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We last left off with our difficult (for him, not for me) decision of where to have our wedding. Having it in Cape May, New Jersey felt obvious when we looked at our criteria for our wedding location. He wanted something by the beach, and I wanted it to be at an obtainable destination for our guests. Almost everyone will have to travel to our wedding, but I don’t think it will impose a huge burden on our guests to get there. (Time will tell, though, I am sure.) Since we are having our wedding at a beach town, it seemed natural that our theme would be beachy or nautical. Even though I had always imagined getting married at our venue, never in my imagination were seashells or sand a part of our decor.
Beautiful! But not us. / Image via The Knot
I think those things can be lovely for weddings, but it was not something I imagined for my own. We like the beach and even contemplated getting married on the beach, but having it as part of the decor didn’t seem “like us.”
I am almost worried that people will get to the wedding and say, “Where is the sand? Where are the shells?” Or perhaps they will think that I missed an opportunity to have starfish as my escort cards, but that is not something that I think would reflect mine and Mr. CS’s aesthetic. For a while I flirted with the idea of some nautical elements. There were visions of a map here and a compass there, but Mr. CS quickly nixed those thoughts when I showed him a setup.
Love it! / Image via Inspired By This / Photos by Millie Holloman Photography
Image via Inspired By This / Photos by Amelia Lyon Photography
His response was, “But we don’t know how to sail nor have we ever been.” So it seems we are on the same page about having decor that makes sense to who we are. I am hoping that everything at our wedding will be meaningful and not just there because I think it looks pretty. Although I will probably find a way to justify it as having meaning even if it doesn’t…
“Oh, table bunting…don’t you remember on our third date we watched a movie with table bunting and I mentioned how cute I thought it was?! No? Well I did.” “Milk glass? Don’t you remember when we went to that restaurant for an important milestone in our relationship and the restaurant had milk glass?! No? Well it happened.”
Does your wedding have a theme? What is it?
Our wedding as the same theme as yours: “Wedding!” I think weddings get overthemed lately. Nice colors, flowers, tasty food, drinks, and friends are all the themes you need.
Love everything that @Lone Star said…those really are the most important “themes!”
If I had to choose a theme I would say it’s “simple” and “us”
our theme is, uhm, things we like.
there are some science aspects because we’re science nerds. and some crafty stuff because i like making crafty stuff. and pie instead of cake because we like pie….
We also had a beach wedding that I did NOT want to be be “beachy” despite my mother and mother-in-law’s best attempts. What we settled on was a very natural aesthetic. Our bridesmaids wore a sky blue dress and the groomsmen just wore regular tuxes. All of our decorations and center pieces were local flora with very few actual flowers. We used burlap table runners. Maybe you should try focusing on what naturally occurs around your venue and using those. My only concession to the beach theme was about half of the centerpieces were vases with driftwood and shells my sister and I collected as kids with water and floating candles on top.
Since my fiance and I both work in a school and that is where we met, we are doing a school themed wedding..pencil save the dates, apple placecards, “school picture day” photo booth and lots of chalkboard signage!
We don’t have a theme either, I’ve used some elements throughout the planning, but I don’t consider it a theme. That’d be too hard for me to figure out. 
We’re getting married in early December and everyone immediately assumes there will or should be a Christmas theme- SO not happening. It can look great, but it’s not for us. Also, we’re getting married in coastal Georgia… not exactly a wintery environment, even in December… and also a semi-destination wedding for both of our families. So, I completely understand where you’re coming from. Just stay true to what feels right for you and your fiance 
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a wedding-themed wedding! We just picked out things that we liked and let them work together!
I am trying to have an Italian theme. Although, it is really ending up just Italian food that we are having, along with some funny Italian grannies. =)
Our theme is kind of based on the town we live in/are getting married in: Santa Barbara, so it’s all loosely based on Spanish revival.
I don’t think we really had a “theme” either, unless you count all the butterflies, but that just kind of happened. LOL. I think about midway through the planning we were like, “OK, this is a garden-esque, butterfly-esque, pink-and-green-esque,” WEDDING! Woo hoo!
I think our overarching theme was “romantic,” which is probably the most redundant theme for a wedding, ever. I like your justifications, CS!
@Beachstone: I love the driftwood idea! Perfect but not too beachy.
I’m going for definitely a romantic feel and finding a way to incorporate travel & nostalgia into it, without making it into a hot big mess! But definitely lots & lots of pictures! And the venue comes with lots of candles & lighting so that’ll be all romantic-y! And the colors are champagne, pink, and black. So we’ll see. I got a year to figure it out.
I just wrote to my soon-to-be cousin-in-law yesterday; told her according to the vendors I have been in contact with thus far we are having a rustic-garden wedding. Oh really? Good thing they told me!! Ha!
We’re getting married in Connecticut in October, so our theme: Autumn!
We actually worked backwards. And yes, we had a theme. I knew that I wanted casino tables for the guests. I thought they’d be a great ice breaker and activity since a lot of people didn’t know each other and would help ease known family tension. Plus, I assumed (correctly I might add!) that pictures would take longer than expected. From that decision, our Alice In Wonderland themed wedding was born. (It was that or a Monte Carlo/Vegas feel…which I didn’t want.) The theme actually made planning really easy. We really focused on the red roses, card soldiers, and Queen of Hearts aspects. The quirkiness of Alice suited us well! It helped keep everything light-hearted and fun but kinda formal at the same time.
@FruitPatch: sounds like a great theme that really worked out well! The casino tables sound like so much fun!
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Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJ Age and Occupation: 28, School Counselor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate Athletics Engagement Date: March 27, 2010 Wedding Date: October 2011 Venue: Congress Hall Hotel About Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
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