Alice In Wonderland Themed Wedding: A Vintage Storybook Theme For The Offbeat Bride

You read it over and over as a child, Lewis Carroll's wonderful, magical story of the little girl who falls asleep and has a fantastical dream about falling down a rabbit hole and encountering the "curiouser and curiouser" characters who were the inhabitants. You read your copy it until it was old and worn and were able to recite whole passages by heart until your friends thought you were just a little bit left of center. Then one day in college, in one of the campus hang-outs, you heard an attractive-sounding male voice reciting "Jabberwocky" in its entirety. You turned, your eyes met, and the rest is love at first sight history, as you and your fellow lover of all things Wonderland plan your own happily-ever-after, minus of course, some of the unhappier pitfalls Alice experienced.

One of the most fabulous parts of an Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding where you can really show your creativity has got to be the wedding stationary suite. Just think of the fun you can have with your Save-the Date cards, rehearsal dinner invites, and wedding invitations using the instantly recognizable graphics from the original Alice In Wonderland books. Have fun with words taken right from the pages of Alice with a twist like "Don't Be Late For A Very Important Date!" for your Save The Date cards with a picture of you in an Alice type dress and your husband-to-be in a Mad Hatter hat. For your invitation, use authentic oversized playing cards backed with your invite sent in a red envelope lined in black or white. You could also center your playing card-designed invitation inside a black pocketfold and tie it off with an elegant red satin ribbon.

There are so many great Alice in Wonderland quotes to use on your invites and table decor, it would be hard to narrow them down to just a few, so why bother?! Buy some double-sided pedestal frames (Tolsby from Ikea are great for this), paint your frame with spray paint in your choice of color, and insert your favorite Alice quotes backed with your favorite illustrations. Be sure to include some of the classics that are fun and will be great conversation starters for your guests.

Your wedding party's attire can be a place where you really get to have a huge amount of fun planning your Alice-themed wedding. Over-the-top and elaborate is the order of the day with top hats for the groomsmen and petticoats for the bridesmaids. Don't be afraid to bring in lots of vibrant colors like emerald green, bright lemon yellow, candy apple red, or turquoise, perhaps letting each bridesmaid wear a different color gown. Don't forget to put your precious little flower girl in an Alice dress to drop red and white rose petals from a clock-shaped bag and let her pass out your tea cake favors with beautifully lettered "Eat Me" tags at the reception.

Your groom can go in all-out Mad Hatter regalia complete with oversized top hat, vest, knickers, and tailcoat, or if he's not that adventurous, a little less dramatic and opt for just a colorful brocade vest instead. Your gown can and should be elaborate with detail, perhaps including vintage looking details such as a corset back or bustle. You could even choose to wear the top hat yourself and carry a pocket watch clutch or purse along with a brooch bouquet!

Doing an Alice In Wonderland-themed wedding is trendy in a quirky way. Although you'll probably be the only one of your friends doing it, (which makes it unique and that much more appealing!), you'll also be able to pair with another rabidly popular wedding theme, vintage. There are an amazing number of brides who are getting engaged and taking up to a year or more to collect vintage linens, mismatched china and glassware, and odd items such as skeleton keys old suitcases, and unusual clocks to ensure that everything used in their wedding is as authentically vintage and charming as possible. The vintage theme goes wonderfully well with Alice, especially since the book was originally published in 1865 and includes an out-of-control tea party. So of course, vintage china, particularly tea cups, and pots could be a prominent part of your decor, as well as red & white (for the ill-fated roses and the Queen of Hearts), and black & white (for the chess board). Colorful and fun table centerpieces could be made from stacked teacups of varying sizes or simple ones could be created for smaller tables with one small tea cup arranged with tiny sweetheart roses. You could even create your own candles inside tea cups to add a beautiful glow to your vintage china. Create your own cake stands with Dollar Tree glass dishes and upside-down parfait glasses. A little E-6000 glue will hold things together and make some very durable stands for cakes, cupcakes, and other desserts, or hors d'oeuvres.

When deciding on your decor, think about recurring elements in Alice in Wonderland. There are so many that could be pulled from the story and used attractively in your decor. Besides the aforementioned teapots, roses, and playing cards, the white rabbit would be a great one to incorporate into your arrangements. Using concrete or porcelain rabbits here and there to accent key areas like the guest book or gift tables would be charming, particularly if paired with oversized pocket watches, tea cups, and moss topiaries. Mushrooms could also be incorporated as well as woodlands touches like small tree limbs, butterflies, and wildflowers. Large chess pieces could be added as well as actual chess boards that could be used as bases on which to build your centerpieces.

If your reception is outdoors, it would fantastic to add a yard games area where you could actually play with oversized chess pieces or set up croquet, shuffle board, or bocce ball. Don't forget to add some pink flamingos as signs to point the way to the different stations or just as fun decor!

Food seems to be a recurring theme as well in Alice in Wonderland with our adventurous Alice constantly getting herself into quandaries where she has to eat or drink something to solve her issue and go on to the next part of her adventure. Several foods are mentioned, however, in keeping with the the party theme, you might want to decide if you are going to have a high tea or low tea. High tea is actually a full-out meal and could consist of Victorian favorites, such as kidney pie, bangers (mashed potatoes), pickled salmon, crumpets, and other heavier faire while low tea could be simple small sandwiches, tea cakes, scones with Devonshire cream and jam, and a selection of different flavored teas. This will depend on the time of day as well as what your budget is for your wedding. Have a specialty cocktail or two with fun names, like "Queen of Hearts", "Mad Hatter," or "The White Rabbit." Just make sure to have plenty of "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" signs available on your food stations and in your bar area and if you serve soup, remember, not too much pepper!

After such an amazing event, don't let your guests go away empty-handed without a memory of the fantastical celebration they just winessed! Gifts for your groomsmen could be pocket watches and for your bridesmaids, pretty teapots with a little teabag assortment. Give guests favors such as miniature teacups with a tea bag of specialty tea, little tea cakes with "Eat Me" tags, cookies decorated as playing cards, or a real deck of playing cards, maybe ones with an Alice In Wonderland theme. Buy tiny bottles in bulk and fill them with candy hearts and gift tags with a picture of the Queen of Hearts or a playing card with your verse glued to the opposite side as the tag.

Perhaps you have considered not doing favors at all, because you consider them wasteful...how about a donation to a children's library in each of your guest's honor to insure that other young Alice fans will be sharing in her adventures for a long time to come!

Hopefully, these Alice In Wonderland-themed wedding ideas have kept you from turning into a bridezilla and stopped you from shouting "Off With Her Head!" at everyone from the florist to your own mother! For more great wedding ideas and inspiration, check out these other articles:

Decorating With Doilies For Your Vintage Wedding

Woodlands Theme Weddings: A Beautiful And Inexpensive Wedding Theme

Vintage Milk Glass For Your Shabby Chic Wedding

Mercury Glass: What Is It And How To Use It For Your Wedding Decor

Make Your Own Hair Fascinator With Bird Cage Veil For Your Wedding

Carnival Themed Wedding: Fun With Vintage And Rustic Style