To some brides, choosing a wedding theme can be as complicated as developing the budget or the guest list.  For others, it’s the only thing that holds them together!  Picking a theme doesn’t have to be hard or complicated, and it actually can make your planning process flow a lot easier. 

 What NOT to Do:

• Pick more theme than you have money– Unless Preston Bailey is your mother’s father’s neighbor’s tax guy’s niece’s second cousin, tone it down. You don’t need 40 round faced children to hang from the ceiling as cherubim to complete your heaven on earth theme. 
• Pick a theme that is out of season–  Snowflakes in July?   Garden wedding in December?  No, honey, try again. Pick a theme in the season or time that you want to have your wedding. This will make things so much easier on you when you want to get seasonal items such as food and flowers. 
• Pick a theme that only you get–Being out of the box is great, I love out of the box. But don’t go so far out of the box that you are the only one that who really knows what’s going on. 

What to Do:

• Try to work around your current plans or refer back to earlier plans–   Sometimes, plans lean a certain way towards a certain theme anyway. (Don’t look at me like that!  They really do!)  If you think you don’t have a theme, you probably do 🙂
• Keep it simple– If you’re having a hard time coming up with a theme, look to the obvious.  Your locale could be your theme, as could your colors.  It might be right in front of you (see tip one….see, told you so!)
• Find a locale that you can incorporate into your theme– this will really help tie things together without having to bring in a lot of extras.
• Find little things to really add “umph” to your event– could be linens, lighting, a few big floral arrangements, entertainment, etc.