawling vintage shops, and had lunch before a walk on the pier. It was sunset and he timed it perfectly, when he got down on one knee on the end of the pier!

Our photographs were taken by the fantastic Michael from My Beautiful Bride, who we can’t praise enough. Michael captured our day perfectly, and he was great in the build up to the wedding, and on the day itself. 

Ahead of your wedding, Michael really gets to know you as a couple, and spends time brainstorming ideas for creative shots, to ensure he knows exactly what you want from your pictures. All our guests commented on how helpful he was, and we were flooded with messages and comments on the finished photos. 


The thing we realised about photos is that the day goes so quickly, that actually your photos are one of the most important elements of your big day. They're your wedding day story book.

 

We began planning the wedding the summer before our big day. We drew inspiration from wedding blogs, moodboards and places like Pinterest. As I work in vintage, the wedding was always going to have a strong sixties influence, as this is my favourite era. I also found choosing the flowers really helped develop my ideas and colour themes, and I put together many moodboards.



We wanted lots of interesting things for our guests, so we had tonnes of DIY wedding details. We turned the potting shed into a vintage photo booth with old curtains that could be changed for different backdrops, and a huge chest of vintage clothing, props and hats. We purchased a Fuji Instax {a LOT cheaper than Polaroid, plus films are easy to buy} that produces instant pics, and hung out string with coloured pegs to create photo bunting. Guests had great fun doing this and wrote messages on the photo borders for us to keep. 


Another detail that added interest was our 'Family Tree'. We collected old and vintage pictures, and photo frames, and used them to display photos of Terry and I, and our families. They were tied on string and nailed into an old tree which looked really pretty. Guests loved laughing at old photos of us and reminiscing.

We chose records for our name places and table plan, and chose some of our favourite songs for table names; we also played these tracks in the background whilst we ate. 

We provided coloured chalks on the tables, and guests wrote messages on the record table names, and on their glasses, which we'd painted with blackboard paint so we could use them as name places.

Wedding stationary can be expensive, and I enjoy DIY projects, so I made our wedding stationery myself. The Save the Dates were simple magnets with the day, date and time and a 60s 'Just Married' couple photo in black and white. The wedding invites were the same design with further information printed on postcards. It was much cheaper than traditional invitations, and suited our wedding perfectly.

We DIY'd our wedding flowers. Ahead of our big day, we went to flower shows and wholesalers to select the flowers we liked. We then found a wholesalers close to the wedding venue, and ordered the flowers and picked them up the day before the wedding. We all made the bouquets and table decorations together, and left them in water in a dark shed overnight so they didn't wilt. Florists can be very expensive so we saved a lot of money by doing them ourselves.

Our wedding cake was made by a friend of ours, and an expert baker - Jody at Boola's Bakery. Jody created exactly the cake we requested, but she is great and has a whole portfolio of ideas if you need inspiration. We told her our ideas and she created the perfect cake!

For wedding favours we created a penny sweet table, with small pink and white paper bags. Our guests were encourage to help themselves. We also made little brown paper envelopes containing sunflower seeds with the words 'Let Your Love Grow' stencilled on the front. Guests really liked these and they were very cheap to make.

I loved planning my wedding! It can be stressful at times, but on the day when you and all your guests can enjoy all that hard work, is really worth it. I say all the time, I wish I could do it all again!

My advice to brides planning their wedding is - enjoy the day! Its cliché but it goes so quickly. Get a great photographer {I couldn’t recommend Michael from My Beautiful Bride enough} so that you have perfect memories, and don’t be afraid to do things yourselves. You can save lots of money and its really rewarding.

 ♥ Want to see DIY wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more garden wedding ideas? ♥

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