Fresh and Creative Watercolor Wedding Ideas

Traditional art is booming in the creative scene and, not surprisingly it has made its way over to the wedding world. Watercolor elements in weddings aren’t entirely new but as more people are embracing watercolor-themed weddings, fresher and more creative ways of implementing it are sprouting up! I’ve gathered some inspiration for you on how to best incorporate it on your big day.

(photos via Wedding Forward)

1.  The look for your watercolor wedding can start with the bridal gown. How romantic are these dresses printed with watercolor flowers? For even more personalization, you can learn to paint your own watercolor flowers, turn it into a pattern that you can digitally print on fabric, and then have a gown designer or seamstress turn it into the gown of your dreams.

(photos via 21st Bridal / Style Me Pretty)

2. If printed dresses aren’t your thing, you can opt for just the slightest tinge of watercolor as shown in the ombre wedding dresses in the above pic.

(photo via Ruffled)

3. You may also keep to traditional white and let your bridesmaids carry out the watercolor theme through lovely watercolor-print gowns, as in the photo above.

4. As for your bouquets, stick with pastel-colored flowers like in the above photo to mimic the luminosity and transparency of watercolors.

(photos via Kitty Pie Press – left / right)

5. Your groom and his groomsmen will look dashing in watercolor neckties to match your and your bridesmaid’s dresses. The best thing is that these classic designs can be worn again at any other time.

(photos via PureWow)

6. Your cake can beautifully reflect your watercolor wedding theme! Depending on your motif — whether you are using florals or paint strokes for incorporating watercolors — choose a design that will match your dress and invitations/stationery.

(photos via Kitty Pie Press – left / right)

7. There are tons of inspiration for watercolor themed wedding invitations and stationery out there so the first step is to choose which direction you’d like to take, for example: Rustic / Boho Florals or Modern / Minimalist. Narrow your choices down to what best reflects you and your partner. Once you’ve decided, it’ll be easy to make the theme flow beautifully & naturally.

(photos via Style Me Pretty / Oh Happy Day)

8. Your ceremony backdrop is certainly an area where you can go wild with the watercolor theme! I just love these watercolor squares — they are simple to do yet they can look striking in photos as you can see. You can easily come up with similar ideas — just let your imagination run free and think like a child playing with paints.

(photos via Intimate Weddings / Colin Cowie)

9. Incorporating the theme into your wedding reception décor is also a great way to express your creativity. There’s a myriad of ways and you can definitely play, especially with paper elements. The pastel-hued honeycomb balls, above left, and escort cards are great starter points. You can also add watercolor on your bunting welcome signage, table numbers, paper napkins, coasters, favor tags, giveaway bags, and so much more. You can even make it a fun group activity with your family or bridal party.

*If you have no time to actually make graphics for your wedding invites and décor, you can always check out the vast selection of easy-to-use watercolor graphics on Creative Market. They have tons of resources like those below.

(via Nicky Laatz on Creative Market)

(photos via Bon Appetit / Intimate Wedding)

10. And finally, if you think you’ve added a watercolor touch to all of your elements, think again — you can even incorporate the theme into the food you are serving! Check out these hand-painted sugar cookies and ombre colored cocktails.

For even more watercolor wedding inspiration, check out the Pinterest board I’ve curated for you. I’ll keep adding pins there so you can follow along if you want.

Are you having a watercolor wedding? Please share in the comments below how you are infusing the theme into your celebration.