Victorian Wedding Ceremony

Current day Victorian era inspired wedding ceremonies still incorporate old traditions of having the wedding at the bride’s church or home. With wedding decorations ranging anywhere from elaborate floral arrangements, garlands and swags to potted plants and flower blossoms.

Victorian wedding flowerswere not chosen for their beauty, they were chosen by what meaning or symbol the flower has.

For example, white roses represent purity and virtue, daisies innocence and purity and orange blossoms which represented bounty, purity, innocence and fertility.

Bridal bouquets were in the style of a nosegay or tussie mussie featuring flowers and blooms symbolic of prosperity, fertility and fidelity.

 

 The romantic elegance of these celebrations was regarded as the most important function of the year with the bride wearing the finest silk hosiery and high heeled white slippers to flower blossoms or a tiara supporting her veil. Velvet, satin, a heavy silk, cotton, or woolen fabric with a raised design, often in metallic threads and huge quantities of embroidery, lace and tulle were often worn by the bride and were replaced with lighter weight satin’s and chiffons by the early 1900’s to a simpler fashion.

Ceremony Decoration

Using tulle along with ribbon, silk or natural flowers to decorate is a cost effective decoration that will enhance church isles as well as dress up the chairs for an outdoor wedding ceremony.  For example, drape chairs with tulle and tie with colored ribbons that match your wedding colors or strands of ribbon that drape behind the chair or use premade bows to accent arches, doors or gates. Floral and ivy garlands are also very cost effective wedding decorations and keeping it simple, you are sure to stay within your budget.

 

Spreading a carpet of flower petals or blossoms along the pathway the bride walks assures a happy path through life.

Another wedding ceremony decoration is a good luck symbol that can be hung over the spot where the couple exchanges their vows. This could be a bell, dove, horseshoe, or any other good luck symbol.

Reception Decoration

The right table setting for a reception entices friends to come, sit, and stay awhile. Your tables should match the mood of your reception and convey the formality of your special event. So look for ways to individualize your dinning and reception space and no matter how relaxed your reception is it should still feel special to you.

Reception Decoration, according to your theme, is plentiful throughout the wedding reception adorning doorways, banisters, handrails, windows and fireplaces with colors in any combination.

Table Decoration 

Victorians loved fabrics and textures and often mixed various tablecloths covered with lace overlays, embroidered cloths and doilies, embellishing tables with vases and containers filled with flowers, china, teacups and saucers. You can borrow these items from relatives or find them in garage sales and flea markets.

Victorians saw ivy as a symbol of fidelity and ivy plants and vines sill grace many wedding tables, trailing from baskets and accenting buffet tables to tumbling down candelabrasto achieve a look of lavish abundance.

Centerpieces not only enhance the spirit of a wedding reception, they also provide a unique way for a bride and groom to express their sense of style. Use flowers and/or other forms of decoration to help define your theme. During the Victorian era flowers conveyed messages and were a way for men and women to communicate with each other because various flowers hold different meanings.

It is entirely a matter of personal taste on how you decorate your reception tables and venue. Just remember, your decorations should blend with other elements of your reception such as the centerpieces and style of the venue setting.