From 40s Fantasy to Designer Deco: the New Black and White Wedding
The black and white wedding theme hummed along for years, occasionally dipping just below the radar. But as every wedding planner knows, it never really left us — and it's coming back up in a big way.
Still, we're not talking yesterday's black and white wedding. We're talking one that reflects today's greater sophistication in combining shades, textures, prints. And at its best, it leaves guests with the sense that your event was a full-fledged experience.
That's why we asked two prominent wedding planners you've seen on Style Network's Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, Baltimore's Linnyette Richardson-Hall (Premiere Event Management) and Philadelphia's Mark Kingsdorf (The Queen of Hearts), to give us the scoop on "Black and White Weddings 2.0."
"Ten years ago," says Richardson-Hall, "there was no concept of textural interest, and no depth. Today, everything's about depth and texture: looking beyond the obvious, digging down, thinking outside the box.
"With a black and white wedding done right, you can knock it right out of the park. But done wrong, the look can be stark and boring. White tablecloths and chair covers, black chair sashes and table runners, red roses on the table — there's nothing fascinating about that. You want to turn that around: for example, zoot suits and pinstripes instead of the usual tuxes."
A Star is Born: How Black & White Hit the Big Time
if you've paid attention to wedding palettes, the question probably crossed your mind: why black and white? How did this retro palette ever manage to muscle in on an endless sea of chocolate brown?
"It's fun, clean and contemporary," says Mark Kingsdorf, chief planner at Queen of Hearts Weddings. "Brides are drifting away from that very frilly look, and if you're looking for another direction and want something almost Deco, this is it."
It's all about a stylized blast to the past, confirms Richardson-Hall. "The 40s craze, the return to high glamour, that retro look — you've seen it on runways, and it's definitely driving event planning."
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Sultry Sirens and Classic Cars: Richardson-Hall's Fantasy 40s Wedding
Both Kingsdorf and Richardson-Hall agree: the black and white trend leans heavily toward old Hollywood, 40's Harlem, smoky jazz clubs and sultry stars. They also suggest that when going for this look, keep it pure. Skip the accents, except for shimmer — and maybe the most classic of reds.
"When I'm designing around a retro, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie type of thing, I'd never suggest color," says Richardson-Hall. "This is all about the absence and presence of light. I'd blend in metallics, though. And if the client really felt a color, I'd bring in red roses, for a very, very classic look.
"My ultimate black and white wedding re-creates the 40s, and not just the look, but the feel. I'd be thinking timeless elegance: elegant women in hats, gloves, jewels, classic pumps, cocktail dresses with the crinolines. And the men in white dinner jackets and black bow ties, like Casablanca — or in pinstripes. Even the transportation is part of it: you can show up and leave in vintage cars.
"As far as the bride, you probably want a classic, sleek gown cut on the bias. You want to get away from pooffy, and lean toward the sleek chignon with a gardenia in the hair — and sultry red lips."
But picking the right venue is critical, reminds Richardson-Hall. "Your average hotel ballroom won't cut it." Instead, she suggests ornate, traditional nightclubs or restaurants. "Lots of heavy molding, starched white table linens, even jeweled table lamps."
Of course, you can hold a big wedding in the traditional ballroom, she says — but skip the chair covers, which disrupt the feel. "Stick with the black Chiavari chairs, or gorgeous velour-back chairs." Then, bring in a 10 piece (big) band or a jazz band, a hefty dance floor, and you're well on your way.
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All Deco'd Up and Someplace to Go: Kingsdorf's Hot-Mod Wedding
While Richardson-Hall envisions a glammed-up fantasy straight from the jazz age, Mark sees an event fusing strong classic roots with fresh flourishes.
"Black and white offer a huge advantage when dealing with a typical ballroom," he says, since ballrooms tend to be both colorful and patterned. "If you do black accents and white flowers, you're not fighting your surroundings."
But don't run too rampant with black, he warns. "You can use black chair covers and tablecloths, and set them off with red sashes and flowers. But you need to pick the right room, and you need to watch your light levels."
In other words, if you turn the lights down to low or the walls are too dark, the black "just sucks all the light out of the room." So turn up the lights, he advises, use plenty of red or white, and load up the tables with candles.
"Red works really well with black and white. Red roses are classic, and bring a lot of depth to the room, in addition to having a great velvety texture. I've also seen black and white done well with silver and gold.
"The other thing that works beautifully — and it's just a little twist, but still a very clean line — is black and ivory instead of white. The bride goes with an ivory or champagne gown, and ivory china, and avoids stark white." In that case, he suggests, good choices for the flowers include creamy hydrangeas, lisianthus, and stock, which in this case transcends its "always a bridesmaid" status as a filler flower.
A bonus to the black and white scheme, says Mark — plenty of bridesmaids are using it to raise the fashionista quotient of their bridesmaids' gowns.
"Brides are telling bridesmaids, 'It's a black tie, nighttime affair. Go find a little black dress that flatters you.' Then they give them the little restrictions involved: it needs to be floor-length, or the chapel wants the shoulders covered. The bridesmaids go to any boutique they like and buy a dress that works for them. They can wear it anywhere, and have it shortened afterward.
"Most of these kinds of dresses have an interesting cut, a bit of glittery ornamentation on the straps, and very clean lines. The final look is completely tailored and elegant."
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My, How Times Have Changed
We decided to really press Kingsdorf on what sets today's black and white wedding apart from the ones we saw ten years ago. (Of course, he was up to the challenge.)For one, he says, he's seeing a lot more patterns — toile, for example. "In a room that's a blank canvas, a toile overlay on a white cloth adds a lot of character." He's also seeing black and white checkerboard prints and stripes.
"We have a popular venue here that's an old warehouse with huge windows and huge white walls. It's perfect for bold solids and polka dot accents."
The wedding cake is an especially fun place to mod it up, he says. "The round white cakes with round black dots: they're sleek, modern, and Deco-y. So are the black satin bands on a bright white cake — it doesn't look like everyone else's. And it matches the type of sleek silhouettes you see in couture gowns — I'm thinking of an A-line gown by Vera Wang with a black satin sash."
(A more traditional but still current look, he points out, is the bridal bodice embellished in black, and the white cake piped all over in a matching black, lacy design.)
Another plus for this theme: trendy touches like the candy buffet are a perfect match. "Monochromatic candies are gorgeous, and there are so many retro kinds of licorice." And let's not forget the appeal of a crisp white or black favor box paired with a dotted grosgrain ribbon.
But what about the flowers for this hipster spin on black and white?
"Actually," he laughs, "carnations. I used to be a carnations snob, but now I'm finding there are so many cool, hybrid colors of carnations. Naturally-occurring purples and greens," he says, emphasizing the natural. "And when you bunch them up tight — pavéed — you can't even tell what kind of flower they are — it's just a great, super-saturated punch of color."
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Black and White Brides: Talk Back!
Now tell us about your black and white wedding: the venue, the flowers, the everything.
Pages: [12] 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 … 1 » Show All
brides,
i made a gangster style christmas wedding board. i am hoping someone might be able to use it!! hope ya like it!!
I too am going for a 40s retro feel for our wedding (May 2010). I thought it was a fantastic and original idea, but am now seeing that everyone is doing it! I am wondering if I made the right decision with this theme. We really want our wedding to be one of a kind. I am stressing out!
I am getting married January 2010! We are doing a 1940’s Old Hollywood theme for our wedding!
We decided to keep it classic and romantic by using black and white and red for our colors. I decided to put the bridesmaids in floor length black vintage looking dresses by Belsoie. The bridesmaids and I are all getting our hair done in different 1940’s style up-dos and wearing red lipstick for the wedding. The groomsmen are wearing black pinstripe suits and fedora hats.
We are using black magic roses for the bouquets and white phalaenopsis orchids for the reception.
Looking on the internet we found a couple who did their engagement pics vintage style. We used their photos as inspiration for our engagement pics and we’re going to display ours at the wedding for a surprise so it looks like they are stills from an old movie. Here is a link for the couple’s photos that gave us our inspriation (www.jenstewartphotography.com/blog/index.php?/archives/462-Joe-Julie-Vintage-Fabulous!.html)
HandyKane.com had some gorgeous vintage Hollywood invitations that we just ordered.
http://www.handykaneweddings.com/index.cfm?id=87874&fuseaction=browse&pageid=141
We are renting a 39′ Dusenburg for our getaway car.
I hope this gives you some ideas! Let me know if you have any questions!!
I am also doing a black and white wedding. I plan on using a damask pattern. I am trying to do as many things DIY as I can. You can check out my blog. I am getting married 12/12/09 and will be selling things after the wedding if anyone is interested. These ideas are great!
I am trying to find more pictures of the black and white cake above. the one with the black polka dots and black piping with white lace. anyone have any pics similiar to this or know who made this cake? please email me bcloutsourcing@yahoo.com
Hie ladies
I would like to cover our hall in white but l’m having a hard time picturing it, so if anyone have any photos please help. Also l’m from Zimbabwe so its so hard to access magazines like the knot so l’ll need your help ladies on centerpices and the cake. thanx
peggy,
*wedding reception draping
*wedding draping
*ceiling draping
what are your colors, style, and theme of wedding for centerpieces and cake? formal or informal?
i’m from south africa and my fiancé and i have a long distance relationship. we’re not really that far from each other, about 3 hours’ drive away but we’re finally getting married on the 5th December! i’m having a black and white with red wedding. i’ve always dreamt of having the most romantic wedding with red roses and red candles and i’m super excited that my dream is finally coming true
my future mom-in-law gave me some ideas of adding a little bit of silver to the wedding and i think its gonna look absolutely gorgeous!
i’m not very creative or artistic but i’m trying to do as much as possible by myself. at the moment i’m still busy with my invitations. takes up a lot of my time but i think it’ll be more special to my guests. my invitation is a black lace envelope (handmade) with a red card and the invite on white paper with almost like a silver effect to it. it looks very smart. my bridesmaids are my three sisters and they’re wearing red dresses with black lace around the waist (there the lace comes in again)
i’m struggling to figure out how i can dress up the bestmen. any ideas would be VERY welcome
also, i want my bouquet to be all red roses. nothing else. will look nice against my white dress. but it would be too much for my bridesmaids to have red roses against their red dresses. or what?????
Hi Luwada, congrats on your coming wedding. By the way, that is my birthday and I was gonna get married on the same date but my fiance asked me to postpone to accommodate his family as they could only come to South Africa on the 15th so now I’m getting married on the 19th.
I’m also using red roses and my bridesmaids are using a single white rose.
They are wearing black & white boob tube dresses.
I can’t wait for my elegant wedding…….good luck with everything
Penny
Congrats on getting married… I am an Event Planner and these colors are great… I am getting married this month but, my wedding is black, white, and lime green… I think that all red roses would be great for you. You could add a few diamonds to give you that extra shine. For your girls I would not do red flowers because it’s your day and you need to look different. You could do white flowers or you could do an arrangement that has red, white and black in it. For your guys …if they wearing a tux then it should be black with either red ties or black if your like with white shirts… If there not wearing tux then black shirts and pants and the flower for their shirt should be red. I too did my own invites. Once the wedding is over I will send you pics…
Hi I’m getting Married in Oct.2010 and my wedding colors are also black, white and lime green. Do you have any suggestions or sites that would be helpful in planning decor, flowers, favors etc.?
Thank you so much! And Congrats on your wedding!
kelly,
*wedding pics and boards
*real weddings
*more boards
*black and green
Hi! I am getting married in March 2010, This will be a second wedding for both. We wanted something fun and simple, low cost. I beleive I have decided on a champagne maids dress for myself. With a black & white theme. But how do I keep it elegant yet non-traditional?
Its only going to be about 25people (immediate family) with a reception a week later. I’m at a loss with ideas since I was only 18 when I married the first time, and don’t want a fancy todo.
Originally I wanted a purple dress, but I have come back to a more traditional color. So I would like to keep a rich dark purple as part of the acent. But it maynot work with Black & white.
Lori,
is there a particular type of theme you want? your colors will work. i made you a board and gave it a fun modern elegance. i didnt know if that is where you were leaning but the decor i chose are just simple paper lanterns, glass cylinders with floating candles( one submerged flower), and paper bag lumineries. all these items can be gotten cheaply at saveoncrafts.com or any local craft store. fresh white linens with black napkins are all that is needed like shown in the pic on board. i put the bm in rich purple; after trying the champagne dress it didnt flow as well. black would be another good choice. now here you can put a sash around her dress if you like. simple heels in black or silver. i hope you like the direction i went if not please let me know and i will look for more ideas!!
lori,
here is your board
eggplant looks beautifly with black. I know this may seem weird but imagine black and purple at halloween, it goes well, As far as keeping it simple and classic, I would do a long table and do like a sit down dinner for a close group of friends, Maybe do a toast and a first dance. then allow some coctails to folllow with a little dancing and desert. maybe at a nice resteraunt that might have a room in the back you can have it in will be available. I would just pre program a ipod for the music. A lot of peopel that want non traditional small elegant weddings are having them at a nice sitdown resteraunt where it wouldnt be uncommon to be dressed up to be there in the first place.
think eggplant and use it as an accent color,.. it will go beautifully
Hello…I found this cake and loved the decoration…found it in The Knot (Michigan) magazine on pg. 93 in case anyone has it :)
Its simple black flowers with white centers…possibly made out of sugar?? Im wondering if I could buy something like these and would appreciate suggestions! Thank you!
Hello ladies I am also getting married July 31st, 2010. My fiance and I are doing a theme wedding and I am in need of idea’s. I will be wearing a poodle skirt combination, and he will be wearing the white - t-shirt and black jeans with black shoes. Oh yes and dont forget the cigarette pack in the sleeves. I was told I need an offset color for my flowers but I dont know which way to go. I would really rather stick with 2 colors. Any ideas?
susan,
for fun i wanted to include my mom on this since she lived in the 50’s. she said the way to go is black and pink and use pink carnations which were THE flower or mums( pink)
*wedding flower pics
susan,
in honor of your wedding theme i couldnt resist a wedding board!!
My brides maids are going to be wearing a deep teal. I have never really been a pink kind of person. My skin tone doesnt really look good with pink but love the ideas.
keep them comming and thanks.
Also wanted anybody else to know that we have chosen the cake decorations we are going to be making them look like old 45 records.
susan,
how about some bright red roses, they are classic and if you are both in balck and white then the pics could look really good like if youtake all the color out of the pic like in the older days and keep just one thing colored. the bright red roses. you could do black roses to but not sure if you and your fiance would like that.
We are thinking of taking black fabric pain and misting it over the white flowers. Sense we are making the bouquets out of fake flower. and then the girls will have Black white and Teal and I am thinking of having a red boquet to walk down the isle with and a mixed one with all the colors to toss. Still everything up in arms just yet.
But Please keep the ideas comming. I have taken a little here and there from you all and tried different things. I greatly appreciate your help.
I would go with pink and black and add some white for accents.
hello,
congrats to everyone, i am getting married may 23, 2010 which is 9 months from now. i came up w/ the black and white theme from my father, him and i were talking and he said it would be really cool to do it and i said dad come on im not doing that… unfortantly i lost my father june 17th 2009, so i decided to go w/ what my dad wanted… in my research and getting everything ready i love the idea and everyone has great ideas, and the website is the best… good luck everyone,
ps. michaels has a black and white set, flower girl basket, ringbearer pillow, a guest book a pen for 40 bucks save lots of money girls….
tracy, i think this is a wonderful tribute to your father. I wish you the best.
have you thought of doing a ‘tribute’ to your dad?
my dad passed away when i was 12, so i am going to have a framed picture of him displayed at the reception - and neither me nor my fiance have grandparents still alive, so we will put smaller pictures of them around my dad’s picture. we are calling it a tribute to those who are going to be with us in spirit
tracy and erin,
both of your ideas are beautiful.
congrats on your weddings
brides, here is a new board i made i hope it can help with your planning!
I love the board you did…my daughter is having a black and white theme….with alot of silver accents. The invitation on the board is awesome…..where could a person order that from?
brides,
here is a great black and white loft wedding….
*nyc loft wedding ( you will love this!!)
brides,
i made a fall wedding board with a black and red color scheme. i thought it was a different twist adding the white pumpkins.
I am getting married in Vegas next year-woot woot. I am looking for wedding dress that has a black floral print. Something like the Yolana by Monique Lhillier. Help! Can anyone let me know of any dress similar to this one???
Thanks!
alex,
i searched and could not find one but you could buy sheer black (elegant) appliques and have them sewn on a ruched dress by an experienced seamstress. it is a GORGEOUS dress!!
I’m getting married in January. I plan on having black brides maid dresses, as for my other colors…I want pink, yellow, orange, lime, and maybe a blue. The bridesmaids will each have a diff color of daisys for a bouquet and my bouquet will be all of the colors of daisys combined. Not sure if I love this idea or hate it! It’s something fun and different, but I don’t want it to look gaudy and I’m not sure how I would be my decorating…HELP!!
hi my wedding reception is 20 nov getting married in Mexico I need to find cheap eifell tower vases n White n black ostrich feathers any ideas were thank u
yvonne,
saveoncrafts.com would be a great place to search
and here are some google results…
*eiffel tower vases
*eiffel tower vases and save on crafts
*save on crafts products
for example, save on crafts has clear glass vases 12 for $5.99 each.
dont overlook having white vases with black feathers or vice versa. you would still get the same look only ordering one color in vases and then one color in feathers for easy ordering and arranging!! good luck!!
Hi! I Just got engaged and am starting to plan my wedding…Im also going with the black and white theme but with the flowers being a bright yellow…Any ideas for cute but chealp center pieces?!
sarah,
what type of wedding are you having? casual or formalish?
sarah,
*wedding pics
*black white yellow wedding board
*centerpiece
*yellow centerpiece
Hi, i’m gonna get married on august 2010. I’m planning a black & white wedding with a touch of lime green. What ideas do you have for the decoration? (type of flowers). And if I dress some tables black and some white.. do you think it’s good?
Thank you!
Liliana,
*black and white wedding reception
*black white green wedding
i would use green orchids or green hydrangeas
I am also a black white and lime green wedding… I have seen this table at the bridal shop and I loved it..
My table cloth is green, the charger plates are black with diamond rhimestones, the plate that everyone will eat from are all white… the favor boxes are black and white … the glasses are black with clear basis…
cheap flowers… the vases are black with all white hydragenus.. spelled wrong sorry… with lots of baby breath… you only need 2 of the big flowers to make a med size arrangement.. i added a few diamonds to give it a little bling…. and the chairs are black… i have pics i u need them
Thank you Stacy and Kim!!!I saw the hydrangeas and the are so pretty. I’m going to use them in the cake also. ;-)
Kim, can you post some of your photos here?
Hi Kim,
Do you mind me asking where did you find the black charger plates with the rhinestones?
Liliana
Congrats! I’m also using Black whit and silver for my wedding on 3 April. and will be decorating the tables with black and white as well. I think its best if the chairs also march.
lilian,
about the some tables white and some black,I think that could be tied in together with a common table runner on each table. Maybe go to joann fabrics and make some yourself. so easy to do. you could even try a black runner on a white table and vice versa. I love the idea of mixing it up. good luck
Ok ladies I am helping with a wedding for daughter. We already have everything for reception black and white damask with hot pink. I’m in a mad search for wired damask ribbon, any ideas?