A Valentine’s Day Themed Wedding – More Than Just a Pretty Heart
Valentine Letterpress Light Card
Valentine’s Day is well known for being the perfect day to propose. It’s also a popular day to get married and has become a popular theme for many February weddings. Often, people use decorations with hearts, small cupids and other fairly common icons of Valentine’s Day. But Valentine’s Day is more than just lacy hearts and roses. Couples who want to use the Valentine’s Day theme but avoid more commonly used decoration ideas simply need to consider the deeper meanings of the holiday.
A History of Love
Love letters between infamous couples can make a great jumping off point for a theme. The letters between couples such as Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Abelard and Heloise as well as Marie and Pierre Curie can be used to immerse guests in the rich history of love. Excerpts from these letters can be used in the invitations, place settings and even incorporated into the decoration. Love letters from the couple themselves or ones they have in their own family can also be used to tie the theme together.
Keeping Cupid Company
Valentine’s Day has made the Roman god Cupid a mainstream hero well into the 21st century. Brides and grooms who want to use this theme in their own wedding can give Cupid some company by incorporating other gods from Greek, Roman and other mythologies who also represent love. Potential companions can come from any culture’s mythology, including:
- Venus – A companion to Cupid in Roman mythology, Venus is the goddess of love
- Aphrodite – Greek goddess of love and beauty
- Hera – Greek goddess of love
- Rati – a Hindu goddess of passion
- Aine – the Irish goddess of love
- Cliodhna – a Celtic goddess of love and beauty
Fun with Favors
A Valentine’s Day theme means wedding favors can be fun and colorful. Drawing on childhood connections to Valentine’s Day such as candy hearts or brightly colored cards can get everyone in the mood not only to celebrate your wedding, but to reminiscence about their own love stories as well. Candy hearts with the couple’s name can be given to guests and heart shaped chocolates, decorated heart picture frames and small plush animals can all be customized as keepsakes for guests. Invitations, venue cards, menus and programs can be made in the style of Victorian valentine cards, scrolls for weddings with a mythology theme or feature the Valentine’s Day story connected to the couple.
Valentine’s Day themes for weddings can be a fun and creative way for couples to celebrate their own connection to the special date or simply as a way to immerse all the guests in a celebration of love. By tapping into the wider history of the holiday, couples can use infamous love stories, cultural icons and mythology and even simple childhood connections to the holiday as a way to celebrate their own special day and to encourage their guests to relive their own love stories as well.
