Sharon Brimmer, AAWP Certified Wedding Planner

Christine Brimmer- Floral Designer

www.cypressweddings.com

Safari Hats	Safari Party Items	Animal Print Paper Goods	Custom Safari Banners	Safari Decorations

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! A jungle theme is wonderful because there are so many wonderful products you can use. 

When using a jungle theme you can use a number of different styles. You might want the Jungle Allure Style where your reception site has an atmosphere of a lush, mystical jungle complete with wild animals. Or maybe you would prefer a Tiki Style where guests will feel like they are deep in the jungle and have come across a native village with wild game hunters & natives. You could also create a land of adventure and romance and Awe your guests with a dense jungle setting with giant trees topped with metallic balloons and gossamer, a fantastic waterfall, bamboo stakes, a rope bridge and amazing jungle butterflies flying overhead. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Any reception location can be transformed into a luxuriant jungle with a little creative thinking and a lot of vines, plants, foliage, trees & flowers. To reduce your costs you might find a location with lots of natural foliage like a zoo, a botanical garden, or park. If you use an outdoor location be sure to have an alternative plan if the weather should turn bad.

Invitations:   

Your wedding begins with the perfect invitations, set the tone for your jungle theme wedding with beautiful African invitations that give your quests a glimpse of what's to come. You could even invite guests to dress in African or jungle attire. There are some beautiful Invitations available on our Carlson Craft Invitation site. Just do a search from the homepage with keywords like: African, Ivy, Lily. Bird of Paradise & Safari to locate a nice selection of Invitations to set the tone for your jungle theme wedding. 

For a rehearsal dinner, try this Wild Safari Invitation by Carlson Craft.

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Colors:

Copper, black, brown, flame, scarlet, fuchsia, yellow, citron, terra cotta and various shades of green.

Flowers, Plants & Trees

Your first objective is to make your venue into a lush rainforest or jungle. You will want to start by placing lots of vines, plants & trees everywhere to create a jungle illusion then tuck exotic flowers amongst them. If they're not fragrant flowers, then spray some gardenia or other flowery perfume around them. 

• Borrow plants from friends and family
• Hotels will often have plants & trees in areas that are not being used. Ask if you can use any plants & trees from these areas for decorating. Write it into your contract.
• Plant nurseries often will rent plants & trees.
• Party Rental companies also rent plants & trees.

There are many different exotic flowers and plants such as, Orchids, Anthuriums, Birds of Paradise, Protea & Ginger. Asiatic Lilies are less expensive than Orchids and Oriental Lilies and come in many colors.  Mix in some exotic greens too. Use Ferns, Palms, & Cycads and other luxuriant foliage & grasses (bear grass, lily grass, onion grass & etc.)   Bamboo is another excellent choice.

If your budget is tight, you can cut out most of the flowers and only use a few here and there and use mainly exotic greens to give that jungle feel.  Create "lush" tables, patios or walls by using lots of Silk Ferns and  some Palm Leaf Thatching.  

Attire:  

Wedding dress with butterfly or animal motifs in silk or lace appliqué.

Today there are more and more African American designers who specialize in Afrocentric clothing and whose work is available to you both custom-made and retail. You'll want to take a look at Therez Fleetwoods-ethnic bridal gowns, they would be lovely for a jungle wedding. You will find more Afrocentric clothing links for women, men & children by clicking here.

Your bridal bouquet could be hand tied with ribbon or fixed in an “oasis” (a water-soaked Styrofoam-like substance) inside a plastic holder and coordinated with the flowers worn or carried by the rest of the wedding party, as well as with the floral arrangements on the site. Calla lilies, roses, and orchids as well as bouquets of field flowers, are the most popular choices for a jungle wedding, “reds, yellows and blues -- the stronger colors -- are more apt to be chosen. If you’re after fragrance as well as appearance, freesia, daffodils, gardenias, lilacs, jasmine, roses, and lilies are among the most aromatic flowers.

Bridesmaids' dresses in vivid hot-house colors. 

Bridal Bouquet in hothouse blooms in brilliant colors amid dark green foliage, with trailing stems of greenery. Matching wreath for the hair. 

Butterflies or colored feathers in headpieces for Bride & Bridesmaids. 

Jr. Bridesmaids and Flower girls carrying plush stuffed animals.  

Groom & Groomsmen dressed as a wild animal hunters complete with pith helmet. Exotic blooms for boutonnieres. 

Ties for the guys with exotic animals or birds from WildTies.com

Waiters & servers dressed in animal costumes with their faces painted as animal masks. Find great costumes at BuyCostumes.com.

Ceremony Items & Favors:  

You will find a number of items that can be Personalized with your names & wedding date plus either the Calla Lilly Bouquet or Calla Lilly Design in the Bridals Accessories Section from Carlson Craft.  Place one of these designs on Napkins, Coasters, Panel Place Cards, Matches & Favor Notepads, Sewing Kit Favors, Favor Boxes, Cake Boxes & etc.

You could also use personalized napkins, favor bags or just tulle circles with personalized ribbon.  In the bridal accessories section imprint these items with designs like: OPL-Palm trees design, Calla Lilly, Butterfly, Calla Lilly Bouquet for your Jungle Wedding Accessories.  

A guest favor that would work really well with the rainforest theme would be a Butterfly cookie cutter favor can be also be found in our bridal accessories section under Favors.

For your guest, candy is always a nice Favor.  Some neat ideas for this might be favor bags filled with macadamia nuts or chocolate macadamias. Another idea would be Jelly Belly's in tropical flavors.  You could use just white (coconut flavor) for a classy wedding and if they have a tropical flavor in your colors (i.e. Purple {island punch flavor} or yellow {mango, pina colada, or pineapple flavor}) then you could mix it with the white.  For a less formal wedding where you are using more tropical colors, you could just do a tropical mix with Coconut, Island Punch, Mango, Kiwi, Pina colada, Pineapple, and Margarita.  

Decorating Ideas

Exotic jungle foliage and vivid blossoms everywhere.

Ice Sculptures in the shape of animals, waterfalls or jungle foliage or ice globes with exotic flowers inside.

Swamp Thing:  

Transform your ballroom into a swampland or rain forest. Upon entering the ballroom, have guests greeted by the sounds of a zydeco band. To create a lush jungle perimeter, use plants as well as 12- and 16-foot palm trees. Decorate the ceiling with gossamer in all colors and cut it into strips of all different lengths. Use table overlays in shades of khaki, rust and forest green. Attach Dragonfly props to small, dimly lighted lanterns to serve as centerpieces. 

As guests walk into the reception, have dense fog rising from each table (chunks of dry ice in a clear plastic plate).   Attach Orchids to curly willow branches and sit them into the clear plastic plate with the dry ice ( please follow all safety precautions with handling the ice). Cover tables in teal, peach and purple lamour with coordinating chair covers and chair ties. To complement the tables, "suspended oversize butterflies and dragonflies from the ceiling with fishing line." They will look natural in their flight positions. Use "gobos" of  Butterflies, tropical birds and dragonflies. This light source will make your butterflies & dragonflies appear to move throughout the room. Have your guests dine on black pepper tenderloin and grilled red snapper. 

Feature live animal, exotic food and lively music. To get to their seats, have guests walk across a swaying plank bridge before encountering a snow leopard and an 8-foot python. Add parrots sitting atop carved tiki poles. Use African-style setting, tribal print overlays over black, citron, copper or gold cloths. For centerpieces, used carved animals or decorative animal candles. Use gobos that switch from lions to giraffes and zebras to finish the look. Conclude with an 8-foot volcano erupting. Warning: if you choose to use live animals be prepared for unpredictability.

Give your walls, tables, chairs and ceilings animal prowess.  Use this versatile patterned Animal Print Gossamer! Gossamer is an awesome decorating tool. It swags, ties, and drapes with ease. Mix tiger and zebra print for a real jungle experience! For ideas on decorating with gossamer you can order this How to Decorate with Gossamer Book. 

Don't forget to carry your theme into your bathrooms. Place a Bamboo basket filled with Orchids there or use a small woven basket with animal shaped soap inside.

Other ideas might include using:

• Waterfalls
• Indoor fountains
• Bowls of exotic fruit and nuts
• Silk flowers, leaves and feathers
• A lattice archway with vines, flowers
• Model animals - birds, stuffed monkeys, plastic lizards, vinyl snakes
• Jungle Dream Wall Mural
• Paw prints on lengths of ribbon
• Roll napkins, tie with ribbon, attach a silk pastel butterfly made from sheer ribbon to each. At first glance it will look like as though a butterfly, just fluttered down to perch on your reception table.
• Waiters dressed as Wild Game Hunters
• Origami animals place cards
• Decoupage mats of jungle animals, plants and flowers  
• Tropical birds in cages
• Orchid Sprays, Lilies or Camellia blossoms and floating tropical candles
• Animal posters
• Jungle' names to menu items
• Exotic fruit punch and desserts
• Wedding cake with sugar or gumpaste butterflies and tropical greenery trailing around cake with jungle animals dressed as bride and groom on top.
• Jungle theme music, Taped jungle sounds
• Doves or Butterfly Releases.

Table Decorations

There are lots of great jungle print linens that can be rented for your reception tables. Here are some ideas for table linens: 

1.) Use a chocolate brown satin under cloth with a leopard, or animal print overlay. Chocolate satin napkins with a gold rope braid tied around the middle of the napkin & a gold Turkish tassels at the end of each braid. Use black satin chair covers with Leopard or  black stretch chair bands. 

2.) Use a citron colored satin under cloth with a Leopard print overlay. Citron napkins that have a black double ( this means one side of the napkin is citron & the other side is black) so when it is folded on the table you see both the citron & black colors. Use an earth tone beaded napkin ring. Chair covers could be black with a leopard stretch chair band.  

3.) Copper satin could also be used for the under cloth, with a copper & black Jaguar Print for the overlay. Use black napkins that are edged in copper and tie a copper ribbon around the center of the napkin with a bow. Copper satin chair covers with black stretch chair bands will finish the touch. 

Decorating Materials & Supplies

Do it Tiki Style 

• Use two  8' tapa corrugated paper columns to create a Tiki Entrance  with a  raffia top. Start out big with a Tiki Pavilion, add some  Tiki Party Lights and you have a wonderful focal point for all your festivities! There are really great Bamboo table torches  pictured on the description page. You can also get citronella tiki fire that can help repel the bugs with these Tiki Torches.

• Place a large stuffed monkey or gorilla at the entry way with a pith helmet on it's head or create a life sized Safari Hunter by stuffing clothing with newspaper and place a Pith Helmet or Jungle Print Hat on his head. Lean the figure up against a tree or large potted plant or a tiki entrace. Use safari hats and large vinyl animals on the table as decoration. Pith Helmets also make great serving containers for snacks.

• Transform your room by covering a wall with a Jungle scene mural to create a great photo opportunity. Recruit some creative helpers to paint various jungle  scenes – animals, palm trees, the sun, huts, etc, or simply hang some  South Sea Tapa Background Paper on walls. 

• Let this wondrous Waterfall sweep you away to the islands of the South Pacific. This 10' tall corrugated waterfall features water-patterned gossamer and blue mylar to form a virtual cascade. It is 8' wide and is 12" thick.

• Use some blue Gossamer for water and place a brown Island Bridge corrugated structure over the water. This Island Bridge stands 2' tall by 4' wide and  is for decorating purposes only and can't be walked across, but it makes adds a lovely decorative touch to your event.

• Place potted ferns and other greenery into wicker pots and put them around the walkways, under trees or hanging from the trees. 

• Rent some Parrots or Macaws for the day! If you can't rent them, then get a cd of bird songs and stick it up in a tree to play over and over. 

• Candles are perfect for setting a romantic jungle mood. 

Wedding Cake Ideas

Wedding cake with sugar or gumpaste butterflies and tropical greenery trailing around cake with jungle animals dressed as bride and groom on top.

Rhiannon by The Cake Store

Cake Diva-Afrocentric cakes 
Cakes by Cliff Simon-African cake
Fancy Cakes by Leslie-leopard print cake 
Occasional Cakes-Afrocentric Wedding Cake
Grandma's Secret Afrocentric cakes

Grooms Cake Ideas:

Jungle Boy on Elephant - instead of the native boy on this one, place a Bride & Groom figure.
Jungle Scene Cake