Whilst lots of wedding themes come and go, vintage weddings remain so if you’re looking for one of the most popular wedding themes around, vintage weddings are a good place to start.
They’re a super-flexible, exciting wedding theme you can execute in a unique and elegant way or quirky way or cool, relaxed way - the choice is yours. Here’s all you need to know about popular vintage wedding themes.
What is a Vintage Wedding?
Drawing inspiration from iconic style eras from the past 200 years, a vintage wedding is a great excuse to indulge in beautiful styles and experiences that have become much-loved parts of our cultural history.
As one of the most spectacular days of your life, living it up with all the people you love via a Gatsby, Downton or Bridgerton wedding is guaranteed to make yours a fantastic day everyone remembers.
Alternatively, there are lots of other ways to do vintage, with something to suit every wedding style. Lots of couples look to the 50s and 60s for cool, relaxed, stylish weddings. For something different, 40s and 30s weddings are a chance to indulge in a much-loved nostalgic era.
Lots of couples love the culture or fashion of the 70s so things like disco or boho weddings are popular. For gothic weddings, the Victorian era delivers endless inspiration whilst the 80s has been embraced as a newer alternative to 70s funky cool.
You can execute your vintage wedding in any way you like. Incorporating as much or as little inspo from your chosen era as you choose.
Vintage vs Retro
Vintage and retro are often used interchangably and they are pretty similar in meaning. Retro means an iconic period in cultural history from the past whilst vintage means a significant era from the past.
Best Vintage Wedding Themes
With that cleared up and the ideas beginning to flow, here’s all you need to know about the most popular vintage eras from the past 200 years that countless couples have used as their wedding theme.
Let’s explore:
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Why the era is popular with couples
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What style inspiration to use in your wedding
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Which authentic colours to use in your wedding
Georgian: Spanning the 1700s to the 1800s, this is the era of remarkable splendour and intricate design. From sumptuous gold accents to ornate detailing, pastel stripes and exquisite, adventurous colour, this is the period of fabulously pretty and luxurious Rococo, Baroque and Regency styling.
Inspired by the classical architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome, Regency and Rococo wedding themes are an excuse to have some fun. From pastel colourways to precise symmetry and exquisite detailing, Georgian styling is the epitome of elegance.
Pastels and gold are your lead colours with the opportunity to indulge in embellishments, sumptuous fabrics like silk, a stunning luxury wedding venue and luxurious styling.
Victorian: Throughout the 1800s romance, nature and gothic styling were in vogue. Your lead colours will be rich deep tones or jewel-toned hues. This is the era of rich, bold patterns with natural motifs and intricate decorative designs so maximalism is at home here.
Victorian architecture is largely gothic with lots of striking features like gargoyles, giving you the opportunity to use an impressive building as your wedding venue.
Whether you want to go for maximalism and embrace pattern and print, or dramatic gothic romance, there’s a wide range of ways you can draw inspiration from the Victorian era of gothic and romantic design.
Art Nouveau: The 1900s bought something fresh with Art Nouveau which emphasized muted natural tones (blues, yellows, greens, cream), ancient heroes, elements of classicism and organic motifs in simplified abstract form.
Involving curvaceous lines, gentle colourways and soft textures, Art Nouveau is a romantic look that makes for a really unique vintage wedding theme.
Art Deco, Great Gatsby & Harlem Renaissance: Inspired by the recent discoveries in Egypt, Art Deco styling of the twenties bought beautiful curvaceous lines, symmetrical patterns, geometric designs and bold colour (jewel-toned blue, green, red, pink and cream) with metallic or black accents.
Art Deco is a glam, exciting and bold wedding theme that’s really popular. It’s a guaranteed way to elevate your celebration and have a blow-out glamorous event at a stunning, historic luxury wedding venue. Discover: Art Deco wedding ideas
Hollywood Glam and Rockabilly: the iconic 50s was a time of shiny new things, reflected in the playful pastel colours, functional mid-century modern design, unexpected kitsch and geometric prints that were popular at the time.
This is the era of rock n roll so rockabilly is a popular theme with couples that want a relaxed cool wedding. Think Elvis Presley, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Grease and you have the look. For lots of couples, a town hall, like Chelsea Town Hall is the choice for the wedding with a reception executed in the way they choose.
For Hollywood Glam you can look to the iconic movie stars of the 40s as well as the cultural icons of the 50s to indulge in retro glam.
However you choose to pull it off, this is an era that feels particularly fun so you can play with lots of bright colour and kitsch, unexpected details. Your colours will be vibrant pastel yellow, blue, pink and green
Swinging Sixties and Funky 70s: From pops of bright contrasting colour to vibrant curvaceous prints, the sixties was a period of experimentation and ecletic styles that spilt over part of the 70s.
In a time when people drew inspiration from a range of past eras plus new innovations in music, fashion and science, there are a lot of different ways you can take a 60s or 70s wedding. Lots of couples choose to go for 60s or 70s cool with a fun tone to the wedding and relaxed vibe.
Your lead colours will be more unusual shades of yellow, orange, purple, green and pink.
Whichever era you choose, you’re guaranteed to have a wedding to remember. The best era will fit with the type of wedding you both want to have and the types of style and cultural influences you each like most because it will guide all the choices for your wedding details like the venue and your wedding dress. Take a look at these vintage decor ideas in this useful guide by Hitched to help you narrow down the options.
Browse our vintage wedding stationery to kickstart your wedding planning.
Charlotte is a luxury wedding stationer who has worked in the wedding industry for over 10 years, starting out as a wedding copywriter. See her elegant designs at DesignByLyft
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