The Ultimate Guide to the Best Summer Wedding Theme Ideas

There’s no wrong time of the year to get married. 

Spring, autumn, winter, and so on. 

It’s all good. 

But for those who like a bit of sunshine and warm weather, summer is hard to beat. 

That’s especially true here in Vermont, where we are. 

And to help you plan your wedding, we’ve put together a list of summer wedding theme ideas that will hopefully inspire you. 

1. Flowers! 🌼

This one’s easy. 

Almost every flower you could want to see at your wedding is abundant during summer. 

And you’ll almost certainly have flowers at your wedding anyway. 

Almost everyone does. 

However, most people don’t make flowers the actual theme of their wedding, and that’s the difference. 

With the help of a florist and maybe a wedding planner, you can make your wedding an explosion of color and fragrance. 

You can set everything up to look like the manicured gardens and forests in Alice’s Wonderland or take inspiration from Little House on the Prairie and use the wildflowers that grow naturally all over America. 

You could even make designs or sculptures using bunches of flowers of the same color the way you would use paint on a canvas. 

If you’re not in a rush for time, you can even arrange in advance for a florist to grow a custom sculpture for your centerpiece. 

Given how abundant and available flowers of all kinds are in the summer, it’s honestly kind of surprising that we don’t see this sort of thing more often. 

2. Americana 🇺🇲

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that this one is limited only to people who are from a rural area. 

We’re not sure where this notion came from, but we can only assume that the people who have it have never visited Boston or DC. 

Like all the other summer wedding theme ideas we’re mentioning here, you’re more than welcome to indulge in it even if you’re originally from the big city. 

Making heavy use of antiques and more turn-of-the-century design features, Americana is known for having a quaint, optimistic, and some might say, even innocent look to it. 

You’re in America, so you might as well feel like you’re in America, right? 

You can make your wedding a destination wedding even if you’re not going to Fiji or some other expensive place like that. 

Even if you’re hosting it in a public park in a small town in Ohio, you can turn it into a fun and lively event by leaning hard into America’s exciting traditional aesthetic. 

3. Circus 🎪

No, we’re not saying that you have to dress up as a clown (although you technically can). 

In the past, and even now if you’re from a less urban area, the warmer months of the year are often associated with the seasonal public events that are held during those times. 

We’re talking about county fairs, carnivals, and, of course, the circus coming to town. 

Even if you never went to one as a kid, you’ve probably seen references to them in music videos or in popular movies and shows that you’ve watched. 

Since their pilot episode has more views than the US has citizens, it’s probably a safe bet that some of you are currently waiting for the next episode of the Amazing Digital Circus to come out. 

And if you’re a 90s or 80s kid, you might remember things like Nights Into Dreams, Tim Burton, and just about every cartoon featuring at least one character or episode that was clearly circus-themed. 

Even the oldest people still around grew up watching Dumbo and the Wizard of Oz. 

And their parents and grandparents grew up hearing fantastical stories of PT Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth.” 

No matter how old they are, there are few people in this country who won’t understand if you want to reference a bit of the circus’ famous carefree whackiness and wonder in your wedding.

4. Fruit 🍉

Yes, fruit. 

It sounds simple but, like with flowers, you can get a lot of inspiration from fruit and you can do a lot with it in terms of design and decoration. 

To make it even better, piles of fruit will probably cost you less money than any of the other decorations people so often have at their weddings. 

You can easily buy everything you need the day before or the day of from a local farmer’s market or grocery wholesaler. 

And to make it even more better (yes, we know that’s bad grammar), you can donate all the fruit that you and your guests don’t eat. 

Much like the first entry on this list of summer wedding theme ideas, we’re genuinely not sure why we don’t see this more often.

Summer Is a Time of Inspiration

And a great time of the year for weddings! Well, it’s our opinion that every time of the year is great for weddings. 

But we run a wedding venue, so we’re supposed to think that. 

Truly, though, summer is perfect if you want your wedding to be lively and especially if you want any part of it to be outdoors. 

So it’s worth considering these summer wedding theme ideas and even shopping around for some more. 

There are plenty of resources and photos online to spark your imagination and maybe make you think of something you haven’t already. 

Good luck and congratulations on your upcoming wedding! 🎉