Choosing a 1920s wedding venue

My last post was on a Michigan wedding venue I thought made a good place for a 1920s theme wedding, a castle that was built just prior to the Roaring Twenties and was a popular place for locals to go for entertainment during the early 20s. The place has been restored and is now a Michigan wedding venue with gorgeous gardens and scenery reminiscent of Maxfield Parrish, the famous 1920s artist.



After I posted on this venue, I had someone email me for advice on other Michigan venues, thinking I lived or was married in the area. Nope — I had just come across the venue doing some research, and was intrigued by its connection to the 1920s. But since the question has been asked, I thought I'd do a post on chosing an appropriate venue for a 1920s theme wedding.

Choose a place with 1920s history. This is what attracted me to the castle venue, and what I consider the most important criteria to look at. A place that was built during or just prior to the 1920s, a venue that is built in an architectural style that is clearly twenties, are both good choices, but your venue will be particularly meaningful if you can tell guests what it was used for in the 1920s. You might even consider making up a program or a card to place on the tables, giving the history of the place.

Choose a place that you can work into a 1920s theme. One really good theme I've heard of people doing is styling their reception after a speakeasy, which is what they called a club that sold liquor illegally (since it was all illegal) during Prohibition. They had secret entrances, and passwords had to be given to gain entrance. If you can find a venue that will have the secretive feel of a storeroom-turned-speakeasy, you're in good shape.



Of course, you can make almost any wedding venue support a 1920s theme — our wedding was in an old 1860s church-turned-winery. It was a small venue, which worked out very well for the theme, but we didn't do much to decorate it, other than setting the tables a certain way and encouraging our guests to dress in 1920s costumes. If you and your guests are willing to use your imaginations, just about anything will work, really!

A beautiful Michigan wedding venue

Since my blog has turned into more or less suggestions for other people's 1920s theme weddings (my 1920s wedding having taken place more than a year and a half ago, now), I wanted to share with you a really beautiful Michigan wedding venue I ran across.

Castle Farms was built in 1918, which is why it made me think of my beloved 1920s wedding theme. During the early twenties, it was used to market Sears and Roebuck farm equipment, as well as entertain the locals. According to the website, "Cheese and ice cream were sold and spectators could watch the local baseball team play." Can't you just picture this beautiful setting alive with the sights and sounds of families in the early 1920s?





Although the castle itself was designed to resemble the quaint farms found in the French countryside, many of the pictures of the castle and grounds remind me of the paintings of Maxfield Parrish, a talented artist whose work was very popular in the 1920s. In fact, as other artists in the 1920s copied his style, it has come to represent the Roaring Twenties for many collectors.

For instance, compare these prints by Maxfield Parrish with pictures of Castle Farms:





In the images above, note the classic influences in each — the columns, for instance.





And in this pair, notice again the similarities in the feel of formal gardens and beautiful, man-made scenery.

And then there is this picture, which totally feels like a 1920s Parrish scene to me — all we need is an Adonis, nude or draped in classical robes, to make it feel complete!



If you plan your 1920s wedding at Castle Farms, there are many beautiful rooms, courtyards, and gardens to choose from — some of them more appropriate for the 1920s theme than others. For instance, I could totally picture a 1920s wedding reception in the beautiful gazebo or the classic Queen's Garden. And any of these rooms would do a lovely job of housing a Roaring Twenties-style mock speakeasy and dance hall for the reception:









For obvious reasons, Castle Farms specializes in castle weddings, and I'll bet they get a lot of medieval and Renaissance themed weddings too. However, when you consider history of the property and the the classical influences in the 1920s, I think the venue is also a great place for 1920s weddings!

The best repro flapper hat I've seen

You've got the perfect 1920s hairstyle, but now you need a flapper hat to go with it — where do you look?

Although I was able to find a real 1920s cloche for my wedding, they are actually pretty difficult to find. Good reproductions can be almost as hard to come by. So when I saw this reproduction flapper hat on eBay, I knew my readers would be interested! Isn't it beautiful...and so authentically 1920s?



This hat would look absolutely adorable with a 1920s hairstyle such as a bob or finger waves. I love how the hair on the model just peeks out from underneath.



The colors are great for a wedding, too — you could put your bridesmaids in mocha-colored flapper dresses to match the trim on the hat! But hurry — the auction for the hat ends on May 28, 2008!



The designer is Berti Borrell of Cloche Couture. I mentioned her once in a post about finding 1920s hats. I absolutely LOVE Berti's work. Her hats might seem a little pricey at first glance, but when you consider that they're all one-of-a-kind designer hats, not to mention how difficult (and expensive!) it is to find the real thing in wearable condition, they're really quite reasonable.

Photos copyright © Cloche Couture. Posted with permission from Berti Borrell.

1920s flapper accessories: Garter flask holder

I was contacted the other day by a woman who makes a product she thought I'd like — and she was right! Boy, I wish I had known about her garter flask holders before my wedding!

Although the garter flask holders are made for any type of wedding or other occasion, they are SO fitting for 1920s theme weddings and parties. Garter flask holders were used by flappers and other women during Prohibition in order to conceal illegal liquor. Garter flask holders for the ladies in your wedding party would be a perfect addition to a speakeasy-themed wedding reception!

The Juliette Wear site shows several wedding photos with the ladies in the wedding party all wearing their garter flask holders. Some wear theirs concealed under full gowns, while others wear them so that they're visible under shorter gowns. My favorite is the picture of the bridesmaids in green with hot pink garter flask holders. They were obviously meant to be seen, and they look great!

The site sells garter flask holders in half a dozen different colors, but with an option for custom orders — so you can really have fun with this one!

Revealing wedding photos

The photographers we used for our 1920s wedding really did have a sense of humor. They got a lovely picture of me sneezing and another of me rubbing my nose, but the classic one was of me hiking up my wedding gown to straighten out the slip underneath:



The other revealing wedding photo was one taken by my bridesmaid's boyfriend. The stairs of the winery (once an old church) were very steep, so each time I went up or down I gathered my skirt in one hand and held it well out of the way. I didn't realize at the time how much leg I was showing when I did this...



Nothing like capturing the truly memorable moments in a bride's special night!