Kick off your marriage with a sports-themed wedding

Stereo-typically, guys are the ones who love sports, but there’s no rule that says a girl has to be all dresses and lace.  Girls can love sports just as much! If you and your partner are sports fanatics, consider having a sports-themed wedding! There are many great ways to incorporate sports into your reception and plenty of ways to keep your guests entertained with this theme. You can choose almost any season, depending on which sport you pick, of course!

Color Palette

It’s easy to pick a color scheme for a sports themed wedding.  Simply pull from your favorite college or pro team! And since most teams’ colors don’t clash, you won’t have to worry about overwhelming your guests’ senses with color.  Be sure to stick to two main colors and limit your accents colors to ensure your palette is cohesive throughout your wedding.

Favors & Decor

You have tons of options here: sport-shaped cookies, baseball cards, peanuts and cracker jacks, or even hacky-sacks as a nod to college. Homemade treats like chocolate buckeyes are a great way to tie in the name of a sports team such as the Ohio State Buckeyes.  Don't forget the decorations.  Try to incorporate as many team related details as possible.  The cake, banners, streamers, tablecloths, flowers, and napkins all come together to tell a story.  For a unique twist, items like personalized cups and team pennant banners double as both decoration and guest favors.

Invitations

Start out by ensuring your guests are prepared for a sports theme: design invitations or save-the-dates to look like tickets to a sporting event or baseball cards.

Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties

Make team jerseys with names like bride, groom, maid-of-honor, and best man.  Have both parties go to a game together and then split up for the after party.

The Guest Book

Instead of having your guests sign a traditional book, have them sign a football/basketball/soccer ball, jersey, or helmet. This will look great displayed on a mantel after the wedding!

Location

Consider having your wedding and/or reception in a stadium. Imagine getting married on the 50 yard line or on home plate. You won’t have to worry about decorating, the menu (most stadiums require you to use their own caterers), or having enough space for everyone. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to reserve the stadium at least a year in advance.

Reception

Have plenty of games for your guests to play – backyard football, cornhole/bags, and Frisbee are all great games your guests can enjoy.

If you’re getting married on a game day, consider having a TV in the reception hall so you can all cheer on your team. You’ll have to schedule your first dance, cutting the cake, and other traditions for the commercials, though, so make sure your DJ plans for this.

Image Credits: Redskins Jersey, Football Cups, Bachelorette Jerseys, Baseball Wedding

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.

Trick or Treat...Wedding Style Guide

Halloween is one of the most popular holidays, and it’s easy to see why. Dressing up and becoming someone else for a night in order to get free candy is a lot of fun. It’s also the only night that it is socially acceptable to pretend to be someone else.

 

If you happen to be one of those people who put Halloween decorations in their yard on the first of October, you may want to consider having your own Halloween-themed wedding.

 

The Venue
 

 

You’ll want to find a big, open room for the reception. An abandoned barn or factory building would be best. Hang lanterns, orange tulle, and fake cobwebs on the walls and from the ceiling, but choose heavy black fabrics for other things such as table cloths, curtains, and just to hang from the walls.  If the weather permits, have the ceremony in a cemetery.  Include an area for a spooky photo booth for your guests.

 

The Food
 

 

We love these Halloween inspired cake ideas.  For your cake topper, try a couple inspired by Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.

 

Serve lots of pumpkin- and apple-flavored foods. Try to serve only red drinks, or use food coloring to dye drinks red when possible.  For the rest of your food, especially during cocktail hour, try adding a spooky twist whenever possible.

 

The Look

 

A vintage wedding dress is the best style for a Halloween bride (again, think Tim Burton). If you’re really going all out, you could tear it in a few places and get the bottom of it dirty, so it looks black – like you’ve been running away from monsters.

 

For your makeup, choose pale colors for your cheeks but dark red and black for your lips and eyes.

 

The bridesmaids should wear dark colors: navy blue, plum, or black. Choker necklaces are a great accessory for this look.

 

Have the men in the wedding party wear swallowtail coats, undertaker-style.

 

It's All in the Details

 

Don't forget all the small details that come together to create your Hallo-wedding.  The stationery, guest favors, and decorations are a few more items to consider that will help pull your look together.

For you invitations, be sure to let guests know about your spooktacular theme and whether costumes are welcomed.  For your getaway car, consider driving away in a gothic horse-drawn buggy.  A great favor for your guests is a bag of Halloween candy! Use personalized paper bags and decorate them with fake spiders and ribbon or use mini jack-o-lanterns.

Image Credits: Poison Bottles, Cemetery Wedding, Halloween cake, Halloween Masquerade Wedding, Sugar Skull Invitations

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.

Pretty Pine Cone Wedding Inspiration Board

As much as we look forward to summer and the fun it brings, I think the fall and winter are just as wonderful in their own way.  This is especially true for weddings.  Where the bright colors of summer have faded, there are now rich tones of reds, oranges and browns to enjoy.  There is a beauty in the changing of the seasons, with fallen leaves and pine cones in abundance this time of year.  If you are planning a wedding during fall or winter, try incorporating pine cones in your wedding.  Not only are they easy to find, but they are simple but stunning accents to any wedding.  We have put together some pine cone wedding inspiration for you to help give you a few ideas of how to include pine cones in your wedding.

Image Credits:  Bouquet, Ring Pillow, Personalized Wedding Welcome Bags, Boutonniere, Place Setting, Pine Cone Place Card Holders, Wedding Ring Photograph, Bride with Bouquet, Pine Cone Wedding Cake, Pine Cone Lined Aisle, Invitations, Pine Cone Garland

10 Easy Halloween Treats

Can you believe Halloween is right around the corner? Time to dust off the fake spiders, cotton batting, and pumpkin carving tools.

Just for fun we thought we would share some of our favorite Halloween treat recipes and ideas for your spooktacular party this year.  Have fun picking out your favorite poison (cue cackle).  Or mix and match to create a true monster bash.

For other great ideas, be sure and check out all our Halloween party decorations and favors.

 

See numbered links below for more details and to get the recipe

Image Credits: Pumpkin Carving Stencils, 1. Zombie Eyeballs, 2. Fizzy Pumpkin Party Drinks, 3. Tombstone Cookies, 4. Personalized Hershey Miniatures, 5. Spider Deviled Eggs, 6. Halloween Bundt Cake (with eyes!), 7. Design Your Own Halloween Cocktail Napkins, 8. Vegan Witches Fingers, 9. Yummy Mummy Cheese Spread, 10. Design Your Own Halloween Stadium Cups

Wedding Inspiration for the Southern Bride

Are you a southern, country gal at heart? Do you love the home of country music, drawling accents, fried chicken, and farming? Let your wedding reflect the best of Dixieland!  Of course, there are many more aspects that give the south the dynamic environment that everyone loves. Here’s how to find the southern finest and mold it into your dream wedding.

Southern Wedding Bouquets

Light colors:

1. Peonies
2. Hydrangeas
3. Astilbe
4. White Anemones
5. Viburnum

Bright colors:

1. Sunflowers
2. Black-Eyed Susans
3. Orange Calla Lilies
4. Snapdragons
5. Ranunculus

Southern Wedding Cakes

1. A monogrammed wedding cake is a classic look in the south, and generally looks best with simple decorative icing and no topper.
2. Follow the Peach State’s lead and garnish your cake with this delicious fruit!
3. If you don’t like peaches, try strawberries and blackberries, or other berries that are in season.
4. For a wedding in a rustic setting, decorate the cake to look like a bird’s nest, with two birds on the top in place of bride and groom figurines.
5. Show off your gardening skills with a cupcake garden. Match the cupcake designs to your bouquet or compliment it with other Southern favorites from the list above!
6. Pearls are one of the tell-tale signs of a southern lady. Wrap a strand of pearls around the base of your cake tiers to give it a sophisticated look.

Tips for the Reception

1. Hold your reception in a barn. The high ceiling will make the space feel more open, there are many options for decorating, and you’ll still have a simple, relaxed feel.
2. Burlap tablecloths give your tables an organic, on-the-farm feel.
3. You can also use small burlap sacks for bags for your favors.
4. Home-cooked meals are one of the first things people think of when they describe the south. If you can, serve food that is homemade. If you can’t, stick with familiar, comfort food.

Most importantly, remember that one of the things the south is best known for is its warm, welcoming hospitality. Keeping your wedding simple.  Using things that remind you of home are the best ways to capture the heart of the south.

Image Credits: Citrus bouquet, Peach wedding cake, Nebraska barn wedding, Bridesmaids, Burlap favor bags, Couple with dogs, Groomsmen, Rings on rope

Elizabeth is an undergraduate at Ohio Northern University with a double major in professional writing and creative writing and a minor in psychology. Liz writes for My Wedding Reception Ideas as well as creates multi-modal writing projects for Re:Media, an Ohio Northern University online publication.