Saying “yes” to your future spouse is the easy part! Now you’ve got the fun, exciting (and, yes, occasionally daunting) task of planning a wedding that is authentic and meaningful to you. But settling on a wedding theme early will help you navigate the process — and tackle those nitty-gritty decision-making dilemmas!
If you’re having trouble choosing your wedding theme, we’ve put together a handy interactive flowchart to help you pick a theme that suits your personality. We’ve paired these themes with VistaPrint’s wedding invitations, so you can see each aesthetic in action!
For more on everything that goes into organizing your big day, feel free to check out our ultimate guide on how to plan a wedding.
But first, let’s take a look at what makes a wedding theme, and why you benefit from having one.
What is a wedding theme?
A wedding theme guides the overall aesthetic of your big day, and can inform everything from your decorations and color scheme to your music choices and menu.
And it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can choose a simple, established wedding theme that will likely be familiar to you and your guests, such as “traditional,” “rustic” or “beachy.” You can even limit your theme to a striking color palette, like “hot pink” or “black and white.”
Rustic themed dinner setting
But wedding themes can also be more specific references to your experiences as a couple — your favorite memory or shared hobby. For example, you could style your celebration after a week you spent in Paris, your mutual love of hiking or your favorite films (Wes Anderson-themed wedding, anyone?).
If you and your future spouse come from different cultural backgrounds, wedding themes can also showcase your unique blend of cuisines, music and family traditions.
Why choose a wedding theme?
Anyone who’s planned a wedding will tell you there are loads of logistical and design decisions to make, from choosing the venue to bridal party outfits. Themes also help an event look and feel cohesive, especially if you’re working with different vendors.
A wedding theme can be your north star through this process, helping you narrow down your design decisions to a number that’s more manageable. When it comes to wedding stationery, for example, you can use your theme to help you pick colors, typography, imagery and even shape.
How to pick a wedding theme (+free, interactive flowchart)
This is the fun part! Choosing a wedding theme is a great opportunity to share your personality with your guests. So, we’ve created an interactive flowchart to help you select your wedding aesthetic. You can apply it to any aspect of your event, but we’ve used it here to help you choose wedding stationery, such as save-the-dates and thank-you cards.
Click or tap on your preferred answer to each question to see what your perfect celebration could look like. The popular wedding theme ideas we’ve explored include “traditional and timeless,” “modern and chic,” “vintage or retro” and “funky and whimsical.” You can take a look at our article on wedding color palette ideas to see how these themes come to life with different colors. Once you’ve figured out where you sit in a broader category, fine-tune your theme even further by looking at our wedding trends for 2024.
Then click the linked trends to check out examples of that aesthetic in our VistaPrint stationery gallery. At VistaPrint, we’ve organized all our stationery by general theme and style, so you can choose invitations, save-the-dates or wedding day signage by filtering for your aesthetic.
Wrapping up
We hope this interactive flowchart on How to pick a wedding theme gives you a general idea of what you’re looking for when it comes to your big day. You can always mix and match themes to come up with a matrimonial aesthetic that’s personal and meaningful to you. Happy planning!
