Whoever said that planning a wedding had to be serious and
stressful? With a western themed wedding, you can experience a
whole new idea together while making it as unique as you want
it to be.
For a western themed wedding, location is everything. Think
about having your wedding in an “old west town”, which are
located throughout the Midwest and usually offer wedding
packages at a cost. You can also find an open prairie and use
tents and backdrops that you have designed yourselves. Or just
decorate an old country church and reception hall. The
important thing is to find your own style and preferences and
then incorporate them into your wedding.
Decoration will be your visual focal point for this type of
ceremony. To create the ambiance of a western themed wedding,
use gold bows, which can be found at Christmas time. You can
also use hay bales for guest seating, drive away in a horse
drawn carriage and use country music or western movie themed
music at your ceremony.
Once you have the ceremony details worked out and you know for
sure this is what you both want, began thinking about your
attire for your western themed wedding. Watch old western
movies to see what brides wore, such as heavy fabrics, long
sleeves and a lot of lace. For the groom you could go simple
with blue jeans, a brown vest and a brown jacket, of course
worn with a hat, boots and spurs. For the bridesmaids, western
themed weddings are known for keyhole, dark dresses usually
worn with lace up boots. Instead of having them hold a big
bouquet of attendant flowers, hand-make headbands adorned with
flowers and ribbon.
To decorate your guests’ tables, use your imagination to create
the western theme. Buy cowboy hats and line the insides with
fresh flowers and baby’s breath, or buy old cowboy boots at a
thrift store and let sunflowers dangle from the tops. Adorn
small items on tables with things like sheriff’s badges or
replicas of old medicine bottles.
Incorporate your western theme even on the dance floor by using
kerosene lamps or lanterns hanging from posts instead of the
usual string lighting. You can also hunt through antique shops
and flea markets to find old wagon wheels and wooden trellises,
which can be lined with wildflowers and rope.
Another original idea for guests to enjoy your western themed
wedding is to have a corner of the reception hall set up for
photos. Find western clothing at thrift stores or western
supply stores. And instead of a dollar dance to raise money for
the bride and groom, offer them black and white western photos
of themselves to take home as souvenirs. You can pay your own
photographer an extra fee to take the photographs.
While planning your western themed wedding, have fun and enjoy.
The more fun you have planning your wedding as a couple, the
more memories you’ll be making that will last a lifetime.
Kirsten Hawkins | 
