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Wear your imagination cap and ride on the time machine to the world imagined by the steampunk movement. Let us bring you on a long journey from 1837 through 1901. Look around you and be amazed at Victorian-era England. Be awestruck by the petticoats and bowler hats. At the wedding, lace bridesmaid dresses and metal accessories can be a good match. Walk a few more blocks to see workers building a factory. Pan your vision to your right and be amazed by the steam-powered boat on the river.
Hop on the time machine again, and let us bring you back to today. Surprisingly, even if it’s the present time, the steam powers technological advancements. You can’t see any plastic. Men and women still wear elaborate and decorative outfits, such as waistcoats and pocket watches.
What Is Steampunk Style?
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Steampunk became known as one of the sub-genres of science fiction popularized in the 1970s. Authors like K. W. Jeter, known to popularize the term “steampunk”, imagined a world where a steampunk character dresses like she is from the Victorian era but lives in modern times.
Have you seen visible gears, clocks, pipes, valves, and other industrial machinery? Have you seen steam-powered airships like hot-air balloons? That is steampunk artwork.
How about suits, waistcoats, pantaloons, blouses, bustle skirts and corsets? Do you see accessories like top hats, goggles, walking sticks, and pocket watches? That is steampunk fashion.
Have you seen computer enthusiasts go gaga over a mechanical keyboard with keycaps replaced with typewriter keys? How about an interior designer who uses a night lamp made of metal pipes? That is steampunk decor.
Steampunk has gained popularity, and it even reached weddings.
What Is a Steampunk Wedding?
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The victorian steampunk wedding theme is eye-catching, unique, and sophisticated. It perfectly combines:
1) the distinct Victorian era, where women wear corsets and petticoats and men suit up in vests, coats, and military uniforms, 2) the limitless world of science and technology where you see gears, clocks, steam-powered machines, 3) the creative punk culture where your imagination can run free, and 4) the character types such as an adventurer, an aviator, or a traveller. A steampunk wedding palette is often a colour combination of rich browns and bronzes in addition to deep blues, purples, burgundies, or greens.
Gadget devices, like ornate pocket watches and brass goggles, and exploring devices, such as binoculars and compasses, serve as decorations to achieve steampunk vibes.
What Do You Wear to A Steampunk Wedding?
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Female guests can be as feminine or gender fluid as they can be when incorporating steampunk into their wedding fashion.
They can go with distressed, ripped, rough-edged or rugged items, such as asymmetrical skirts and long leggings. Do not forget the main Victorian-era fashion pieces of corsets, bustles, petticoats, gowns and accessories, like parasols and driving goggles.
Weave into the outfits retro-futuristic elements to help highlight the female body.
The easiest way to champion female steampunk fashion is by choosing a top or vest with a cinched-in waist secured across the chest with a metal buckled belt. Try partnering corsets with trousers and skirts.
Male wedding guests can drop the typical wedding suits and incorporate masculine military elements, like buckled jackets, replica firearms, wristbands, and flight goggles.
Wear hooded garments, ripped trousers or jeans, asymmetrical hoodies and jackets, and ragged items of clothing to create the post-apocalyptic and grungy steampunk feel. Use leather pieces, such as top hats, to make this look.
For both male and female steampunk wedding guests, add avant-garde shapes for a broader steampunk aesthetic.
Consider a multi-bag belt to help you carry essential items like your phone and wallet without ruining the Victorian look.
How Do You Plan a Steampunk Wedding?
Combine history, science, creativity, love and these wedding ideas to perfectly capture the steampunk era.
Invitation Suite
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Set the steampunk mood right off the bat with your wedding invitation. Use a clock design as the focal point and write the wedding details on beige-brown stationery to complement the vintage vibes of the clock. Consider also geometric shapes as a design for your wedding invitation. A gatefold Victorian wedding invitation with laser-cut gears and heart details will delight any invitee.
Bridal Gown
No steampunk wedding is complete without the bridal wedding gown.
A corset top made from a heavy brocade fabric with a light beige floral pattern and embellished with silk roses and leaves will help you achieve the romantic side of the Victorian era.
The ruffled cap sleeves covered with silk roses fall off the shoulders, making a romantic look.
The high-low pick-up skirt has layers of satin, silk and lace and is draped open in the front. The dress has a beautiful cascade of silk flowers on each side.
The petticoat has layers of ivory tulle for a fuller look.
If you still want an ensemble of a corset, a petticoat, and layers of fabric but want to do away with flowers, try out a steampunk wedding dress adorned with metallic gears lined on brown leather.
Groom Suit
A bridal wedding dress needs a partner groom’s wedding suit. A groom can wear a white collared polo inside and a brown-coloured leather wedding jacket. A wedding suit with a black and brown striped lapel and unconventional boutonnière made of feathers and gears will create a more steampunk look.
If your man wants to take his steampunk wedding fashion to the next level, he can use a black and brown scarf, string necklace with magnifying glass pendant, and leather hat and gloves.
Hat
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Take the level of your steampunk wedding fashion to the top, literally.
The bride can wear a birdcage veil adorned with white feathers kept together by a circular metallic gold industrial piece. Take another spin on your headpiece using peacock feathers, long chains, and miniature circular industrial pieces.
Your groom can also wear a leather top hat with an intricate metallic gold design of the Victorian industrial era. A brown velvet top hat with gold flight goggles is also a good steampunk wedding hat choice.
Cake
Remind your guests of the sweetness of your love that will go beyond the future with these two and three-tiered wedding cakes.
Display a two-tiered wedding cake wrapped with navy blue fondant adorned with metallic rust dripping and white roses with steampunk bride and groom toppers.
Give extra sweetness with a three-tiered wedding cake in beige and brown fondants. Use muted colours of green and mauve to balance out the steampunk theme. Add in the typical pocket watch and gears for decorations.
Bouquet
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Go for a wedding bouquet that will be the talk of the town even after the wedding. Form metal sheets into spiral figures to achieve the flower shape. Combine all metallic flowers with a brown leather grip. Accentuate the bouquet with shining chains to create that shimmer while walking the aisle.
Shoes
Even if wedding shoes usually get their spotlight during photoshoots and are hidden most of the time, do not miss styling your feet.
Exude your allure and confidence with the black or gold lace design that crawls on your feet.
Find relief and security with the clear vinyl that gives the shoe shape, holds the lace design and allows you to comfortably slip your feet.
Decorations
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Even if steampunk highlights mechanical and industrial pieces, you can still add your favourite flowers and scented candles as table wedding decorations and centrepieces.
Create a festive steampunk look for the wedding reception using structural pieces for the ceiling works. Instead of the typical crystal shining chandelier, use a wired cube ceiling piece that will create a talking point for any wedding guest.
Table Name
Extend the steampunk vibes to the minute details, such as the table names. Welcome your guests with their table names written on brown or off-white stationery decorated with metallic industrial pieces, such as gears.
Conclusion
A wedding is not only a celebration of love but also of creativity. And one theme that will surely let your creativity and imagination run wild is the steampunk theme.
Whether you plan to exchange vows on the mountaintop, by the blue beach, outside the lush green garden or inside a warehouse, you can bet on considering a steampunk wedding theme to give yourself and your guests an alternative wedding experience.
For more alternative wedding or themed wedding ideas, check out our articles on fairytale weddings, Halloween weddings, and gothic weddings to find more unique wedding inspiration.
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