Leez Priory with its rich historical features and gorgeous surrounding landscape is the perfect location if you want to delve into the treasure of period influences. With the popularity of the History Channel’s Vikings series reaching into the stratosphere, here are several wonderful ideas to help you bring a touch of Viking rawness to your wedding reception.
Similar to Game of Thrones, Vikings appeals because of its beautiful mix of history and drama, now although we wouldn’t recommend getting a Viking longboat to act as decoration (where would you put it for a start) there are number of options to be inspired by.
Rustic Delights
One of the key features of a Viking themed wedding is capturing the rustic element. This is manifested in keeping things natural and featuring decorations which are specifically subdued in colours, so instead of going for bright and neon colours, go for hues like sage green and maroon, they’re rich and luxurious colours yes, but certainly not over-the-top. One feature to consider for your reception hall is to have bundles of logs in each corner of the room, it’s very Nordic and gives an awesome nod to the grand Viking feast, when clans would sit and make merry in vast wooden banqueting halls. Of course, they would end up lighting the logs, but we wouldn’t advise doing that at Leez Priory!
Fabulous Foliage
The Vikings were very much in tune with nature and the natural world, so during celebrations like weddings and great feasts, the women of the tribe would decorate the halls with beautiful foliage, featuring lots of greenery and florals. This is a tradition that stretches across the world and throughout the ages, so a wonderful idea is to decorate your reception tables with an abundance of cheerful blooms and branches, if you’re having a winter wedding, look for red berries and things which are in line with the season.
Cosy Vibes
Being Northern Europeans, the Vikings were very much accustomed to cold weather and how to deal with it. Famous for their use of fur, drape your chairs in luxurious faux fur throws, this really taps into the Scandinavian feel. Even today, the Nordic style of home decor features fur blankets and throws. If you’re having a wedding in the bitter months of November and December, this will certainly please your guests, knowing that if it gets a bit chilly, they’ve something to snuggle up to.
Candle Light
Combining romance, warmth and those all important rustic vibes, we love the idea of filling your tables with church candles and tealights. To capture the Viking feel, place bits of greenery and pine cones around them. As shown in the photo above, this looks gorgeous and it really captures that Scandinavian feel perfectly.
Royal Additions
To really enhance the Viking feel, forgo wine glasses for pewter goblets, these looks stunning and adds a charming regal touch to the festivities. The Vikings were very big on gold, silver and pewter, with kings and chiefs filling their coffers with all manner of bright and shiny things.
Finally, as Nearlyweds suggests “A couple of Viking hats and maybe even a custom-created Viking shield are also great additions.”
