I love themed bars. Not just the ones that serve gin and tonics or margaritas (though those are close to the top of my list) but any type of bar. It’s the aesthetic of all my options lying in front of me combined with being able to pick anything I want. Plus, having a bar of choices rather than one option would be nice for your wedding guests. So whether you have a liquor bar or some other table of delectable options, have fun with it and play up your wedding palette. You can go with a simple bar of tasty treats, like this black and white candy bar.

yogurt covered pretzels are my fav

Or you can incorporate your black and white theme with a chalk board and give your guests a wedding reception activity, like this cupcake decorating bar.

i love chalk boards at weddings

And every guest loves an open bar. So definitely consider that too.

On a total side note, how cute are these little guys? Maybe not appropriate for your black and white wedding, but what a great way to continue your wedding after the ceremony in your kitchen.

A black and white wedding palette instantly gives your wedding a classic and timeless feel – and who wouldn’t want that? So this week I’ll be picking out elements for a black and white affair. And while I think all of your main components should stick with the color palette you’ve chosen, you also need to incorporate a little pop of color here and there to break up the otherwise monotonous look.

ribbon and tiny flowers

Let’s start with the cake this week since that is the most delicious part. At a black and white wedding, the cake should be predominantly white. It’s just hard to make an all black cake look appealing.

birds and vines

You can break up the color blocking if you want with tiny bits of color, as shown in the leaves below. I love how classic yet modern this little branch cake looks. And those bird wedding cake toppers are such a seamless continuation of your cake theme. Love it.

Making burlap look refined and wedding appropriate is shabby chic in its height of perfection. These painted burlap pennants can be purchased on funkyshique’s Etsy shop, featuring boldly glittered hearts. They are relaxed yet polished and effortlessly romantic. If this isn’t quite what you’re looking for, turn this into a quick and inexpensive do-it-yourself design. Just cut burlap fabric into triangles and spray paint the hearts with a stencil – skip the glitter for a simpler clean-up. This way you can make it any color you like, and for my shabby chic wedding this week I’d have to pick bright pink and pale blue.

rustic and romantic

On a total side note – check out the wooden chandeliers in this wedding. While the entire wedding may be a bit too refined to be shabby chic, these white, wooden chandeliers could definitely find a comfortable home at this week’s wedding. Plus, aren’t they adorable?

The Bride: Amber, 26, Materials Engineer

The Groom: Matt, 27, Materials Scientist

Wedding Theme: 1920’s Gangster!

Wedding Colors: Black, White, and Red

Budget: $10-15k

What made this wedding modern: Amber loves themes and for the longest time she desperately wanted to wear a fedora hat in her wedding.  This obsession naturally grew into what she called “Project Gangsta” - her vision of a 1920’s gangster themed wedding in black, white, and red, complete with fedora hats, pinstripes, and toy guns!

Where they saved: Due to their small wedding party, Matt and Amber opted not to have a rehearsal dinner and instead spent the evening with out of town guests at a local amusement park - Kennywood Park.  Talk about a fun rehearsal!  They also decided to get married on a Sunday because it saved them $4/person in food, drink, and cake costs.  The maid of honor’s dress was $30 at Macy’s and their photographer was an acquaintance who only charged $1000 for the entire day.

Where they splurged: Amber’s biggest splurge was her dress at $600, which was handmade and based off a design she sketched up herself.  The splurge was well worth it because she got to wear the dress of her dreams, literally.

The bride and groom in their fedora hats!

Believe it or not Amber's flowers are silk! Feathers were worked into the bouquet to create something that Amber loved since she is not a flower person. She was blown away by the final results! P.S. Check out that sexy garter!

The guys wore pinstriped suits and spectator shoes, while the maid of honor wore a red Marilyn Monroe “Seven Year Itch” style dress.

The best part of the wedding:

Amber said that taking photographs at Carnegie Mellon University (where they met each other as engineering majors) and the cake ceremony were definitely the best parts of the wedding. “For the longest time Matt had said he was going to shove cake in my face.  So I came prepared.  I had a lab coat and safety goggles underneath the table that I put on before he fed it to me.  Once I put it on, I had the DJ play “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.”  Everyone got a good laugh out of that.”

Looking back, what they would have changed:

“Honestly, nothing… I loved every minute of it.  The only downside was that the venue was not willing for us to stay any later than our allotted time.  It is understandable, but looking back, I wish the night could’ve lasted longer.  We still had a lot of people out on the dance floor ready to party long into the night.”

Her Advice:

“Don’t get hung up on tradition.  When I told people my wedding ideas of having a non-traditional wedding, I got some comments.  But weddings should ultimately be about pleasing you….not family or friends.”

Amber all decked out in her lab coat and goggles, facing the fabled cake smash!

*****POST UPDATE*****

There was a question about Amber’s wedding invitations - I had a chance to ask here and here is what she said:

“I had them made at Party City.  I picked a really simple tri-fold invite in red and had our names on the front in a circle with dots around it in black….very art deco.  On the inside, since we sent our invites out super early, I had an “Old Time” picture Matt and I took at the beach where he was dressed as a gangster and I was dressed in a flapper costume that sort of acted as the “Save the Date” card (see below).  It had the hotel info on it so people could leave it on their fridge if they wanted to book a room.”

The insert used for the wedding invitation

“Based on the invite design, I made all my table cards and seating chart have a similar art deco design.  Each table was named after some Gangster-esque item.  Below the name, I gave a little background on the item.  For example, the head table was the “Bonnie and Clyde” table.  I also had table names such as Eliot Ness, Nickelodeon, Flappers, Tommy Gun, Spats & Spectators, etc.”

Awesome ideas!!! I hope this offers some extra inspiration for anybody planning their own “Gangster” wedding!

Submit your own wedding!