Five Steps to Planning a Vintage Wedding

Planning a vintage wedding can be so much fun - you have a huge scope of styles, eras and designs to choose from, and can tailor your decoration, vintage bridalwear and accessories to match your personal style. Venturing into the world of vintage can sometimes be daunting, but there’s no need to be scared! With more and more vendors offering a range of retro-style goods and services, and plenty of advice and tutorials for vintage DIY online, you have everything you need for a unique and affordable vintage style wedding. And of course, if you’re looking for a vintage wedding dress that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, the Viva Bride collection at the Wedding Dress Factory outlet offers gorgeous vintage style from just £399. So, where should you start when planning a vintage wedding? Here’s our five-step guide to making your retro wedding extra special!

 1) Pick your era: Decide which time period and style you like the best. You don’t have to be completely true to the historical era you choose, just pick the elements that match your personal style and desired theme and go from there. You might even want to pick several aspects from different eras, it’s up to you!

 2) Focus on a theme: Try to centre your wedding theme around one or two main ideas. These might be colours, patterns, styles or images. Popular examples include polka dots, feathers, flowers, birds, music, classic movies and books and a crossover of vintage and hipster style! Once you’ve decided on a central theme you’ll find that finding all the little details of your wedding will be much easier.

3) Prioritise your budget: Genuine vintage items can be pricey so decide where your budget should be prioritised: on your wedding dress and your groom’s outfit, your venue, your decorations, food and drink, cake, flowers…? Work out what is most important to you and find ways to cut costs on other details. Many vintage accessories and decorations can be easily made at home, or sourced cheaply from charity shops, boot sales and vintage outlets. You might even find some family heirlooms that you can incorporate into your wedding!  

4) Look at the big picture: Think about the overall appearance of your wedding: your venue, entertainment and the wedding photographs that you’ll treasure forever. Does the overview of your wedding match your vintage vision? Sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture when you’re focusing on the details but it’s good to take a step back and look at the whole thing to make sure you’re on track for the wedding you want. 

 5) Mix and match: It’s fine to have a modern style wedding with a few vintage elements, or a retro wedding with a few contemporary twists - it’s your wedding, and should suit your personality as a couple. Try not to bring in too many different styles and ideas though - eclectic doesn’t mean chaotic! Remember that a few key themes work much better than lots of random elements.

Good luck planning your vintage wedding, and check out Viva Bride’s beautiful range of vintage-inspired wedding gowns and destination wedding dresses for retro styling from the 20s to the 70s!