Whoo! Theme Thursdays! I have been looking forward to this one! Today I am listing what, in my opinion, are must haves for a Sparkling Winter Wonderland Wedding in blue and silver. This theme holds a special place in my heart because it was the theme I had at my wedding. In fact most of the photos in the collage I’m posting below come directly from my own day! So anyways. Without further adieu! Must haves!

1. I am a firm believer in everything shoes! I think outfits should be based off of the shoes you pick! So why not a wedding! Okay. So that’s a little extreme. But shoes are important. My shoes – shown here – were initially plain blue and then glittered by my mother and me. Wiki has an excellent tutorial that you can find here! When we made them we used regular Elmer’s Glue. I would also recommend spraying them with glitter fixative.

2. A Winter Wonderland Wedding needs a decked out wintery bride! The more beading and sparkly the better, or at least in my opinion. But beware! Bodices with bedazzlement can make very raw arms by the end of the night. If you don’t mind some alterations to your dress I would highly recommend seeing if they can remove some of the underarm beading. I didn’t, and by the end of the night I was definitely regretting it! Glittering photo props and snow flake fingernails are always a plus as well.

3. If you are going for glitter, sparkle, and frost I think that a broach bouquet is such an excellent flower alternative. DIY broach bouquets tutorials are pretty easy to find online! Give me a couple of weeks and I will have a tutorial myself! A broach bouquet is a show stopper and a keepsake. You don’t need to worry about broaches wilting. Also, if you have some old family broaches that are dying to be shown off they can be included as heirlooms in your bouquet. If broach bouquets aren’t for you, Baby’s Breath is a lovely, soft flower.

4. Sparkling, snow covered centerpieces also add some dazzle to your theme. These wine bottles are a wonderfully easy and cheap DIY project. You can find a tutorial here courtesy of Cleverly Inspired Blog.  When my mother and I were doing our own decorations we managed to drink or get the wine bottles from friends so no cost for those. The primer, Epsom salt, spray adhesive, and gloves were the main costs of this project. Though we added a bit more for the decorations we put in the bottles. If wine bottles aren’t for you a similar process can be used for pine cones or branches.

5. No wedding is complete without a cake; or at least some sort of sweet dessert. Therefore no theme is either! I love the cake above. I think it is the perfect mix of snow flakes, sparkle, and sass. I found this cake at catherines-cakes.co.uk. There are so many gorgeous cakes on this page! I am sure this will not be the last time I list a cake I found on this site. When I was looking for my perfect cake I was amazed by how many fit into the winter theme! Don’t settle on a design you don’t like.

6. And finally, no Winter Wonderland Wedding should be complete without a Hot Chocolate Bar! Especially not if you are having your Winter Wonderland Wedding in the, well, winter. We did up our Hot Chocolate Bar with batting and glitter. Underneath the batting we added some boxes to make the add-ons different levels. We bought the hot chocolate pouches and cups in bulk from Sam’s Club. Our add-ons included cinnamon sticks, marshmallows, mints, whipped cream, and more. We also had some Bailey’s available for those who wanted a little extra pop.The add-ons were stored in different shaped glasses and bowls all from the Dollar Tree. The large coffee pot was rented from a Rent-a-Center.

The Hot Chocolate Bar for us was a huge success! We used it as a little cocktail hour for the guests to occupy themselves with while my husband and I finished up at the church. A recommendation I have to make the bar move more smoothly is to designate a family member or friend to supervise it. Let them know where the extras are so the Hot Chocolate Bar stays stocked. It is also helpful to have someone ushering the guests over to the bar and letting them know they can help themselves.

There are, of course, many things that make a wedding theme a perfect fit for a bride. These are what fit for me and what I loved on my big day! I am curious to see what others imagine for their wedding. If you have a theme you would like to see me make a collage for let me know in the comments below!