Pull off a perfectly chic retro wedding by paying special attention to the details.
Rent a Photo Booth
A vintage photo booth rental serves as double-duty wedding entertainment: The photo strips make great keepsakes, and a shabby-chic vintage booth boosts your retro vibe. If you can't resist a little kitsch, supply your guests with feather boas, top hats, funky sunglasses, or costume jewelry to incite a little role-playing.
More Ideas: Set the guest book on a table near the booth along with old-school pens and tape so your guests can personalize their notes to you with photos.
Create a Candy Bar
Fun Dip and Bottlecaps have a funny way of taking you back to childhood. Set up a candy bar at your reception featuring buckets of sweets that became hallmarks of their respective eras: Pop Rocks and Razzles for the 1970s; candy necklaces and Lemonheads for the 1960s; Bazooka Bubble Gum and Smarties for the 1950s. Serve homemade lemonade, ice cream sundaes, or soda floats to wash 'em down.
More Ideas: Some specialty suppliers, like GroovyCandies.com and NostalgicCandy.com, offer packages by era -- or you can create your own personalized mixture.
Pick a Playlist
From Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra and discos to sock hops, the perfectly picked tunes will keep the beat on the dance floor. A live jive band in pinstriped suits or a neon-lit jukebox stacked with your favorite classic rock records will keep friends and family on their feet until dawn.
More Ideas: Don't stop with the reception: Give guests flash drives or mini MP3 players filled with your favorite retro tunes to take home. Pose for personalized “album covers” inspired by the original record jackets and upload your photos to the drives for a special surprise.
Plan a Retro Menu
Modernize all-American menu classics, like hamburgers, cherry pie, and root beer floats. Add Gruyere cheese or brioche buns to your burgers. Serve milkshakes made with vanilla ice cream and Irish cream liqueur. And give out mini cherry pies as wedding favors. Complement dinner with red-and-white checked napkins, tin buckets of ketchup and mustard, and steel barstools.
More Ideas: Environmentalism picked up speed in the '60s and '70s, so serve organic, in-season, and locally sourced food. Offer gourmet pizza, poached salmon, vegetable quiche, veggie sandwiches, and salad nicoise. Top it off with fruit smoothies and fruit-based cocktails like mango martinis, citrus kisses, or cherry blossoms -- or go deep-dive-retro with '20s-era sidecars, brandy sours, or cocktails made with organic sugar and fruit.
-- Alex Hess