Safe Luxury

I'm having my wedding in a gorgeous old Bank. What are some unique ideas?

My wedding ceremony and reception site are in an old bank with a huge steel vault and vaulted ceilings and its just gorgeous. I wanted to incorporate the bank theme into the wedding in some subtle ways. I mean I'm not going to dress the whole bridal party in mobster outfits and decorate with money, but subtle ways please! Any ideas are appreciated! FYI my main wedding color is turquoise

Public Comments

1. I work at a bank and it sounds beautiful. I would concentrate the theme on the invitations and have them reflect something monetary-checks, deposit slips, bills. You could use faux coins or candy coins as part of your centerpieces sprinkled around the table with sparkly diamondy gems (from the safe deposit boxes lol). I made money trees for the bank- I copied play money (you could even personalize it) and stabbed it in the center of the bill with the ivy. They REALLY got a lot of attention. I purchased premade Christams topiarys for 75% off after Christmas and motifed them by taking the Christmas stuff off and adding the bills. Have fun.
2. Maybe not mob costumes, but 1930s type pinstripe suits and '30s type womens suits for the girls. That would be really cute. I love old fashioned clothes though. :)
3. is it an old bank? depending on the time period the bank was built in, you could build a theme around the time. For example, if the bank was built in the thirties, use large vases to display white calla lilies, wear a charmeuse dress, and hire a band to play Big Band music. Then scan some pictures of artifacts from the time period to use for elements in your decor. one example: Print your reception menu on an old bank letterhead. this theme could be really unique or could get "kitchy" quite easily, be careful to stay on the classy side of things and downplay the money aspect a bit. you don't want guests to feel like you are obsessed with money. this shouldn't deter you from the local, because with some forethought it could be really great!
4. I think cute favors would be the little chocolate coins..you know the chocolate shaped like coins and then wrapped in gold or silver foil. That would be cute...if not favors, sprinkle them on the tables as decoration.
5. This might be cute: http://www.party411.com/custom-money.html NOTE: notice at the bottom of the page that there is a Million dollar bill. Add a picture of you both for the center and a custom phrase like "Luke and Laura are one in a million".
6. Has it occurred to you that any ideas you get by polling the world-wide web, are not likely to be unique? One of the hardest things for an inexperienced society hostess -- and a bride managing her own first wedding is, almost by definition, inexperienced -- is to find her own balance between following the herd, and innovating bad taste. For some people, following the crowd is what they really want to do, and they are just trying to avoid anything that is not au current. That isn't really "unique", it's "trendy", or to be more euphemistic it's "fashionable". However, if you truly want to be "unique" then you want to be a leader of fashion, not a follower. If your overall taste and sense of good manners is sound, your most successful party will be the result of implementing your OWN ideas.
7. even though aqua is a bit bright for this you might want to consider theme-ing around the old bank's time period, and not so much the banking. It sounds like a gorgeous venue and if you had some 1930's touches in your decor it would really set it off. Although it might be tasteful to put a small hand-drawn drawing of the bank on the top of your stationery. Or maybe a pocket watch motif. You could also use those beautiful old-fashioned stock certificates as inspiration here and there for table signs. And some sepia photos of yourselves through the room. Take a look at this: Urban, Vintage wedding http://www.flickr.com/photos/wedsmack/3075845941/ And this, it's a fun search on old photos on flickr of banks & banking: http://www.flickr.com/search/?d=taken-19180101-19450101&w=all&q=bank+or+banking+or+banker&m=text