10 Tips for a Travel Themed Wedding
Weddings always make for an amazing event. They’re all about celebrating love, friends and family with great food and music. They’re also an extremely personal event since every wedding can be planned differently according to the couple’s preferences about different design aspects.
There’s so much to plan for and think about when it comes to your wedding and deciding on a theme is one of the first steps. For those who have a heart for adventure and an itch for exploring, a travel themed wedding may be the right choice for you. For some inspiration, check out some decorating tips specifically for travel themed weddings so you can get an extra step or two ahead in your planning process.
1. Think About Location
When you think about your love for traveling, what does that love focus on? Do you prefer to always be on the road to someplace new, or have you had a recent travel experience to a location that you loved? If you’re more focused on one trip you’ve had in the past, you can make decoration choices around that location.
A favorite beach spot could be wrapped in with seashell table toppings, or a hiking trip that made your dreams come true can be represented by lots of greenery and outdoorsy choices. Deciding on one location or a travel theme in general will help narrow down the decisions you have to make.
2. Wrap with Maps
Many brides opt to walk down the aisle holding a bouquet of flowers or at least do a bouquet toss at the end of the night. To use yours to highlight your love of traveling, wrap your bouquet in a map! Whether it’s a city or country, put a special place around the flowers for your special day.
3. Create a Pin Board
This pin board isn’t online! Instead of having a guest book for everyone to sign, use glue to paste a map of the US or the world to a corkboard. Then place pins and labels out and have everyone put a pin with their names on it where they came from. This is great if you have friends from across the country or around the world, but if you have mainly local friends and family, you can always narrow it down to a map of your state.
4. Make Your Cake Soar
The wedding cake is arguably one of the biggest parts of any wedding. It’s supposed to represent both the bride and groom while fitting in with the overall theme. And it must look amazing! Wrap that all up in one with a travel themed cake. There are plenty of airplane themed cake ideas you can look at to get inspiration for your own.
5. Look Ahead to Your Honeymoon
Maybe you’re someone who loves the idea of traveling but hasn’t gotten to go to many places yet. If you’re traveling for your honeymoon, you can focus your wedding on that! Match the feel of your wedding to your destination honeymoon that you know you’ve been looking forward to. Your guests will love to feel like they’ve gotten away to a magical place too, and it’ll help mentally transition you from planning your wedding to living that post-wedding life.
6. String Up a Special Garland
There’s a big trend for brides to hang up fairy lights around the reception or wedding area, but they might not fit into your budget or theme so well. Instead, make a garland of hearts out of maps. You can make the center of each heart a place you love or would like to visit, and the best part is you can make it look just as cute in your home after the ceremony.
7. Frame Your Engagement Photos
Early in the wedding planning process, it’s nice to take a break and celebrate your engagement with a photo session. This is typical for all newly engaged couples to do, so why not make them fit your wedding theme? Take travel themed photos by boat docks, train stations or runways. Then you can frame them and place them around where your ceremony and reception will take place.
8. Label with Baggage Tags
Closer to the date of your wedding, you’ll have to decide how to decorate the reception tables. This will include choosing how you’re going to put name cards where everyone is supposed to sit, so make them super cute by labeling place settings with baggage tags. You can make them look modern or vintage and even play it up with different locations on each tag. Get creative and they’ll fit perfectly into your theme.
9. Give Away Compass Favors
Trying to think of what to give away to your guests as your wedding favors? Favor bags can feel overwhelming since you’ve already spent money on everything else and you might feel inclined not to give any at all. Compromise by giving away affordable compass favors to your guests. They’ll make cute decorative pieces and your adventurous friends can even use them while they’re out doing their own exploring.
10. Use a Global Guestbook
A globe will make a great decorative addition to your reception area, so play it up a little! You can use a globe as a guest book that your friends and family can sign with markers. It’ll make a great personal memento when you take it home and put it on a bookshelf or on your desk at work.
Having a travel themed wedding if you’re a travel enthusiast may be something that you always end up holding close to your heart. You should inject as much of your personality as possible into your wedding so the whole event celebrates you and your fiancé celebrating your love and your combined future. See which travel-themed aspects you can work into your wedding. Much of this is easily altered to fit any budget, so dream big and see what you can make come true.