What is the style of your wedding?

jbock314

Is your wedding style more classic/traditional since it is a Catholic ceremony? I'm in the beginning stages of planning my wedding and am having problems fitting my styles together. My church is a beautiful church from the mid 1800's and I'm an artist with the love of contemporary style. My reception is at an art gallery. Any suggestions on how to make this "flow?" My bright color scheme seems out of place at the church, but fitting for the reception. Can I pull this off, or am I fitting a square peg in a round hole?!

Calypso1977

i wouldnt get too hung up on things like "themes" and "colors". the ceremony and the reception are two separate events.  IMO, its fine if they dont "match".we were married in our church which is practically a cathedral.  we then had a simple lunch reception afterwards at a local restaurant.  my SIL got married in a small chapel but had the extremely formal country club reception.  it really doesnt matter.  i'd plan as if they were two events.  the priest isnt going to care what color your flowers are, or what you adn the bridesmaids are wearing (as long as the clothes follow whatever modesty standards your church has) and honestly, none of your guests will care or notice either.  just plan what you like and go with it.

mbcdefg

We're not aiming for a specific theme or style. We're just concentrating on having an affordable, classy wedding that's somewhere in between casual and fancy. We're using things we like and avoiding things that we don't. I think you're going to pain yourself into a corner if you try too hard to achieve a specific style or theme. The point of the church is to focus on the ceremony and the sacrament. Personally, I would rather let the ceremony shine through the readings and music and the beauty of the service, rather than the decor.Just decorate things in the style that you like and that the church allows, and you should be fine. People aren't really going to notice or care about the specific theme of the day.

jbock314

FYI I'm overly critical and pay too much attention to detail (the artist in me)! I totally agree with both comments. I just have this vision of things looking out of place at the church. I think I'm losing focus here!

Sydney.O.Rutledge

I personally prefer a more uniform experience, so our wedding matches the reception.  But I also like traditional stuff, so that happened naturally. As a guest, I wouldn't think twice about jumping from a traditional church wedding to a modern reception at an art gallery.  It is a party.If you are hung up on the decor at church matching the decor at the reception, just don't use a lot of flowers (or anything esle) at the church.  A church from the 1800s requires very little decoration (if any). 

jbock314

It's not so much the decorations but the colors of the brides maid dresses that I have in mind that seem to be throwing me off. I'm afraid that it will look like there's a circus in front of the altar! Like I said, I may just be reading to far into this. BTW, thanks for all the input!

Riss91

My bridesmaids dresses were a very vibrant color and I thought they looked gorgeous in our chapel. We did not decorate the chapel, however, becasue we felt that adding extra flowers, etc would be distracting. I think you will be absolutely fine using bright colors. Just don't go nuts with your decor in the church. If you are giong for a contemporary/clean lines look, then just keep it very simple in the chruch. And no one will notice anything "clashing" (except you - lol) so just do what makes you happy!

Sydney.O.Rutledge

I think any color scheme for dresses would work as long as the dresses are appropriately modest and not competing with other decorations.  Don't worry about it too, much.

mbcdefg

There's a big difference between wanting to do certain things, and feeling like you HAVE to do certain things to stick with your theme. If you have something you and FI WANT to do, I say do it (as long as your priest is O.K. with it). Once you get to the point where you're saying, "I really want XYZ but it won't go with our theme," then I think that's the point where you've painted yourself into the corner and need to step away from the idea of a theme.

AlexiaANDRobert

The only decor we added to the Church were two medium size vases with white flowers on the floor of each side of the altar. I think having two different styles (traditional vs. modern) between the ceremony and the reception are totally okay, especially since they're two different parts of the wedding. I wouldn't worry about making the Church flow with your color scheme and maybe go easy on the decorations or don't decorate the Church at all. GL and HTH!

IrishBrideND

Don't get hung up on themes. If the church is so beautiful, you don't need to decorate it at all. We didn't. The colors and such were all based on the reception site.

IrishBrideND

I should say we barely decorated the church. We had some simple pew decorationshttp://irishbridend.googlepages.com/marriedbioThere is my married bio. You can see church and reception pictures.

jbock314

Thanks IrishBride! After seeing your wedding (which was beautiful BTW) I feel a lot better. I won't have to do much church decorating since our wedding is the weekend after easter and I was told that we wouldn't even be able to fit a flower anywhere from the easter decorations, I'm pumped!

Ckirwin

tying the two "events" together doesn't mean they have to look and feel exactly the same. a few simple flower arrangements, maybe a few candles, and the colors of the girls dresses will make it all relevant to what sounds like a super fun reception at an art gallery! my friend didn't have any decorations in her church wedding but two flower arrangements at the alter and some candles. but because they were the same/similar flowers at what we saw in the centerpieces at the reception it all worked. really, no one is going to expect an art gallery to feel like a church or a church to feel like an art gallery. so i wouldn't worry about it being an exact match. GL!

IrishBrideND

Thanks Jblock   Glad i could help!