Creative Ideas For an Unconventional Wedding

These days, all weddings can seem alike. Yes, there are mild variations. Light candles or pour sand to signify two lives joining as one? Church wedding, courthouse or outdoors? Perhaps things might get real cray and the bride lets her bridesmaids wear whatever dress they like. But the walk down the aisle, the squashing of the cake in each other’s faces, the locations–they all stay the same, and after a while everything just blurs together in today’s wedding landscape. The Pinterest phase of wedding planning has burst, because even if you Pinterest-plan your wedding, it’s going to look just as twee as every other wedding on Pinterest.You are unique and original, so why wouldn’t you want your wedding to be so as well? Here are some creative, unique, and downright different weddings idea, broken down by category.

Venue

What if instead of walking down the aisle, you slid? I have two words for you: Waterpark Wedding. Here’s how it would go down: the bride and groom would say their vows at the top of the park’s highest waterslide, and then jettison down to meet their guests at the bottom. Have you ever seen tuxedo swim shorts? This could happen. Rent out the waterpark for a day and let your guests go wild in the summer heat. You could even get really metaphorical about it and hire fire dancers as entertainment (fire, water, natch).

In keeping with the water-based idea, what about a houseboat wedding? Tie the knot (literally) and have everyone dress in a nautical theme. Party on the top deck as you sail around the lake or bay, have food inside, string twinkling lights in all the rails. If a waterpark isn’t your thing, but you still like the idea of an amusement park, think of a wedding held in your local dinky mini-golf-with-a-few-rides-thrown-in park. Ride the carnival rides, hold hands strolling the mini-golf course, and let your guests entertain themselves for hours on end.

Theme

Listen, anyone can put on a typical wedding. It takes true creativity to throw a themed wedding. Star Wars? You can dress up as Han Solo and Princess Leia, and walk down the aisle under a lightsaber salute. Pop an Ewok costume on your ring-bearer. A Great Depression themed wedding could also result in lots of great costume ideas. Everyone could dress just really dusty and raggedy. Renaissance fairs are just about as much fun as one can have–get a medieval theme going on with everyone in period pieces, corsets, and of course, men in tights. Eco-sustainable is also a great idea: everything is ecologically sustainable, recyclable, and biodegradable. Bonus points if you only serve your guests vegan food.

My favorite idea for a themed wedding is Willy Wonka. This would of course be crazy expensive, or at least crazy time-consuming if you went the DIY route, but think of the pictures. Everything would be edible creations of chocolate or fondant. Think of teacups that you can eat, centerpieces made of rock candy, and the party favor table festooned with brightly-colored candies of all varieties.

Activities

Take the traditional guestbook well-wishes to the next level with a scrapbook that collects guest’s best marriage memories, and their hopes for yours. Set up a ceramics table where your family and friends can paint and glaze pottery that will later be fired in a kiln, and then you can either accept them as presents for your new coupledom or send them out in the mail as thank-yous. Set out Polaroid cameras on tables so guests can capture their favorite moments, and leave it up to them if they keep the shots or leave them for you to have. Organize a silent auction where all proceeds go to a charity of the couple’s choice in lieu of wedding gifts. Have a table where guests can decorate postcards, and self-address them so you can use them as thank-you cards.

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