Why do we need an theme?

Kenneth asked that when we first started seriously wedding planning. He hadn't been to a wedding with a theme before, and didn't see the need. Never mind the fact that his aunt's wedding featured a cake with shamrocks on it, an Irish band with an Irish flag behind them, his aunt's ring was a claddagh, the flower girls' dresses had subtle little shamrocks on them, and the favors were CDs with names like "Blarney Stone" and "Killarney." (Can you guess the theme?)

I convinced him that a theme or central inspiration image would help with decision making if certain things were automatically excluded. With a theme of say, Scottish traditions, all else being equal, we could automatically exclude black and white polka dot invitations in favor of plaid invitations. With him on-board, I began making suggestions. The only thing we knew for sure is that it had to work with this cake I found in an old wedding magazine that we fell in love with early on:

First up: birds! I love birds, and have something with birds decorating every room of my apartment. My great-grandmother gave me an Asian screen with birds on it when she died because the first word I said was "bird" while pointing at it. It would look lovely with blue and brown, the colors I wanted.  Table centerpieces would be beautiful bowls of robins egg candy with sticks around them--- not quite looking like a bird nest, but suggesting it. I would get to use these beautiful tags somehow too:

Kenneth was not as excited as I was. (We aren't exactly members of the Audubon Society. It didn't feel like "us.")

Next, "Spring in Seattle." Think cherry blossoms and sculptural metallic elements. A few more colors would come in to tie with this inspiration image:

Again, Kenneth didn't share my enthusiasm. He rightly pointed out that it would be too hard to make it come through in a way that would make sense for people who haven't experienced the cherry blossoms on the University of Washington campus in the spring.

Then, it came to me! (And when I say me, I actually mean my sister, Sara who called to tell me the idea.) Why not just make the cake the inspiration!? Kenneth was pleased. (Success!) White would become more prominent, but little bits of brown would still be integrated into everything. Silver too. So with that, I created our inspiration board and we are able to move forward with centerpiece, website, invitation, flower, and color inspiration.