Wedding Themes and More

1940's Vintage Wedding:
A "Big Band" Wedding Theme Idea

For those of you who love idea of having a 1940's vintage wedding set in the big band era, this theme should provide a lot of entertainment and fun. Swing was in and the "cool cat" sounds of Benny Goodman, Bing Cosby, and the Andrew Sisters were being heard in ballrooms and nightclubs everywhere. If you love the jumpin' and jivin' sounds of the nineteen-forties, along with ballroom dancing, then why not plan your wedding theme around this fascinating era? Here are some ideas to get you started.



Vintage Weddings - Antique Car

1940's Vintage Wedding Attire

  • Bride's Attire

  • Go for a slim fitting suit or a drop shoulder slender fit satin dress with full length gloves and a hat with a netted face veil. Finish it off with accessories such as seamed nylons and spiked healed shoes (make sure they are comfortable though.)

  • Groom's Attire

  • Pin striped suits were still all the rage, or because of the war, army uniforms were often worn.

  • Bridal Party

  • The bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen clothing should be along the same lines as the bride and groom.

    Big Band Wedding Theme Invitations

    • If you're making your own, decorate the invitations with pictures of either big band instruments (saxophone, trombone, tuba, bass, trumpet). Another choice is to use a graphic of a wine bottle draped with a string of pearls.

    • Use a sepia photo (one that has been made to look antique) featuring you and your fiancée as your background. Surround the picture in a border created to look like it's in an antique frame. Print your wording on vellum paper and secure it over the photo.

    1940's Vintage Wedding Decorations

    • Fill balloons with helium and float them above the dance floor.

    • Create several balloon bouquets and place around the room.

    • Secure a mirrored, slow-turning "disco" ball over the dance floor.

    • Add strings of small lights over doorways.

    • Buy cheap children's musical instruments (saxophone, trumpet, etc.) and create an arrangement on the main food table as a centerpiece focal point.

    • Have a fountain that produces bubbles.

    • Use posters of famous people of the forties. Hang on the walls. A good place to start your search for low-cost posters and prints is at www.allposters.com

    • Find pictures of cars, bi-planes, etc. that relate to that period. Hang on the walls.

    Theme Favors For a 1940's Vintage Wedding

    • Give an actual antique photo of yourselves in an antique looking frame.

    • Create a music sheet with your favorite song, roll up and secure with ribbon.

    • Present small bottles of wine or champagne decorated with some ribbon and a string of fake pearls.

    • Another idea is to buy cheap champagne glasses and fill with rose petals or mints.

    • More suggestions for vintage wedding favors can be found here.

    Themed Centerpieces

    • You could use wine bottles draped with pearls or army dog-tags.

    • Lay long white gloves in the center of the table and scatter rose petals over them. Place a tall vase with a single rosebud next to the gloves.

    • Buy a large champagne glass for each table and fill with glass beads; place a candle in the middle of each and drape fake pearls along its stem.

    • Create a musical arrangement centerpiece. At a craft supply store, purchase miniature musical instruments (saxophone, trombone, trumpet, etc.), along with a small "music stand" and place an antiqued sheet of music with your songs on each stand.

    Suggested Pewmarkers

    Buy the small, plastic horns, drums, etc. available at craft stores (usually I've seen them in the Christmas section). Create small music song sheets and secure the instrument to the sheet with a ribbon. Hang as pew markers.

    Wedding Programs

    Make your wedding programs look like a music book, with a dark "leather-look" cover with your initials or names on it. On the inside, use a music score sheet for your backgrounds (faded, watermark type background) with your program information written within.

    1940's Vintage Wedding Music

    Any of the big band music that features Jazz and/or Blues -- basically, think "Lawrence Welk" (for those of you who remember who this is - if not, follow the link for a Wikipedia explanation.) You could hire an actual band or find a D.J. that enjoys this type of music and knows what to play.

    Search for the appropriate music by the following artists:

    Andrews Sisters
    Louis Armstrong
    Fred Astaire
    Gene Autrey
    Cab Calloway
    Nat King Cole
    Count Basie
    Bing Cosby
    Dorris Day
    Tommy Dorsey
    Duke Ellington
    Gracie Fields
    Ella Fitzgerald
    Benny Goodman
    Fletcher Henderson

    Ink Spots
    Spike Jones
    Sammy Kaye
    Franky Laine
    Guy Lombardo
    Jeanette MacDonald
    Glenn Miller
    Mills Brothers
    Cole Porter
    Artie Shaw
    Frank Sinatra
    Mel Torme
    Fats Waller
    Woody Herman


    A 1940's Big Band Wedding Cake

    • Get a regular wedding cake (2 or 3 tiers) and place small, plastic musical instruments along the edges. For the topper, have two figures standing in front of a music stand.

    • Have the cake shaped into a musical instrument such as a saxophone, trumpet, drums, piano, tuba, guitars, etc. Brass instruments were very popular then.

    1940s Vintage Wedding: A "Big Band" Wedding Theme Idea. © 2000-2007, Rose Smith.




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