Saying ‘I do’ Roaring Twenties Style

This article is near and dear to me because it’s about the day my husband and I said “I do!” But the primary focus on this article is to go over the theme of our wedding which was in 1920s-style. Also, I’ll be providing tips on how to create the theme if you’re planning a wedding or an event to celebrate the jazz era.

First, I’ll start off on how we came to the decision to have a 1920s-styled wedding. It started when our photographer, Stephanie of La Photographie, suggested I use Pinterest to gather ideas for our wedding. This suggestion was pretty much the tiny snowflake that ended up a huge snowball at the bottom of the hill. Pinterest gave us a plethora of ideas for the occasion. We knew we wanted a vintage wedding and knew it had to be 1950s or older. As I was scouring the interwebs for images, I came across wedding photos that showcased the Prohibition Era. The 1920s has always been an interest of mine but it wasn’t until I started planning an event around it that I realized it was actually a passion that was slumbering in my self-conscious. I turned to my husband and asked, “What about a 1920s-style wedding?” He looked at me like a light bulb had gone off and said, “I like it!” We had been watching Boardwalk Empire so it was almost like, “Duh, why haven’t we thought of this sooner!” But it wasn’t too late because we were in the beginning stages of our wedding planning. (Note: we planned everything ourselves.)

To begin, I can’t say there is a recommended or specific order when it comes to getting things accomplished when self-wedding planning. And I’m not a professional so I’ll leave it up to them. However, we did think that booking the venue and photographer would come first because it seems those two areas will book up fast, even a year out in advance. We picked La Photographie of Nashville because, well first of all, she’s amazing (you’ll see her work sprinkled throughout my site). She has done photo shoots of all kinds of themes and knew she could capture this era well. We stumbled upon a relatively new venue located in Nashville, Tenn called Marathon Music Works. Originally built in the early 1900’s, the building served as a car factory for the Marathon vehicle. It’s tucked away in the Marathon Village neighborhood. Just a few doors down from Antique Archaeology, which is the store owned by the American Pickers gentlemen, Popcorn Sutton Distillery, Lightning 100, Corsair Distillery and Bang Candy Company. We definitely felt this venue could give off the speakeasy feel.

Since we had crossed off the two biggest to-do items off our list, it was on to two important parts of the wedding: the bride and groom’s attire. I went to one bridal boutique to try on dresses and I’m glad I did this because it made me realize it’s not where I wanted to get my dress. I wanted something unique, whether it was vintage or not. I just knew I didn’t want to spend $1,000+ on a dress I would not be totally in love in and would wear for only a few hours. So I started Googling. I came across a dress on Ebay and the designer was Sue Wong. I researched Sue Wong and discovered she had a flair for the flapper style. Her designs are not particularly flapper replicas but are definitely capable of pulling off for any 1920s event. Plus, the biggest surprise about this find…..*drumroll please*…the price was $130! Not knowing if the dress would fit, I decided to go out on a limb and purchase the dress. I figured if it didn’t fit, I could turn around and re-sell. P.S. the dress fit perfectly! For the groom, we were introduced to a local men’s sophisticated consignment shop, Flip, located in Nashville, Tenn. My husband and I went in and asked if they had any three-piece suits. The friendly staff helped my husband find a classic three-piece navy blue suit. Their professionalism didn’t stop there; they helped my husband fill in with the accessories by picking out a bow-tie and shoes.

Photography by: La Photographie

Next up on our list: Décor. Nashville Event Lighting was suggested to us by a friend. We like to support local as much as we can and their recommendation came with a positive review. We met with their staff and they welcomed our ideas to help our theme. Their company had the option of chandeliers and we knew this type of décor would help the theme. The staff really listened to our recommendations and visions and we knew we wouldn’t have to worry about them recreating it. For tabletop decorations, we did not want to go with the traditional flowers. During my search, I noticed feathers, especially ostrich feathers, were all the rage during this time. My husband Googled until he found a company Texas that carries these. And the upside, we could rent the feathers instead of purchasing (what would we have done with all those feathers??). Score! Then came to the decision of how we showcase the feathers. Somewhere I came along with the idea of using wine bottles. I didn’t want to spend money on vases and then be left over with them. Wine bottles serve as perfect vases! Luckily I came up with this idea a few months out from the wedding date so I had time to *ahem* collect them. 🙂

Now on to the wedding cake. My mom worked with a woman that baked on the side. I will tell you, when planning an event, word of mouth goes a long way. It’s scary to go out on a limb to use a person or company that you have no idea on their reputation. My mom raved about this woman’s baking and my mom being a trustworthy source, we made our decision to meet with her. Her company is called Sweet Serenades. When we met with her she listened to our theme and came up with some great ideas. The final outcome was stunning! We had a small cake for us to cut into and cupcakes for our guests. See below to see what I’m taking about.

Photography to the left by: La Photographie. Cake by: Sweet Serenades. Photography to the right by: my husband

Our save-the-dates and wedding invites were created by my husband. He owns a screen-printing company and music promotion company and does a ton of graphic design for his customers and promotion of events. I love what he creates and I’m not just saying that either! We wanted to create something ourselves so it would be exactly what we want and would be special to us as well. So again, Pinterest and Google came in handy. It helped us shape our designs and create some awesome save-the-dates and invites. He bought a quality cardstock from a local art store in Nashville, Tenn named Plaza Art Supply and printed them himself and took them to Kinkos to cut them to size for free with their papercutters.

Photo by: my husband

The accessories and bouquet were areas that came together quite well. I knew I wanted a headpiece and not a veil, since headpieces ruled the head fashion of the 1920s. My headpiece was simple and inexpensive: a necklace I bought at Charming Charlie. My pearl necklace was also bought from Charming Charlie. My shoes were bought at Macy’s and I got really lucky when I found them. I wanted a shoe that was t-strap. And I’m not the type of person that likes to spend hours mall shopping. My mom and I went on the hunt and I scored some beautiful silver t-strap shoes! My bouquet was made by my husband’s sister and her friend. She asked me what type of flowers I wanted to use so as I searched I fell in love with calla lilies. I knew I wanted a color that would contrast with my white dress and discovered black calla lilies. Bingo! They found a wholesale flower warehouse that they were able to save by buying the flowers in bulk. They put a beautiful lace piece wrapping the flowers and accentuated it with a crystal brooch. They also designed the groom and best man’s boutonnière and maid of honor’s bouquet.

Photography by: La Photographie Photo by: me

Music was provided via iPod and this was one area that we couldn’t go all out and pay for a twenties-style band. However, we compiled the perfect playlist and it worked just as well for the evening. We did ask guests to dress up 1920s style and we’re happy to say, we had the best looking group of people that could be in attendance. It was so much fun to peek behind the curtain before the ceremony and see everyone dressed up to celebrate with us.

This concludes this article and I hope you were either entertained or given ideas for your wedding or event you are planning. My purpose was to show how we pulled it together to give the self-planner a few ideas on what to do. Wedding planning has its moments of stress, however, planning this entire wedding definitely was the bees knees!