Black & White Wedding Ideas

The combination of black and white for weddings is one of those timeless classics that will never go out of style. If you are a traditionalist, you can stick with damask and flourish patterns for an upscale, elegant look at your wedding. However, more trendy brides can keep this classic from getting boring by adding some fun patterns or a splash of color such as fuchsia, red, green or yellow as an accent. Whether classic or modern, black and white is one color choice that you won't regret making when you look back on your wedding photos years from now.

In this hub, I share some of my favorite black and white wedding accessories, favors, invitations and reception decor.  Don't forget that you can share your own wedding tips and comments about this hub in the comments box near the bottom of the page.

 I found this amazing black and white inspiration board at Here Comes The Blog.  I love it because it covers just about every aspect of the wedding from the tuxedo and dress to the reception decor to the invitations and wedding favors.  I imagine that this board would be best for a classic bride who doesn't want to break from the elegance that a black and white color scheme can bring to the big day.

If you are trying to create a vision for your wedding day, you can make your own inspiration board by printing out photos of things you like online or make a scrapbook of clippings from bridal magazines.  Before you know it, you'll have a pile of images that will help both you and the wedding planner envision your day perfectly.

As you can see to the right, Amazon has tons of great do-it-yourself invitation kits that come in a black and white color scheme. The great thing about DIY kits is that you can save tons of money. The bad thing is that it obviously takes more time than simply ordering professionally printed invites. You can often get DIY kits for less than $1 per invitation and you just print them on a laser printer for a pretty professional look. If you do decide to go with a DIY kit, be sure to choose a font that fits with the style of your invitation. You don't want to use Edwardian script on a polka dot invite or a whimsical font like Kirsten on a damask invitation. One of the most important things to remember is to have SEVERAL people proofread the invites before you print all of them. It would be a shame to find a mistake after printing.

If you prefer traditional printed invitations, many online companies offer a wide range of black and white invitations along with matching thank you notes, RSVP response cards, and other stationery.  Most online invitation companies will send you samples for FREE. All you have to do is ask!  Carlson Craft is one of the best known invitation makers and you will likely find their catalogs at local wedding retailers.

It is fairly easy to attain a very upscale elegant look like the one shown in the above photo if your color scheme is black and white. Simple white chairs surround a round table that has been overlaid with a white satin fabric and a lace patterned table runner.

Place settings consist of a silver plate charger with white ceramic dishes, black napkins with diamond shaped napkin rings, matching diamond ring footed toasting flutes, white tea or coffee cups, and silverware. To sit at each place setting, wedding dress and mini tux favor bags are filled with black and white candies and finished off with a black and white personalized hang tag.

A trio of diamond shaped tealight candle holders as well as glass vases with candles and votive candles provide table lighting (in addition to the stunning black chandelier that hangs above the table). Amidst the candles is a gorgeous white floral bouquet constructed of white lilies, greenery and dahlia flowers. To direct guests to the tables, tall silver holders with table numbers also sit in the center.

Most of these reception decorations are available at a discount from Wedding Favors Unlimited.

In addition to the black Midnight Rendevous Wedding Collection shown in the photo to the right, you can also find the black and white love links accessory collection shown on the above inspiration board at Wedding Favors Unlimited.  Both of these accessory sets include a guest book and pen set, flower basket, ring bearer pillow and wedding garter that are perfectly coordinated (the love links collection also includes toasting flutes and a unity candle).

I love collections because you can be certain that all of your items will be fully coordinated.  Ordering black items from separate vendors often times results in mismatched blacks because dyes vary from one vendor to the next.

The following montage of black and white wedding favors was constructed using items from Wedding Favors Unlimited. You can now shop their website by favor color so they have an entire page dedicated to black and white weddings. They offer a wide range of both personalized and non-personalized favors in various styles from elegant like the damask candles to whimsical like the polka dot candle cakes.

You can also find a wide range of DIY favor boxes like the flourish ones shown in the center photo or the black and white oval boxes shown in the lower left photo.  Any of these boxes can be filled with your favorite candies or trinkets so you can truly make them one of a kind.

With all the favors available, I still think my favorite black and white favors are the glass Timeless Classic coasters that come in sets of 2.  They feature a black flourish pattern frame around the photo opening.

The black and white wedding cakes in the photo are full of fun and elegant ideas. Personally, I am more of a traditionalist, but I must say that I love the topsy-turvy cake in the upper left corner that is decorated with stripes, polka dots, hearts and an interesting cake topper.

Another non-traditional, but ever more popular choice are wedding cupcakes. If you like the idea of cupcakes, check out this wedding cupcake ideas lens at Squidoo. It is jam-packed with all kinds of cupcake ideas as well as info about the pros and cons of going with cupcakes versus a traditional wedding cake.

Most of the other cakes feature more traditional patterns such as floral vines, scroll work, damask, ribbons, quilting, and gum paste flowers in a classic black and white color scheme. Again if you want to liven these cakes up a bit, you can always add a splash of a single accent color like red or fuchsia for an entirely different look.