Baseball Theme Weddings
"There are only two seasons — winter and Baseball."
— Bill Veeck
You've figured it out — you both want to play on the same team for life. But how to play to the cheering crowd when it comes to your wedding day?
Here are a few tips for a wedding Lou Gehrig would love ... and a whole lot of experience below from baseball-loving brides.
Note to Guests: You've Got Box Seats
Try eBay for helpful stationers who can whip up elegant, personalized baseball theme wedding invitations. Or be super-chic and send your guests custom event tickets that look just like the real thing.
Baseball Decor
Happily, finding a few fun touches that show off your sporty side isn't hard!A Rousing Reception
Try centerpieces featuring roses in your team colors. Chicago Cubs fan? Place bridesmaids' red and white bouquets in vases you've tied off with royal blue ribbon. Attach a handsome enameled team pin to the center of a bow, and you've got an elegant arrangement.Another fun idea: fill large clear vases with mini baseballs, and top with floral "baseballs" made of densely petaled flowers, like white carnations. Adorable!
Add table numbers made from elegant vintage baseball cards — or simply name your tables after leading lights from your favorite team.
Tastes of the Game
Got a sweet tooth? A candy buffet in your colors can be a bold and beckoning statement. Concession picks are perfect here — so are regional treats. Don't forget to fill a jar or two (or scatter the linens) with a few chocolate baseballs. Personalizing striped takeout or pillow boxes with a cute custom label is half the fun. Or, go upscale and yet still stay on theme with a gourmet popcorn bar — or, dress up nostalgic Cracker Jacks boxes with a ribbon or sticker.Ceremonial Touches
Don't forget the ceremony! A treasured mitt makes a wonderful ring pillow. And for fabulous photos, exit under a shower of pennants .... or ask your best men to line the chapel steps so you can duck beneath an "arch of bats" as husband and wife.Last but not least — hand your guests some Sharpies and have them sign a few baseballs or a handsome bat instead of the usual (yawn!) guest book.
A Moveable Feast
Create an unforgettable cocktail hour and bring the astroturf indoors by offering a few outdoor vending classics to your delighted guests — available at major rental stores: soft pretzels with mustard and cheese (or nachos & cheese), ballpark franks, movie-style popcorn, or salt water taffy in waxed paper bags with personalized labels. The carts make these fabulous.For the non-drinkers, serve up personalized bottled water ... and classic Coke with real sugar (no corn syrup!) in glass bottles. This will get guests cheering for days.
A fun addition to cocktail hour? Mock up some "sports news sections" to take to the printers, with headlines starring you and your honey:
Mark and Tori Named CCAC Couple of the Year
Baseball's Winningest Couple Returns To [Hometown]
Tori Selected To The NAIA True Love Team
Mark Earns Top Hitter, Matrimonial Distinction
Needless to say, happy stats and headlines like these are best served with fresh-cut cigars.
Baseball Favors
The baseball theme's a cinch to pull off when it comes to favors. Here are some fun ones:If your guest list's intimate, offer up baseball caps for your beloved Cubs or Red Sox on a table near the door. Or, old-fashioned Crackers Jacks in the boxes makes a head-turning treat.
Team-emblazoned cookies or individual cupcakes can really dress to impress when whipped up by talented pastry artists. Set up a baseball-themed candy buffet. Or, hand out bags of favorite hometown treats: Cubs branded peanuts, Boston Baked Beans.Attach a cute tag with a favor saying, such as You Made Our Wedding A Hit or Our Love Hit A Home Run.
AFTER READING ALLIE’S RESPONSE I SEARCHED ON EBAY AND FOUND THE KNIFE SET YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, IT IS IN AN EBAY STORE CALLED, WEDDING CAKE TOPPERS & DECOR, YOU CAN TRY AND SEARCH BASEBALL WEDDING KNIFE SET, IT SHOULD COME UP, IT IS CUTE, THEY ALSO HAVE A BASEBALL GROOM & BRIDE CAKE TOPPER. I AM ALSO PLANNING A BASEBALL THEME WEDDING AND HAVE FOUND THIS SITE VERY HELPFUL.
I wanted to respond to Jessica in Boston. I saw a cake server set that had baseball charms on both the knife and server on ebay. It was very subtle, but it looked awesome. I have not been able to find it since, but I think it would not be hard to do it yourself. Just buy a few inexpensive baseball charms and attach them to the servers with ribbon. I hope this help.
Hello baseball lovers! I, an avid Red Sox fan, is getting married to a Mets fan this October, and I am trying to finalize things for our semi-babeball themed reception. Does anyone know where to get classy baseball napkins, ideally that could be persoanlized? Also, a baseaball thmed cake cutter/and or server? I thought about putting a knife on a bat, but that seems a little creppy. Please help, Jessica in Boston
We are getting married at Turner Field next year. The ceremony will be on the field, and pretty traditional. My flower girls will not carry baskets, but instead wands with flower baseballs at the top, ribbons flowing down with bells. The reception is all baseball. From the kids throwing out Justin & Jenny 08 t-shirts into the crowd, to team attire, to a baseball themed cake, each table designed after a different stadium, guests receiving a ticket to their table, a photo “autograph” guest book, flower baseballs on pitchers mound centerpieces, trading card favors…it is going to be a blast. All of the food is concession food, served in baskets. Churros, popcorn…beer in cups. Just like at the game!!
Hey Ladies,
Added the “R” (soon to be “W”) to my name when I realized I wasn’t the only “Lisa” posting here. Hope you liked the book I wrote below…LOL!
Anyway, just wanted to share the epiphany I had about my centerpieces with you all…
Libbey Glass Co. makes these pilsner glasses with a baseball built into the stem – just google “Libbey baseball” as an image search and you’ll be able to see what I mean. They are part of the Libbey “Clubhouse Collection”. I’m going to use these as the vases for my centerpieces. It didn’t take long at all to find several suppliers who sell them by the case, around $30 for a dozen. You can also get them personalized if you want, although that runs about $12 each. Still not a bad price if your budget can afford it!
The floral portion of my centerpieces are actually bridesmaids bouquets, I’m not actually having any bridesmaids so the bridal floral package I got had all these bouquets I didn’t need. I’m simply going to plunk them into the glasses along with some of those decorative glass rocks and voila…my centerpieces are done!
Speaking of the flowers, I was racking my brain on how to elegantly incorporate the baseball theme…and again eBay provided the answer. Check out the eBay store “My Wedding Flowers” and look under “custom bouquets”. They offer roses where the petal tips are hand-dipped in your choice of color – they show an example of a white bouquet tipped in gold. I got all white roses tipped in red… It doesn’t exactly look like a baseball but the thin lines of red against all the white suggests the stitching of a baseball without being gaudy.
Hello Ladies!
This is such a fun theme to work with – there’s not a lot of stuff on the market for baseball weddings but with a little creativity you can put it together nicely without making your wedding reception look like a birthday party. I had a tough time starting out but as I started putting things together I found that I could add just the right touch of a whimsical baseball motif to just about everything and still keep the feel of things elegant.
I can’t say enough how invaluable eBay has been in my quest for baseball themed stuff, I have found wonderful sellers willing to make custom pieces and it’s been a blast. If eBay is your cup-of-tea, check out the following:
Lasting Impressions Engraving – they made my favors: engraved rosewood baseball bat shaped pens. Since I ordered 100 of them I got a huge discount per piece. They come in a white gift box, simply tie on a ribbon in your wedding colors & there you go! The box and the pen can both be engraved for free. They are also available in maple.
efavormart – great deal on organza favor bags in your wedding colors. I ordered 100 of these and will fill them with foil-wrapped chocolate baseballs. (like those foil-wrapped chocolate eggs you can get around Easter, only these look like little baseballs!)
VVN GIFT TRENDY – I got a really cute garter set from them made with baseball fabric & Swavorski crystals.
BIGMIAMI - I got 4 Pandora charms from them, 2 baseballs & 2 bats. The Pandora charms are perfect because they have a loop big enough to fit a ribbon through. These are to decorate my toasting glasses & cake server set. I will just add them to an arrangement of ribbon bows, small silk flowers, and tulle then attatch them to the glasses and knife & server.
Favors for You – She custom-made my RSVP cards with a baseball bat wrapped in ribbons with our names & wedding date in the ribbon. It looks awesome, and she only charged me $10 for 50! Her website is http://www.favorsforyou.net, this will direct you to her eBay store. I’m so pleased with how they turned out that I’m going to have her make my Thank-you cards with the same graphic, and I wish I had gone to her for the invitations as well! If you check her out ask her if she can send you a pic of what she designed for me…tell her I refered you!
Finally, I had my cake topper custom made from a lady with the user ID cin701 . She made a hilarious cake topper of the bride dragging the groom away from the big-screen TV where the AZ D-backs logo is on the screen. You really have to see it to appreciate it, there is a tremendous amount of detail. My fiance loved it! She can custom make one for you with any team you want.
As far as my invitations, I went to http://www.shutterfly.com and designed them myself. We went to Chase Field (home of the Diamondbacks) and had a picture of us taken wearing our D-backs jerseys. We took the photo from the top level so you get a really nice shot of the stadium & diamond in the background. I used this photo for the invite, and underneath the photo is the caption “We’re stepping up to the plate!” These turned out really great! I then went to http://www.paperworks.com and got 50 red foil-lined envelopes for less than $8!
I will post more ideas and such as I progress in my planning. I tried to post pictures in the gallery but my stupid digital camera is too fancy and the files were too big.
Good luck to you all!
Well we went this past saturday to the Rangers game… Dont boo, now they are the 2nd worst team in the league.. There is actually someone worse..lol..
Anyway.. We got our bats for the wedding. We got one pink and one brown. We are going to use them for everyone to sign at the wedding. They are also engraved with..
Fell in love at home plate
Michael and Bronnie
09-08-07
We arent going completely baseball like I had first decided, but there are alot of baseball ideas thrown in here and there…
*Where we are standing at the alter will be a baseball home plate.
*The ring pillow will be Michaels glove.
*After our 1st dance the following dance will be to “Swing” by Trace Adkins.
*Our wedding party (friends) dance will be to You’ve got a friend in me the followed by All my rowdy friends by Hank Williams Jr.
* We are having beach balls on the dance floor that will look like baseballs.
Oh here is a good site to find sports stuff..
http://www.orientaltrading.com
I used comtix.com for my ticket invitations. They were very reasonable, helpful and quick. Good luck!
Lisa,
There is a website I came across that does tickets. I don’t know much about it but the site looked interesting.
http://www.partiesbydebi.com/sportsplacecards.html
We are having a baseball themed wedding, I am early in the process but have decided that the ring bear will be in uniform and carry the rings down in a baseball glove.
Also, our engagement announcements headline, “Here’s the pitch, we’re getting hitched.”
Love the site, this is a hard theme to work with while trying to be “classy” too.
Amanda
I want to use baseball “tickets” as the place cards for our guests. does anyone know of a site to get these made? also, how have people set them up as far as the information on the “ticket”?
thanks
I have been looking at this site for months, but never really went to the links until now. The baseball cards are the best! We are definately using those for our save the dates. Thanks so much for all the great advice everyone!!! I will let everyone know if there is a great idea we come up with and would like to share.
THis is so wonderful, I too want a baseball theme wedding I wasn’t sure how to keep ot classy and this site is giving me alot of ideas. However, I would like to do like a baseball magnet or something along those lines for a “Save the Date” and use the baseball card idea for the actual invite. Any suggestions…I may switch this though since there is alot that has to be placed in an invite. Thank you so much.
Our wedding is November 10, 2007. We sent out our save the date cards from customsportscards.com and everyone loved them! We are not using the baseball theme for EVERYTHING, but the reception is where it will be showcased the most. Our centerpieces are going to be hats with the tops cut so flowers can be placed underneath the hats. Our cake will have gerber daisies in red with baseballs cascading down the side. It was getting too difficult to find a wedding cake that didn’t look like a child’s bday cake, so we compromised. Our favors will be the foil-wrapped baseball chocolates wrapped in tuling with a red ribbon, along with bags of cracker jacks. All the ideas on this page are excellent and very helpful! Congrats, baseball-lovin brides!!!
This is really the best place for cracker jack and peanuts if you are looking for a Baseball theme. I have bought from them three times now:
http://www.nationwidecandy.com/
I am getting married in the same section that I met my Fiance’ in at Petco Park in San Diego, Ca. I have everything figured out but my bouquet. I want it made out of a baseball with Stargazer lillies and miniature baseballs mixed in with the folage. I am also trying to figure out how to make a vail out of one of my baseball hats. Any suggestions?
Hi,
I’m also planning on incorporating a little bit of baseball into our reception. You girls really have some great ideas that I have decided to use! I was thinking of having a baseball bat with our names and wedding date engraved. I thought it would be nice if all of our guests signed it but I’m not sure if a permanent marker would work on a wooden bat. ( I don’t want the ink to run) Any ideas…?
Also, I found an edible floral arrangement company that makes arrangements using fruit. They have a ceramic baseball filled with pineapple daisies, strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe and honeydew. I thought they would be really cute as a decoration as well as an appetizer. They run at about $70 for a large. The website is http://www.ediblearrangements.com and they are called Triple Play Bouquet.
2nd response to Debby Katz’e-mail – there was a typo on my e-mail address – it is Jan565@AOL.com
responding to Debbie Katz’s note about table numbers for her son’s Bar Mitzvah – we just had my son’s Bar Mitzvah in April and the theme was Jewish Major Leaguers. Each table was a Jewish major league player, taken from the set of baseball cards. We had ceramic baseballs on the tables filled with chocolate baseballs. baseball keychains as napkin rings with a keytag on them as a keepsake. feel free to e-mail me with any questions @Jan65@AOL.com
I am having my sons Bar Mitzvah June 2…with a subtle classy baseball theme. We got a HUGE hat from Greatbigstuff.com for everyone to sign.. I am using minibaseballs as place card settings, but still stomped for table numbers. Any great ideas?
For anyone looking to purchase cracker jacks, peanuts, candy or seeds in bulk … I found this site and they have really quick shipping!
http://www.NationWideCandy.com
Cindy – here is a link where I purchsed envelopes to put my invitations that I had made in them – they ship them out super fast and are great to work with …
http://www.paperandmore.com/
We are having a baseball wedding. I would love to have a white baseball uniform for the gown. I was thinking maybe with sequences as a pin strip. Any idea where to find something like this?
Hi, We’re getting married in July at the ballpark in Arlington. Sticking with the theme I got customized baseball cards as invitations. It has our picture in front and the back has all the wedding details. They are standard baseball card size, and now I’m having trouble finding envelopes for them. Any ideas? btw, I got the cards at http://www.customsportscards.com
There are some cute bat and ball keychains and glove and ball keychains for $9.95/dozen at orientaltrading.com (the company is oriental trading company) — Just an idea for favors.
When you have a wedding that is a little out-of-the-box, you have to think a little out of the box. Caterers who normally do weddings are less likely to be willing to do hotdogs simply because they can’t make as much as they would on a regular dinner. You really have two options:
- hire a wedding caterer who will do your menu if you still pay the full dinner price
- find a caterer that specializes in less formal events. My husband’s best friend had a outdoor wedding with hamburgers and salads and a baseball tournament reception. They used a company that usually did company picnics, family gatherings, etc.
If you can’t find anyone, another option is to look into hiring students from a local college chef class to “cater” the event for you. You may need to borrow bbq’s from family members for them to use though. That is another reason why traditional caterers are reluctant: they may not have the right equipment.
How on earth did ya’ll find a caterer that would make just hot dogs, hamburgers and nachos (if you did this). I’m having a hard time finding that.
I am using steel buckets with styrofoam in the bottom and covering with some tissue, etc. Then the bucket is being filled with peanuts, cracker jack and sunflower seeds. The pennant is going to be starched and facing the entrance to the room. The cake is a presentation cake with the two sheet cakes that look like jerseys. As far as the mascot–contact the PR office for the team. You can get anything for a price…mine is $100 for an hour. We are being announced after the national anthemn
I’m in the process of planning my son’s Bar Mitzvah. Any ideas on a baseball themed centerpieces which also uses balloons?
Question for the idea of using pennants for the tables (instead of number)…I want to double face the pennants and stand them up right. Any ideas of an anchor for the pennant sticks which will look good? The idea of minipennants with the names for seating is great..I was trying to find budget baseball picture frames but the choice is limited . Great ideas on this page.