Michèle Silvestre de Ciel Mon Amour gives us her advice on choosing a wedding theme.
As well as choosing your wedding theme, think about personalising your event. This involves extracting personal details that can make all the difference to your guests
Where to start? First of all, the story of how you met is a starting point for finding nostalgic details. A few words that define you? What are your childhood memories? Did you travel together to unusual destinations? Draw inspiration from your daily lives, your culture, your lifestyle, the things you love. How did you meet?
What materials do you like? Are there any colours you particularly like? The key to personalising your wedding lies in these small details that will be instantly recognisable to your guests. It's important to decide on your theme early on, as it will then be applied to every stage of your preparations: the choice of venue, the choice of meal, the type of dress, the invitations, the table decorations, etc.
To find the ideal venue, it's important to define your criteria in advance: both the things you'd like to find (a room with natural daylight, the possibility of sleeping on the premises or not, space for a secular ceremony) and the criteria that you don't want (a compulsory caterer, a location that's too far away or not easily accessible, the impossibility of completely privatising the venue).
You also need to take into account the number of guests and find a suitable space so that you don't feel like you're 'drowning' in the hall or, on the contrary, that you're squeezed in too tightly. The theme of your wedding also influences the venue: if you're going for a country theme, you'll want an estate with beautiful natural outdoor spaces, away from the city.
There are many different types of venue to choose from: restaurant, farmhouse, village hall, reception hall, hotel, estate, château, garden or boat.