Rustic or romantic? Gorgeous wedding themes to inspire your big day
Whether you’re staying home or going abroad – channelling ‘classic’ or ‘country house’ – read on for nuptial inspiration
Planning a wedding can feel impossible – with the overwhelming quantity of suggestions, influences and wedding themes clamouring at you from every bridal website and magazine cover, where does one even begin? Perhaps you have a few scattered ideas – and some major no-nos – but aside from that, your notion of your wedding is, at this point, a big jumbled agglomeration of white chiffon and fondant icing.
Allow us to try and structure some of those thoughts. If your gut is telling you to depart the ceremony in a red London bus, perhaps you could go the whole vintage hog. Or, if flower crowns and broderie anglaise speak to your soul, consider going bohemian. If you’re what the kids are calling ‘extra’, check out our ‘romantic’ wedding inspiration.
Get adding to that mood board.
The Classic Wedding
Prestwold Hall, Loughborough
Prestwold Hall, Loughborough
Giant bouquets, white tablecloths and enormous skirt spans never go out of style. Welcome to the classic wedding, which starts with a church ceremony and ends with after-dinner dancing in a ballroom. This is the no-expenses-spared party for the blue-blooded bride who has impeccable taste and has been planning her nuptials since girlhood.
The Vintage Wedding
Justin Alexander
Justin Alexander
Retro aesthetics have lived on for a reason: they’re timeless. For those who want to inject a bit of fun into their wedding, go for the era-themed wedding: think the Roaring Twenties, Golden Age glamour, or ‘jet set’ vibes on the French Riviera. A few ideas to take your big day back in time: vintage drinks trolleys, a sweetheart neckline for her/bow tie for him, and a classic getaway car.
The Destination Wedding
Villa Sola Cabiati, Lake Como
Justin Alexander
Image by Hannah Duffy
Villa Balbiano, Lake Como
Whether you’re getting hitched barefoot on a St Barts beach or jetting to the Greek islands for a taverna knees-up, there’s nothing like a destination wedding. Also supremely popular are France’s many limestone chateaux, and the fresco-clad palazzos of southern Italy. A word of warning: the post-wedding blues hit hard with this one.
The Country House Wedding
Justin Alexander
Goodnestone Park, Kent
Rise Hall, Yorkshire
Goodnestone Park, Kent
For the girls who grew up horse riding, hunting, or generally striding around fields in a pair of wellies, enter the country house wedding. The UK is positively littered with stately manors, each grander than the next. So whether you’re headed to a neoclassical pile in East Yorkshire, or a palladian house in the Home Counties, live your dream surrounded by sweeping parkland.
The Romantic Wedding
Villa Balbiano, Lake Como
Chateau de Villette, France
Prestwold Hall, Loughborough. Image by Catharine Noble
Phillipa Lepley
Some women just want to be a princess on their wedding day, and that is completely valid. Why not book out a 17th-century palazzo on Lake Como? Why not wear a gown festooned with ivory tulle, or deck out the reception with pink roses? This fairytale wedding is not a place to do things by halves.
The Bohemian Wedding
This Must Be The Place, Mas Casamitjana
This Must Be The Place, Mas Casamitjana
Crumplebury, Worcester. Image by Emma Kenny
Paradise by Way of Kensal Green, London
The bohemian bride isn't traditionalist, but still appreciates a beautiful wedding (and can’t resist a good bit of pampas grass). Create the perfect boho wedding with the help of woven elements, overflowing florals, and an abundance of drapery.
The Glam Wedding
Image by Hannah Duffy
Rise Hall, Yorkshire. Image by Lucy Dennis
Image by Hannah Duffy
Villa Sola Cabiati, Lake Como
The glamorous wedding is high-concept and drop-dead beautiful. This stylish affair isn’t about the bells and whistles, but is eminently elegant, with artful floral displays, designer dresses, and white – lots of white. In fact, the author of this wedding is probably the sort of person who has decked their whole house out in white, and whose wardrobe is trendily monochrome, too.
The City Wedding
Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
Phillipa Lepley
If you’re a city girl at heart, why put on pretences for your wedding day? London is chock-full of urban wedding venues, from Thames-view skyscrapers to the ancient surrounds of The City, not to mention a suite of super-chic town halls. The outdoors life never was for you, right?
The Alternative Wedding
The Standard, London
Prestwold Hall, Loughborough
The Standard, London
So, you’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum. Perhaps you almost didn’t get married – it’s such a normative institution – but now you’ve come around. Enter the alternative wedding, geared towards turning fusty traditions on their head. Swap out a banquet hall for a quirky pub, throw on a leather jacket, and create an event that feels authentically ‘you’.
The Rustic Wedding
Phillipa Lepley
Petersham Nurseries, London
This Must Be The Place, Mas Casamitjana
Paradise by Way of Kensal Green, London
If you felt like your moment had arrived when ‘cottagecore’ burst onto the scene, this could be the wedding aesthetic for you. This event should be quaint and cosy in equal measure, bursting with neutral tones, botanical cocktails, and wildflower bouquets. Weather permitting, take proceedings outside.
The Beach Wedding
Lusty Glaze Beach, Cornwall
Carlisle Beach, Antigua
Beach weddings don’t have to be a barefoot ceremony in the Maldives (read: corny). They can mean a laid-back Caribbean affair with rum punch all round, a ‘dolce vita’ experience on the Amalfi Coast, or a windswept ceremony in a Cornish beach hut. Think beach bars, BBQs and dancing under the stars.
