Vintage Style Weddings Gain Popularity: What’s Old is New Again

By Jennifer Walla

Your wedding day gives you one of the best opportunities to express your individual style. And while many brides and grooms opt for the latest in fashion, accessories and décor, there is a growing trend toward vintage-themed weddings.

Today, many first timers (and those who are tying the knot again) are choosing to make their special days reminiscent of something that harkens back to a simpler time.

Sue Diehl, owner of Visuelle Productions, recently organized a vintage wedding photography shoot at Gardens of the Fox Cities, Appleton, to give couples ideas. “Vintage-themed weddings are very popular right now,” Diehl says. “In fact, 2011 has been declared the Year of the Vintage Wedding. It’s becoming more and more popular because it really allows couples to be more eclectic in their choices and integrate their own personal style into their big day.”

Seize The Day Events was charged with setting the stage. Co-owner Katie Hess describes how she set up five different aspects of a typical wedding throughout the Gardens, each representing a piece of the wedding day equation: ceremony, changing area, cake table, cocktail area and dining table. “Many people equate ‘vintage’ with old, and that may be a part of it, but it really has a style all its own,” she explains. “Vintage is about clean and natural, and incorporating unique color palettes. It’s also about incorporating pieces that are meaningful to the couple.”

For the ceremony, Hess used natural wood chairs for seating. Handmade, antiqued white arches provided interesting visual details, along with vintage looking candelabras, flower pot stands and pillars. Trunks were stocked with water bottles for guests. “For colors, we incorporated whites and ivories, pale pinks and reds, and we used mixed metals of gold and silver for an interesting contrast,” she says.

In the changing area, natural folding screens with metal ceiling tile accents (handmade by Seize The Day Events) provide modesty for the bridal party. It also included a vintage-looking full-length mirror. Ornate votives with candles were hung from a tree to mirror the look of a chandelier.

Hess favors Chiavari chairs for special events. “They are really in demand because they work well for both traditional and modern weddings. They’re natural, yet they have an elegant style that people really gravitate toward,” she says.

The cake table was dressed with burgundy damask linen with a burgundy toile overlay. “We folded the linen onto itself in the width of the runner so it looks like it was casually tossed on the table,” Hess explains. The pièce de résistance was a beautiful vintage-style cake provided by Artistic Cakes and Cookies, Kimberly.

In the small cocktail area, rose linen with lace accents tied around the top to resemble a border covered the table. A floral arrangement was wrapped in the page of a book for an antique feel.  A freestanding bird cage wired a small floral arrangement to incorporate color scheme and add whimsy, served as the cardholder.

Set to seat four, the dining table of antique, natural wood was dressed with an ivory runner. Gold chargers accented the China, which was white with red roses. Vintage silverware was used, as well as red water goblets and clear wine featured an elegant gold rim. “For the napkins, we chose a burgundy L’Amour, which we tied loosely and pinned with jewelry,” Hess says.

Michelle Northey, who owns Flower Girl Design Studio in Appleton, used white hydrangeas, Queen Anne’s lace, red roses and ferns to set off the main centerpiece, a silver chandelier with 15” candles in pale pink. “Queen Anne’s lace, as well as silver dollar eucalyptus and other types of whispy, green foliage really move in the breeze, which provides a fun element to the setting,” she says.

Hess says the key to vintage weddings is incorporating your own style. “You should use things that are special to you, the bride and groom. Don’t try and have everything match. It’s supposed to look like it’s accumulated over time.”

Vendor Participants:
Gardens of the Fox Cities
Seize the Day Events
The Flower Girl
Bridal Elegance
DuBois Formalwear
Artistic Cakes and Cookies
Debbie Daanen Photography
Picture This Photography
Advanced Entertainment
Visuelle Productions
Vintique