I guess we took about a year to plan everything - but really most of the planning was done in the last few months before the wedding. Of course, every pirate wedding is unique, but here's how we did ours:
First, we rented a boat! Once we decided we were going to get married on a boat, we thought it would be necessary to do a pirate theme. Yar!
I got an ivory pirate dress on ebay, by looking up "pirate wedding dress". I also got my
shoes on ebay, and I made myself a hat, which I will talk about later.
My groom dressed in white and ivory to match me, but in piratey white and ivory. He looked fab! How often does the bride have to compete with the groom in fashion???
The groom and I each picked a color - he likes purple, and I like green. We told our three Groom's Crewmen, and three Bride's Wenches to dress like pirates, and be sure to incorporate these colors. It was way easier than trying to pick out specific outfits!
How to make a pirate hat:
I had an ivory tricorn to match my outfit. I made it myself, because it's very hard to come across a white or ivory tricorn! I took an ordinary wool felt, wide brimmed hat, and turned it up on two sides, having the turned up sides almost touching in the front, and leaving a space in the back. I sewed the edges of the brim to the side of the hat, and then turned the back part of the brim up, and sewed it, too. I added an ivory lace trim around the brim, and the base of the hat - I simply hot glued it on (I hate sewing large scale items). I went to a hobby shop and found some large white plumes, and peacock feathers. I cut a tiny hole in one side of the hat, and stuck the feathers in, and then sealed them from the inside of the brim with hot glued and white fabric, which kept them in place quite nicely. Voila! Pirate wedding hat!
Flowers and decorations:
For decorations, we bought skulls (online), and 4x8 wooden treasure chests (from Garden Ridge). Then I bought a sack of shells, a bag of mardi gras necklaces, and a bunch of silk wild flowers. My friends and I set to work making them into floral arrangements, with shells and beads attached. They turned out absolutely gorgeous, and we used them as center pieces.
Instead of regular table cloths, we sent away for some pirate flags to drape over the white table clothes that were provided by the venue.
We had a couple of options for favors - tiny treasure chests, or chocolate coins. We decided to go with the coins. If you want to do coins, there are a lot of places that will personalize them, but be sure to get them done weeks in advance! We were afraid they would melt, and so waited until the last minute, and by then it was too late! We just used regular chocolate coins, which were spread about the table, and it turned out fine.
Much of the decorations also included lots of purple and green tulle, and extra pirate flags. We had a home-made green and purple floral arch made from a floral garland we found in a regular run-of-the mill wedding section in a craft and hobby store. (Secretly, it was hung with duct tape - but nobody could see that...)
My sister-in-law made three cakes. One of them was the main cake, and it looked like a pirate ship. Then there was the groom's cake, which was a treasure chest full of candy necklaces, ring pops, and chocolate coins! It looked delicious! The third one was a little escape boat, or tug boat or something, which was my gluten free cake. This was also the cake we cut when we did our official cake cutting thing, since we didn't have a top of the cake to cut.
My sister made the coolest cake topper ever! She took a regular cake topper, and used
sculpey to make the bride and groom be dressed like pirates.
The flowers were silk, because of mine and my husband's allergies. I highly recommend silk flowers! They are beautiful, inexpensive, and very little hassle! Plus, you can get any kind of flower at any time, whether they are in season or not. Because it was a pirate wedding, I chose all kinds of tropical flowers, but because my favorite flowers are orange roses, my bouquet was full of great big orange roses, on top of all the purple flowers. Putting the bouquets together with my friends was a lot of fun!
The Ceremony:
We decided to have a fun ceremony with hijinks, but we got serious right at the part when the marriage really happened. Here's what we had:
The bride and groom - both in ivory and white piratical attire.
The officiant - my brother-in-law, who was dressed as a naval officer who we'd obviously kidnapped for the occasion.
The Groom's Crew - Three salty sea men, equipped with cork guns, to keep the officiant from escaping! With many an "Arr!" and "Get your arse up there!", they marched in our officiant at gun point.
The swabby ring bearers - Our two nephews, who carried a treasure chest with our rings inside. We instructed them to be as loud and boisterous as they wanted, until the serious part was happening. They did a great job!
The Bride's Wenches - Clad in stripes, bangles, and of course, corsets, and also equipped with cork guns, they brought in the groom, and kept him in line.
The coin girl - We didn't have a flower girl - we had a coin girl. She had a basket full of chocolate coins that she passed around to people sitting in the aisle seats. Her mom made her a dress that matched mine very well - she was adorable!
I know it's not everyone's style to make their wedding into a show, but everyone really had a lot of fun, and there was so much less pressure to be perfect! Good thing too, because I got cued early and was halfway down the aisle before my entrance music started playing.
Because my dad couldn't make it, I had no one to walk me down the aisle. A friend of mine suggested that I stop somewhere in the middle, put my hand out, and have my groom come over and lead me the rest of the way. I liked this idea, and did just that!
When I got to the front, my brother-in-law settled everyone down, and reminded us of the very real thing we had all gathered together to be a part of. Then we said our home-made vows, and the swabbies brought up the treasure chest with the rings. After we were introduced to the guests as Mr. and Mrs., some piratey music began, and we danced away! The rest of the party danced out after us, and all was well!
The Music:
Before and during the ceremony, D's choice of music was this CD called Bedtime music for Pirates... I can't remember the name of the guys, but we got it off of this entirely pirate music all the time site, which I'm sure I can find a link to. The wedding march was the classic march, only D found a version of it that went along very well with the rest of the music. I'm no help at all on this - the music was all him.
For our reception, we had water themed music, and that Gwen Stephanie song, "If I were a Rich Girl" just because the video for it takes place on a pirate ship. But, let's see... We had "The Tide is High", "Love Boat"... and I can't remember what else. Oh, the modern songs were also interspersed with some swashbuckling shanties, care of a couple of CDs we bought online.
There was karaoke, and a lot of people on my side are good singers and actually entertained, rather than tortured, the guests. Especially my brother-in-law when he sang "Just a Gigolo"!
Our first dance song was "Chasing Cars" by snow Patrol, which was closely followed by "These Words" by Natasha Bedingfield. Absolutely nothing to do with pirates, but those are our songs. :P
For my guy, I wanted to sing an old love song, but the DJ, in all his 3000 songs, had nothing I knew how to sing, so I sang "A Tisket a Tasket" just to show off that I can sing. And then someone mentioned "Dream a Little Dream" and I slapped my head for forgetting that one, and sang it, too. Bluh. I should have stuck with one song though - too much bride taking over the microphone.
The boat took off for a romantic sunset cruise at about 7:45, and docked just as it got dark. I missed the sunset, because everyone and their brother (including me) was busy singing a rousing round of Bohemian Rhapsody!
The night came to a close with many laughs, and "yars!" and lots of fist shaking. We cleaned up swiftly, and left the cake for the catering crew, who, by the way, all wore skull and crossbone bandannas.
And that was my wedding! The End! :P
