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Event -
Weddings
- Wedding Theme Ideas
- Jungle Wedding Ideas
Jungle
Allure Wedding Theme Ideas
You may want
to consider a jungle themed wedding if you are of
African American
heritage or if you just love the beauty of the African jungle or
a tropical rainforest. Maybe
your planning a honeymoon to Africa or the Amazon, then why not
personalize your reception with a jungle theme and giving your
guests a glimpse of where you're heading for your
honeymoon. One of my couple saved for more than a year to go to
the Brazilian Amazon, and decided to turn their reception into a
celebration of their upcoming trip.
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, attire, invitations,
programs, flowers, menu, cake, and favors should all cleverly reflect one common concept.
Then, get as creative as you can!
Locations:
Any
reception location can be transformed into a luxuriant jungle or
rainforest with a little creative thinking.
Decorate with lot of vines, plants, foliage, trees & exotic flowers. To reduce your
decorating costs choice a
location with lots of natural foliage like: a zoo, or botanical
garden. If
you use an outdoor location be sure to have an back up 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 invitations that give your quests a
glimpse of what's to come.
This
Enchanting Invitation or
Sketched Invitation with their orchid design that signifies
love, beauty and strength are a perfect reflection of the love
you share and of a tropical rainforest.
This
Symbols of Love Invitation design on a white folder invitation
inspired by a traditional African wedding gown would also be perfect.
The ethnic-style border in gold reflects the tribal symbols of marriage.
There are many more beautiful Invitations available
on our
Carlson
Craft Invitation site
for this theme. Use keywords like: African, Ivy,
Lily, and Tropical to locate a nice selection of Invitations to set the tone
for your jungle theme wedding.
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Colors:
Ivory, white, gold, oatmeal, mauve,
goldenrod, coral, violet, red, colbalt, ocean, turquoise, purple, ming
red, saddle, navy, seafoam, pink, dusty rose, sand, pewter, sienna,
copper, black, burgundy and dark olive.
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.
- 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 rent
plants & trees.
- Party Rental companies also rent
plants & trees.
There are many different exotic
flowers and plants. An orchid signifies love, beauty and
strength. For a jungle theme consider using 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.
Attire:
For a jungle wedding choice a sheath style
dress with spaghetti straps, cut-out sides, trumpet hemline, court
length train extension and shawl attachment. Gold wedding dresses are
exotic and extremely regal. Wedding gowns in brocade, charmuse and lame
fabrics, all mixed together would be lovely for a jungle wedding. Other
fabric choices might include embroidered organza, silk shantung and silk
dupioni fabrics. Satin and lace always works well for bridal gown
designs. Trim dresses in Gold Cord, Beads, Shells and Trinkets.
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 these ethnic bridal gowns
by designer Therez Fleetwoods,
they would be lovely for a jungle wedding.
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: gold, oatmeal,
mauve, goldenrod, coral, violet, red, colbalt, ocean, turquoise, purple,
ming red, saddle, navy, seafoam, pink, dusty rose, sand, pewter, sienna,
copper, black, burgundy and dark olive.
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. Orchid 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:
Calla Lilies
accessories & invitations by
Carlson Craft. Just do a search
for Calla Lilies. Personalized clear calla lilies seals
printed with your first names add a glimmer to your envelopes and allow
the paper to show through. These are available in the Bridal
Accessories section under "Seals".
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.
"A Rain Forest Fantasy"
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. 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.
"A Walk on the Wild Side"
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, 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.
An alternative would be to use inflatable animals.
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 (Macaws,
Parrots, Toucan, Parakeet) in cages
- Orchid Sprays, Lilies 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.
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.
Cake Diva-Afrocentric cakes
Cakes by Cliff Simon-African cake
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