Shiver Me Timbers, Boys
Okay. I admit it. I’m a sucker for a good theme wedding. At one time I even seriously considered the possibility of having one. Then I couldn’t decide between Renaissance and Victorian, and I decided to just have a simple, pretty wedding and not bother with a theme.
But to this day I have a certain fondness for those couples who are so dedicated to a particular era or subject that they can look at one another and say ‘I want a pirate wedding,’ just as a f’rinstance.
A while back, a couple on Whose Wedding Is It, Anyway? had just such a piratical wedding. It was held on a ship, and the couple had eyepatches and bandanas on hand for any guests who chose to get into the spirit of the event. The bride wore a gorgeous eighteenth century-style gown and a dashing hat with a plume. The groom wore breeches and a coat with gold buttons and braid, as well as his own quite dashing hat. The planner seemed a bit flustered and mystified with the whole thing, but the wedding itself was quite lovely and the guests all looked like they were having a grand time. It was one of the rare instances when I watched one of those shows and found myself wanting to be at the wedding.
It just looked like fun.
The most important thing in a theme wedding is that you have to go all out with it. You can’t be timid, or it will look like you just have a couple of odd touches to an ordinary wedding. If you’re doing pirates, do pirates. Choose whether you’re doing Johnny Depp, Captain Hook, or a more historically accurate pirate, and then take it to eleven.
Start with the first thing the guests will see: the invitation (unless you’re sending out Save the Date notices, in which case, start with them). Make sure it gets the point across, like this one does.
Nobody could look at that and be in any doubt of what sort of wedding they were attending.
Be sure to carry out your theme in the decor:
the food:
and the wedding party attire:
As for favors, give out chocolate coins, natch.
Wow, if my mother-in-law sees this she’ll make us get married again.
Yeah I agree that with theme weddings you have to go all out. I once received a relatively normal looking homemade wedding invite. I purchased a gift from the registry, picked out a cute dress, and showed up to the event with my (then) fiance. However, when we arrived we were quite surprised to find the entire wedding party dressed as pirates. The ceremony and reception were both held in a normal, wedding-y locale and there was nothing in the invite to indicate that costumes were appropriate (or else I’d have been all over that. Argh matey!). My fiance and I felt really uncomfortable about the whole thing…it was really weird. Even the officiant didn’t seem to know what was going on. He showed up in a suit and looked very confused.
I was just thinking, only with color themes, that I would probably go nuts and even dye my hubby’s hair jade-purple if I chose to go with one particular theme. I can only imagine the stress that comes with the endless possibilities! The line between going all out (which is needed for a successful theme) and going obsessive-compulsive crazy is too thin for me!
But I do love theme parties and those pirates look gorgeous and happy. 
I did a pirate thanksgiving a couple of years back. It’s fun because there’s so much pirate stuff out there, in every range from cheesey to exotic and luxurious. And food! You can pick pirates from anywhere in the world and serve what they might have. In addition to the bog-standard turkey I had a Jamaican jerk pork tenderloin stuffed with tropical fruits, rum grog to drink, and coconut cream pie as one of the deserts. We used kids’ birthday party treasure map tablecloths and I beaded napkin holders with assorted skull, key, coin, crab, etc. beads and the guests’ names in alphabet beads; I ordered a floral centerpiece with exotic flowers, mangos and bananas.