Antique Inspired Wedding

The wedding dress in this photo shoot, inspired by the beauty of antiques, is truly a look that steps back in the past. Gorgeous covered buttons on the back of the gown and exquisite detailing in the front spell romance and an enchanted wedding day!

What to Look for in a Venue for an Antique Wedding

Antique themed weddings should not have modern or contemporary wedding venues. Instead, couples should search for places with a historic, old-world charm. Old manor houses in southern plantations, old rustic hotels, regency houses with historical significance, and more are the kinds of wedding venues to consider.

Always ensure enough accommodation for guests who may be traveling from out of town. Many couples also prefer speaking to the owners of old manor homes and houses and renting the entire place, including rooms. Doing this helps keep the wedding guests in one place, and you do not need to incur additional transportation and airport transfer costs.

Color Palettes for an Antique Wedding

Old fashioned and antique-inspired wedding colors are usually white, beige, gold, and several other neutrals. Bright colors were usually introduced only through floral decor. The vibe of the nuptials in olden times was traditionally centered around soft music, lots of candles and flowers, and handcrafted linens.

Considering olden fashions, you could also opt for a vintage color palette and incorporate browns and sandy tones from wood, stained glass in various colors, soft white candles, and pastel florals to soften the entire wedding and reception. These muted colors, coupled with vintage silver, heirloom gold, and rose gold, will give off an antiquated look while keeping with the wedding festivities.

Details for an Antique Wedding

You can add some exquisite details to make the ceremony and reception more vintage and antique. An excellent idea is to create a flowing ceremonial backdrop in a cursive script and decorate it with hanging flowers to add more intrigue to the entire ceremony.

Considering the antique setting of the wedding, couples should write their wedding vows on handmade paper and then display them on tables during the reception. There are other ways to add vintage touches, like adding old-fashioned bound books as portrait props, ensuring there are lace parasols for the ladies, and so on. All these details will add to the vintage theme and guarantee the authenticity of the era.

Table Setting Style for an Antique Wedding

The table setting style can be reminiscent of a southern landowners' charm. Think vintage wooden tables and chairs, crystal glasses, antique postcards as name holders, wire stands for the cards, vintage door knobs to hold single roses, doily runners in white lace, and vintage hand embroidered napkins.

With these things, you could also add delicate bone china (think of your great grandmother's tea set), plates and dishes with light floral markings and engravings, stained mismatched water glasses, and vintage candelabras with tall lit white candles. Couples can also choose a pastel and native greens floral centerpiece to bring the entire look together.

Budget for an Antique Wedding

Most people think antique weddings usually are inexpensive to put together. This is not always the case. Refurbishing old furniture, finding correct historical wedding venues, and ensuring the decor, food, music, and entertainment fit the theme is not easy nor cheap.

There is much to be considered, especially for the vintage decor. You may have to pay additional for furniture rental (since this would be refurbished), and you may also have to rent all the plates, cutlery, serve ware, napkins, glasses, and more to fit with the theme. Most rentals also take a small deposit for broken or chipped items. It is essential to plan the budget carefully to avoid last-minute monetary stress.

Wedding Dresses and Accessories for an Antique Wedding

Vintage wedding dresses have their own charm. There is much to learn from fashions from the past regarding cut, style, lacework, and detailing. Modern brides can choose wedding dresses in lace, silk, chiffon, and velvet. Most brides in the earlier eras would wear ivory or white and pair the ensemble with satin ballerina-style slippers or flats and a netted veil.

Accessories were slightly more elaborate than dresses with vintage headgear, pearl and diamond jewelry, and minimal makeup. However, if you want to add a retro flair, you could opt for neutral makeup with bold red lipstick. An elaborate hairstyle and vintage hairpin or band should complete the look.

Wedding Invitations for an Antique Wedding

The wedding invitations can have exquisite calligraphy. To make the invitation slightly modern, you could have an outline of the wedding venue on the card, with the details and itinerary. However, if you want to stick to the original vintage theme, you should have handwritten wedding invitations in black ink pen. You could opt for two-toned wedding cards, but the colors should fit the wedding palette.

You may also have to ensure all the wedding invites are posted only through registered post, not courier services. However, ensuring you have all the information, wedding colors, and the theme mentioned on the invite is more important than the form of postage.

Wedding Cake Ideas for an Antique Wedding

Vintage wedding cakes were not too elaborate on details. However, you can opt for a classic white icing cake with greens and borrow an old wedding cake topper from a great aunt for the vintage feel. If you want a Victorian-era cake, you should opt for a Mother of Pearl-style color, with green piping and reddish-pink fondant rosettes throughout the tiers of the cake.

If you want a slightly more modern inspiration, you could opt for a 1960s style wedding cake fashion, with white embroidered lace and applique patterns on a cake mimicking the elaborate wedding dresses of that era.

Favors and Gifts for an Antique Wedding

When it comes to antiques, everyone adores them! You could make the wedding favors exciting yet give them a modern twist, so they are useful. Some excellent ideas for antique wedding favors are skeleton keys that act as bottle openers and tin cans with a vintage-looking personalized label filled with jams, marmalades, or honey.

To make the wedding gifts more meaningful, you could give each guest a compass keychain or an antique-looking photo frame. Many couples also engrave photo frames with a special message for all guests to make the gift unique or opt for a small wooden box (like a pill or old-fashioned jewelry box).

Outdoor Wedding Ideas for an Antique Wedding

You could consider a majestic garden venue if you want to have the wedding outdoors instead of inside. However, there will be a need for additional ceremony decor. You may have to arrange for vintage mismatched outdoor seating, ensure a floral decorated arch, have a vintage cart with the details and guest book and offer flower petals to guests instead of rice for the exit.

Other excellent outdoor party ideas for this celebration are vineyards with old-fashioned oak barrels and antique-style bar carts. Couples wanting a natural yet vintage glam look can also opt for a wedding in a field of white roses. These are timeless and vintage with a never-ending style.

Vintage Bridal Portraits

If you adore vintage southern style, then you’re going to fall in love with today’s gorgeous bridal portrait inspiration shoot from Maria Hibbs of Squaresville Studios. The antique props, amazing old house, and charming gown are pulled together perfectly to create a timeless southern look!

Isn’t this shoot fabulous?! I could move right into that big old house. The whimsy, the romance, the antiques – perfection. Such a wonderfully unique shoot. Mahalo to Maria for sharing it with us!

Credits:  Photography: Squaresville Studios // Model: Chelsea Nath // Makeup & Hair: LaDonna Stein // Venue: Antiques on the Square.