Parisian Wedding Ideas

The key to pulling off a coordinated event: Evoke your theme throughout the affair. Whether that theme is as general as a season or a feeling, or as specific as a special flower, it should be the subtle thread that ties everything together. Your location, invitations, flowers, menu, cake, and favors should all cleverly reflect one common concept. Then, get as creative as you can!

Have you always dreamed of traveling to Paris and would love to actually get married there? Did you meet that special someone while visiting there and would love to recapture that moment for your wedding? Maybe you just find a city like Paris to be the most romantic setting imaginable for your wedding. Why not bring that special city to your wedding & reception.

Maybe you are going to Paris for your Honeymoon this would be the perfect way to pull it all together.

Keep in mind the true reason for the celebration, a reflection of the bride and groom and the love they have for each other. Do not lose the basic meaning of the wedding in the theme. Make sure that both the bride and the groom are equally excited about the theme.

The Location:

Select a location that works well with the theme. For a Parisian theme – an art museum, French Restaurant, historic mansion in a French architecture.

Invitations:

Consider the style and type of invitations that would coordinate with your theme and convey your theme to your guests before they even get there. Look for Invitations that might have a flower that is very popular in Paris, or a symbol that people might associate with Paris, or just word the invitation asking people to join you in Paris for the evening. Even if you don't speak French add a touch of French to your invitations. Mon amour, Mon cher, Bon apetite to name a few. Look up a friend or your old high school French teacher for ideas. You might add some silk rose petals in the invitations as well. Whether your wedding will be formal or informal there are invitations to convey both.

In our Invitation Shop by Carlson Craft, you can find invitations with tulips, roses, hydrangeas, and beautiful lilies on them all of which are very popular flowers in Paris. Just click on the refine search box and click on: Floral, Lilies, Roses, and Tulips from the drag down menu. The bridal accessories section has lots of items such as: place cards, napkins, and favor bags, that can be imprinted with a design and your names & wedding date.

The Ceremony:

Diverse colors and patterns give an eclectic charm to ring pillows.

Reception Ideas:

The Wedding Reception actually comes from an old French custom called chiverie, where the guests would go to the newlyweds home and under their window sing and make as much noise as they could until they were invited in for refreshments.

When planning your decorations for a Parisian Wedding Theme, envision a stroll down the boulevard with the beautiful Eiffel Tower and city skyline as your backdrop, or a beautiful outdoor café surrounded by fresh flowers and charming bistro tables. Then keep this setting in mind as you coordinate all of your details, and your atmosphere will develop into the perfect place for a charming wedding and reception.

Parisian Motif:

The motif is the visual representation of your theme, which is created by the use of objects or symbols. This symbol may be repeated on your invitations, program, plates, or decorations. Sometimes the use of several different symbols will be used as components of the theme.

Develop your motif using a list of words related to the theme. Brainstorm a list to create your pool of ideas. This list is very important for generating ideas that can be applied to all areas of the event. For a Parisian theme you might come up with words like cafe, arches, artist, Eiffel Tower, springtime, Harlequin, paintings, Fleur De Lis, Mosaic, Wine, Perfume, Wrought-iron, Crystal, Tapestry, Arabesque pattern, Pewter, Olive Wood, Wire Baskets, Fruits (Almonds, Apples, Apricots), Truffles, French Milled Soap, & Bistro tables .

Create a special entryway

Create a special entryway and guests will feel as if they are walking down a street in Paris, drinking espresso at a Parisian Cafe, or standing in a Paris Garden overlooking the Eiffel tower.

For example, as guests arrive, they will take a stroll down a Paris Boulevard and then enter into your Parisian Garden reception. Grace a cobblestone walkway with delicate-looking topiary trees. A shimmering walkway can easily be created using silver metallic background material, and cobblestone flat paper. Capture the romantic atmosphere of a Paris Boulevard with Lampposts. Create a Parisian Garden with trees, flowers a fountain and Parisian Lamp Posts.

Bring the magic of a Night in Paris to your special wedding with an Eiffel Tower outlined in Twinkle lights. Flank the stunning Eiffel Tower with Paris's famous skyline! Midnight in Paris decor. Pose for photos in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Room Decorations:

Wrought-iron or Pewter chandeliers, candleholders, tables & chairs.
Crystal candlesticks and chandelier with crystals
China & glassware with a Fleur De Lis pattern.
Tapestry Chair Covers
Candleholders or Lanterns etched, with a beautiful Arabesque pattern
Olive Wood Items
Wire baskets filled with Fruits (Almonds, Apples, Apricots)
Hang a border of Eiffel towers around the room.
Rent "carts" and fill them with flowers or place them around the room and use them as serving stations for food or place favors in them for guests.

Be sure to accent your decorations with some berets, an assortment of yummy pastries, croissants, and bottles of French wine!

Parisian Table Decorations:

At some point during the planning stages of your wedding the subject of linens will arise. When it does stop and think of all the possibilities available to you before you go with standard issue white polyester tablecloths. Remember the tops of the tables provide you with a very large surface area and covering them with a beautiful tablecloth is the easiest way to change the feel of a room.. It is also the most cost effective way to decorate. Ten tables covered with a theme or specialty linen print for example will make a statement that no white tablecloth can make.

Black & White or Black & Cream Toile is lovely as an overlay on tables. For a splash of color, red traditionally works quite nicely, with black and cream toile, make sure you choose the right shade, as a red that’s too bright won’t work with the subtler tone of the cream.

Other tablecloths or overlays patterns might include:

Toile in primary and vintage color groups like wine, pastel pink, pastel blue, and lilac.
Black & White Harlequin Chiffon or Satin
Filigree - White with Silver or Gold with Gold
Marquis Damask in Silver or Wedgwood Blue
Fleur De Lis in Champagne
Lafayette Damask in Salmon or Plum
Armani or Deauville Damask in White

Suggested table accents:

The centerpiece of the reception, the wedding cake, can be in Eiffel Tower style. trimmed with roses and surrounded by ribbons & rose petals. Magnifique!

Harlequin stacked hat boxes (large pink box with black top, medium pink & black harlequin patterned box, small pink box with black lid, use as centerpieces or other table accents.

Create fanciful pillar candles by covering the bottom with a border of Harlequin-inspired studded diamonds.

Plain black sconces with a mirror background or Fleur De Lis pattern.

French advertisements for wine & perfume.

Bring a little bit of French summer to your reception with bouquets of dried lavender. The scent is divine and will linger for a long time. Use lavender bunches 20-24" long.

A fresh pear for a place card

Colorful ribbon rosettes, placed in the center of each plate.

Linen napkins folded in the shape of a bird or rose.

Eiffel Tower tea light lamps

Edible roses and rose petals

Imprint Napkins with a Parisian theme design, Eiffel Tower Silhouette or with French words along with the couple's name and the date.

Table runners, tablecloth and chairs covered in striped fabric

Copper-colored charger plates or Fleur de Lys charger.

Toile and striped; napkins

China with gently scalloped borders and a Fleur de Lys in a raised motif in gold or ivory

Glassware reminiscent of Versailles, delicately decorated with a shell motif.

Personalized glassware with a Parisian design for favors.

Elegant crystal glassware donning a traditional tulip shape, a perfect example of French beauty and grace.

Ice sculpture in the shape of an Eiffel Tower or French Sculpture.

Espresso Cup & Saucer like those found in French cafés

Decorate your tables with Gossamer, and sprinkle Eiffel Tower Confetti all around.

Mariage Bowl (balloon shaped clear glass bowl, etched in a pattern of grapevines, leaves and fruit clusters) just right for floating candles or flowers.

Medici vase (classic urn shape) filled with spring tulips, wildflowers or red roses.

Eiffel Tower style wedding cake, trimmed with roses and surrounded by ribbons. Magnifique!

A Glass Candle Lamp

A full bouquet of fresh spring flowers.

Fresh flowers or loose petals scattered around.

Candlelight for even more ambiance and romance.

Personalized Napkins:

Show your guests just how much you care by offering Personalized Napkins by Carlson Craft that complement your theme.

Napkins can be laid out on a buffet table, or can be displayed at each place setting.

Place napkins in the center of each place setting at an angle, or unfold them and place them in glasses for a tall dramatic look.

The napkins can also be tied (and bundled with plastic cutlery) with a multitude of items to match your theme. Try gossamer streamers or ribbon.

You can imprint your napkins with a special design from our selection or for an additional charge, you can send us your own special design. Whether you are going with a floral theme or a Eiffel tower theme, Personalized Napkins are available in our Bridal Accessories Section.

Paris Wedding Accessories & Favors:

The Quite Personally Collection! by Carlson Craft has some wonderful items for your ceremony & reception, as well as personalized items.

Favors & Gifts:

The French love their wine; Personalize a wine glass for a favor and a toast.
Imprinted Champagne Flute Favor
Celebrate that special event and shake our 8" Plastic Champagne Maraca . Perfect for the sophisticated wedding. This item is also available with a custom imprint.
Great for weddings and black tie parties. Our champagne glass shaped bubbles make a great toast.
Make your Champagne Toast with our light up champagne glass. Choose from 7 color selections to add to the excitement at your event.

Entertainment & Music:

To give your reception a Parisian Flair,

Hire an Artist or Caricaturist to sit with a easel, wear a beret, and paint pictures of your guests that you can put in a sort of Wedding Scrap Book. Caricatures would be a lot of fun for all, and it will be a ball for you to look back on in the years to come.

Why not hire a French Quartet (complete with a Accordion of course) or just a Accordion player to stroll around the reception serenading your guests.

Use the French tradition of Auctioning off your garter. After your new husband removes it, the Highest bidder gets to put it back on. Then you could still do the traditional throw if you like. Then you use that money on your honeymoon.

The Food:

The center of a French Wedding is Food and French Wine.

Although you can't transport your guests to a party at the base of the Eiffel Tower, you can cast the charm of the city's spell at your reception.

The country's epicurean delights are- foie gras, truffles, Roquefort cheese, well-built crustaceans, succulent snails plucked off grape vines, sharp-tasting fruit tarts, (I'll stick with my cheeseburgers thank you very much).

A typical day's eating begins with a bowl of café au lait, a croissant and a thin loaf of bread smeared with butter and jam.

Lunch and dinner are virtually indistinguishable and can include a first course of fromage de tête pâté (pig's head set in jelly) or bouillabaisse (fish soup), followed by a main course of blanquette de veau (veal stew with white sauce) and rounded off with a plateau de fromage (cheese platter) or tarte aux pommes (apple tart). An appetite-stirring apéritif such as kir (white wine sweetened with syrup) is often served before a meal, while a digestif (cognac or Armagnac brandy) may be served at the end.

Other beverages designed to aid digestion and stimulate conversation include espresso, beer, liqueurs such as pastis (a 90-proof, anise-flavoured cousin of absinthe) and some of the best wine in the world.

When it comes to food for your reception, it really is possible for it to be elegant and economical at the same time.

With a buffet meal, you and your guests will be able to mingle and converse more easily than at a sit-down dinner. Serve easy-to-eat finger foods that will lend a casual, comfortable feeling to one of the most wonderful days of your life.

Your menu doesn't have to break the budget. To carry out your Parisian theme, put out baskets of baguettes, oodles of olives, and Smoked Salmon Pâté to spread on toasted baguette slices and mini-croissants.

Serve deli chicken salad to which you have added fresh tarragon.

For hors d'oeuvres, serve Palmiers (puff pastry pinwheels filled with chopped olives), and mini-quiches.

You'll also want to have a variety of French cheeses and champagnes at a Parisian wedding reception. Wherever possible, tie a ribbon bow onto serving pieces.

Parisian Wedding Cakes:

The traditional French wedding celebration cake called the CROQUEMBOUCHE. [kroh-kuhm-BOOSH] French for "crisp in mouth," this elaborate dessert is classically made with PROFITEROLES (tiny, custard-filled cream puffs), coated with CARAMEL and stacked into a tall pyramid shape. As the caramel hardens, it becomes crisp. For added glamour, the croquembouche can be wreathed or draped with SPUN SUGAR. You will probably have to find a local Pastry chef or order one online.

Here are some links to some pictures of CROQUEMBOUCHE from Crumbs of Paris 1, Crumbs of Paris 2, Fifi's Kitchen, Heriot Catering, Yenmart.com.

The centerpiece of the reception, the wedding cake, can be in Eiffel Tower style, trimmed with roses and surrounded by ribbons & rose petals. Magnifique!