Throwing A Victorian Wedding: Tips & Tricks For The Perfect Day

Hoping to throw an epic Victorian wedding? If you love the Victorian aesthetic, keep reading and we’ll tell you how to find the ideal wedding venue and how to decorate your Victorian-inspired wedding. We also share what to wear on your wedding day and how best to capture it all in photos for posterity.

Find your perfect Victorian wedding venue

The ideal Victorian wedding venue is a beautiful, expansive space that actually dates back to the Victorian era. Anything too modern will detract from and clash with the theme. Luckily, there are lots of these kinds of historic spaces that you can rent out for your wedding.

The question is: how to find them? The most effective tool for locating event spaces of all kinds that you can rent by the hour is Peerspace. It’s the largest online marketplace for venue rentals, and the site makes searching for the venue of your dreams a breeze.

There are tons of optional search criteria you can use, from specific keywords to included amenities to the type of space you’re looking for. This saves you time and energy that you can then invest in other aspects of wedding planning!

Next, we share a couple of examples of Peerspaces ideal for a Victorian-themed wedding. Check them out:

Victorian House with 1920’s Era Prohibition Clubhouse in NYC

This Prospect Park venue boasts two historical venues in one: a Victorian-era home with a Prohibition-era clubroom attachment! It has more than 2,000 square feet of space total and is best for intimate weddings. Along with the club room, you and your guests can enjoy two parlors, a foyer, and a porch, all adorned with period piece furnishings!

And just check out what a Peerspace user shared in their review of this space. “This Brooklyn gem was beautiful. The hosts were gracious and very accommodating. Our guest fell in love with the beautiful energy within the space. Will definitely be back.”

Unique Victorian Style/Historic Concert and Event Venue in Anoka, Minnesota

Every historic space has its own unique character and charm. But this theater-style event venue is particularly special and unusual, “with vintage wallpaper, beautiful stage with a fireplace, elegant balcony, and intimate seating capacity of 130”. The main room has a balcony and stage, while the side room boasts tin ceilings and archways bedecked with curtains opening up into the main room, and the back studio is a quieter seating lounge.

Included in the rental is the Bridal Room/Green Room, which has “windows looking out to the Rum River, a couch and chairs, a small refrigerator and a large walnut dining table and chairs”. This venue is a great location for a medium-sized wedding, and after taking a glance at the photos in the listing we expect that you’ll agree!

How to decorate for a Victorian wedding

Flowers, especially the contents of your bridal bouquet, are a crucial part of almost any wedding’s decor. However, they were especially important to the Victorians, as different kinds of flowers held different symbolic meanings.

The Knot describes how important orange blossoms were for Victorian weddings. “The Victorians were sure to include orange blossoms in their bridal bouquets (sometimes even in their headpieces or on their dresses) to represent purity, chastity, and the bearing of many children. This custom, which originated in China, was brought to England in the early 1800s. When Queen Victoria wore them in her bridal wreath in 1840, the classic floral theme for the Victorian bride was set!”

Lighting will be another crucial element of emulating the Victorian atmosphere. Incorporate candles into your centerpieces, and use antique lamps such as oil lamps for additional lighting. You can also “drape small lamps with fringed ivory silk scarves for a soft touch,” writes The Knot.

Another way to bring the Victorian look to your modern-day wedding is with lace table settings. Martha Stewart Weddings notes that “handmade lace was revitalized during the Victorian Era. This makes covering your reception tables in the frilly fabric that much more appropriate.”

For examples of what different kinds of Victorian-inspired weddings actually look like, take a look at the photos of this real Victorian-style wedding with a modern touch, as well as this Victorian gothic wedding in a garden.

What to wear to your Victorian wedding

To start, perhaps you want real Victorian-era wedding dresses to inspire your own gown choice. If so, start by checking out Dusty Old Thing’s list of 12 Victorian wedding dresses. On this list, you’ll see lots of beautiful, intricate white gowns with high necklines, cinched waists, and floor-length veils. All of which you can emulate in your own wedding look!

Don’t want to go with a historically accurate reproduction of a Victorian gown? Then there are plenty of wedding gowns being produced today with features drawn from Victorian fashion. Whatever you do, be sure to wear a long (preferably floor-length!) dramatic wedding veil made of white lace and sheer fabric.

Victorian wedding photography

The Victorian era is the period when photography was on the rise, so you’ll have lots of real Victorian wedding photos to use for inspiration. This article on 19th-century wedding portrait photos from Hyperallergic showcases how somber and formal these photos could be.

Queen Victoria popularized the wedding photo (just as today’s influencers create new photography trends that sweep across social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok). “The tradition of sitting for a wedding photograph . . . dates to 1854, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had Roger Fenton capture them in wedding attire 14 years after their union, as the queen cultivated her now-famous passion for the budding medium.”

For your wedding photos, you may want to emulate the formal look of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s wedding photo. Or, perhaps you’ll want to take things in a more laid-back and less serious direction? If so, check out these heartwarming, wholesome photos of a Victorian couple trying not to laugh while having their portraits taken.

Ideally, you’ll have your photographer do a mix of more and less formal photos so you’ll have your pick to choose from after the photoshoot!

Find unique wedding venues on Peerspace