When you think of the 40’s what do you see? A big band playing, couples dancing, the men in uniform, the women with perfectly coiffed hair? Romantic rushed young love, and impending war making everyone live for the moment? For your big day wouldn’t you just love to transport your guests back to that moment? Don’t know how? Well let me help. I recently got married to the most wonderful man in the world, and we did it in 1940s style! So while its fresh in my mind, let me help YOU out! While there are many different ways to hold a 40’s theme wedding, this article will focus on the USO Patriotic part of the era.
Your invitations will be the first cue to your guests as to what kind of wedding they’ll be attending. We used simple cream card-stock from Hobby Lobby. I had a cousin print them out on a high quality laser printer. On the front was a black and white photo of my grandparents smiling happily on their wedding day – 1944. And inside we included the line “World War II era clothing encouraged and rewarded!” at the bottom of the invitation.
Now, on to the wedding the first thing to think about is: Where will we be?
A great place to have a vintage wedding is someplace vintage! Our wedding was held aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII battle cruiser. Some other ideas would be your local VFW Hall, or an old dancing hall. Check in your area for local homes that are available to rent out, old ballrooms and movie theaters are another option. We held the ceremony and reception all in one site to make things simpler and cut down the on the stress of our guests having to navigate to it.
Once you’ve booked a locale, how will you decorate it?
The Lexington is open as a tourist attraction, museum, filled with old photographs and huge vintage planes– so we didn’t have to do much of our own decorating. But if your venue doesn’t come decorated here are some ideas to get you going! Bunting can be used to skirt tables, and Oriental Trading sells a lot of patriotic decor as well, including “scene setters,” large stars and stripes backdrops. We covered our six foot round tables in white linen to the floor, and topped them either a blue or red sheer runner. On top of our runners were clear vases filled with either red or blue glass beads, and red or white carnations. We also had a smattering of old photographs from the time in black frames on the tables, as well as programs printed in vintage font. Vintage fonts can be found on the internet for free! We covered simple banquet chairs in white slip covers and tied them with corresponding blue OR red sashes. You have to be very careful with red white and blue. There is a fine line between cheesy and classy. You could also string up lights, and add large poster prints with sayings of the time, including “Buy Bonds!” and “Support the War!” These can be found online at cafepress.com for a great price. Set them up on easels, or suspend them from the ceiling with fishing line.
Will you have flowers?
Not only will you need bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, and petals for flower girls, but you might also want centerpieces and ceremony flowers. Since the 40s were a time of rationing, and haste almost anything you choose will work. Calla Lilies and roses are popular choices. We chose red carnations for tables with red runner and white carnations for tables with blue runners. My bouquet was a mix of carnations and roses, simple and small tied with a red ribbon. The girls had similar bouquets of cream and white roses and carnations. Each male in the wedding party had a single rose bud pinned to his lapel.
What will you and your guests eat?
This is really up to you. Almost anything goes. If you want to get technical you could try making an egg-less flour-less cake, to recreate rationing conditions, but will anyone really notice? You might have finger sandwiches, and small
hors d’oeuvres At our wedding the guests enjoyed barbecue brisket, chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. For drinks we set out huge galvanized tubs with ice and stuck glass bottles of soda in them. We also offered sweet tea. Simplicity is key.
How about a cake?
Again this is a very personal decision. I had a three tier plain white cake with red ribbon wrapped around the base of each tier, with a small arrangement of roses atop it. The grooms cake was made to look like the American flag! You can get as crazy as you want with it! Another cute idea would be to use a vintage cake topper– they can be found online, but better yet ask your family!
Music!
A huge part of the 1940s was DANCE! What better way to leave your troubles behind you than to dance it off!? You can hire a big band, a swing band, a soulful solo singer or hire a dj and request he play only 40s music. This era is full of romantic songs perfect for first dances– our first dance was to Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.” And remember its your wedding, if there’s a song special to you, but its not from the era, don’t hesitate to play it! A cute way to help guests get into the mood is to hire a few dancing instructors to come and dance with guests, or give a crash course to the members of the bridal party at the rehearsal dinner and have them help the others dance the night away!
What to wear?
With this era you can go all out opulence, holly wood glamor, or pretend you had to ration y our cloth and wear a tea length dress! I myself wore an intricate lace and beaded strapless gown and LOVED it. I added pearls to my hair, and birdcage veil. My girls wore tea length red satin halters and matching red sling back pumps. The boys wore tails, with red vests and ties, my husband in his Class A military uniform. The flower girls wore typical traditional pouffy white dresses, but tied with dramatic big red satin bows, and red satin shoes. The ring bearers were adorable in mini versions of the groomsmen suits! The key to making everyone look vintage-y was the accessories. Vintage inspired shoes, and hairstyles really pulled the look together!
Special touches will really make your night memorable!
As our favors, we set up a station with blank thank you cards and personalized red and blue pens held in galvanized tin pails. We included a framed note a the table with instructions to write a thank you to the boys and girls overseas serving and protecting our country, and we provided a box for them to drop them in. After the wedding we stuffed them and stamped them and sent them off. The veterans in attendance loved the thought. You might also ask a few friends or even hire a couple of local high school drama students to dress up like cigarette girls and pass out favors. Another cute favor idea we entertained was vintage candy! They can be bought online in bulk for extremely reasonable prices! You might also set up life size posters of famous people of the era, or hire a cartoonist to draw your guests with a 40s twist. You might also hire or convince a friend to walk around snapping pictures of wedding guests with a vintage camera. When you and your new husband leave, roll out in a vintage car! You might also ask guests to hold red and blue sparklers up as you leave, this makes for great pictures! And if you have it in the budget, leaving to the boom of a fireworks show could be quite dramatic! Another thing a lot of people are looking at doing now is a kids table. In the 1940s children were very much involved in weddings, and were not shunned from them, so this is perfect! Throw some butcher paper on the table, add some small (favor) tin buckets of crayons and a few more pails full of army guys and tanks along with a few sets of plastic army medals for kids to proudly wear.
There are so many variations, you could go a completely different route with Hollywood glamor, ostrich feathers, pearls and starlet dresses, but that’s a completely different guide! When it comes down to it, don’t get to caught up in the theme. You never want a theme to feel forced or strained. You don’t have to stick to it immaculately, if you fall in love with a dress that couldn’t be more modern, but think you might have to deny yourself because it doesn’t fit the vision of the 40s to a tee, think again! Buy that dress and go with it!
There are many 1940s reference sites out there, that I consulted. I listed a few below!
www.cafepress.com search: war world 2, 1940s, buy bonds
example
This book by Daniela Turudich was an IMMENSE help!
Surfing the web will get you thousands of websites.
Don’t limit your search to “1940s wedding” though, you should also look into “retro” or “vintage” weddings, “USO theme weddings” and “patriotic” weddings.
Happy hunting, and remember, do it right and guests will think they’ve time traveled.
