Love to travel and planning your dream wedding? Find out how to plan a travel-themed wedding that people will be talking about for years! Scroll to see how I planned my own travel-inspired wedding in Seattle!
This post about how to plan a travel-themed wedding was written by family travel expert Marcie Cheung and may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
This summer, my husband and I will be celebrating our 13-year wedding anniversary. And one thing I loved about our big moment (without bias whatsoever!) was how we pulled off a travel-themed wedding.
We are truly amazed by how much our life has changed in these 13 years: I quit my job, we had a baby, my husband changed jobs within his company a few times, we moved, I launched this blog, we had another baby, and I launched 2 more websites.
In between all this, we managed to travel to Hong Kong, Thailand, Mainland China, Italy, Greece, Maui, Kauai, Disneyland, Vancouver, Victoria, Sonoma, Mexico, Walt Disney World, New Zealand, Fiji, and numerous local trips.
So you would understand that out of all the possible themed weddings we could think of, travel was the most fitting one for us. Even if we redo this now or when we reach our golden anniversary, we’d do it all again.
If you’re thinking of doing the same thing for your big day, scroll down to get ideas from how we did it more than a decade ago. Whether you’re getting a wedding planner or doing DIY, you can recreate this with ease.
We usually spend our anniversary looking back at the fun times we had at our Seattle wedding in August.
We love to travel and it’s something that we wanted to incorporate into our wedding theme. I’m a big fan of vintage travel posters and memorabilia so that was a great jumping off point.
Below, I have outlined how we created a travel themed wedding.
Seattle Wedding Venue: The Museum of Flight
The first thing we nailed down was our Seattle wedding venue. Because of our shared love of airplanes, we decided to hold our wedding at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.
We had the wedding ceremony and reception overlooking their Great Gallery of planes, which made for a fun photo backdrop.
Travel-Themed Wedding Invitations: Vintage Airline Tickets
We wanted our wedding invitations to reflect the travel theme of our wedding, so I designed them using vintage airline tickets as the outline. I also incorporated a Hawaiian wedding theme since that has been a big influence on my life.
Our RSVP card featured a vintage Hawaiian travel poster image.
We also had small cards for our rehearsal dinner boat trip, using a vintage travel poster for the graphic. We wrapped them up in shimmery gold paper and mailed them in bright blue envelopes. And we found some travel-themed stamps!
Seattle Wedding Rehearsal Dinner: Argosy Cruise
What we appreciated most about our Seattle cruise was that our guests got to mingle before the wedding. Since we rented this private Seattle cruise, everyone was a wedding guest.
This was also a fun way for us to chat with our guests before the wedding and for both families to get to know one another.
Travel Themed Wedding Place Cards: Tropical Theme
DIY Wedding Guest Book: Vintage Hawaii Postcards
On one of my visits to Kauai, I picked up several different vintage Hawaii travel postcards at gift shops. We scattered them on our guest book table with pens and asked guests to write their well wishes on the postcards.
It was such a hit that a few guests took extra postcards home as a wedding favor!
After the wedding, we put the vintage Hawaiian postcards in a Hawaiian-themed photo album. The album has clear sleeves so we can see the image on one side and the message on the other side.
Another idea would be to incorporate them into vintage Hawaii home decor.
DIY Wedding Program: Vintage Hawaii Travel Theme
Since we also had a Hawaiian wedding theme, we put one of my favorite vintage Hawaiian postcards on the cover of our wedding program. I chose an off-white paper for the vintage travel theme wedding feel.
Hawaiian Wedding Music: Seattle Area Musicians
It was important to me to have a Hawaiian wedding element to our travel themed wedding ceremony. I’ve been a hula dancer most of my life and the Hawaiian culture has been a big influence on me.
Since we didn’t want a Hawaiian destination wedding, we thought we’d bring Hawaii to Seattle!
Ceremony: Time Capsule
Wedding Flowers: Tropical Hawaiian
DIY Wedding Photo Booth
I’m a sucker for fun photo ops, so I was determined to create a wedding photo booth for our travel-themed wedding.
I had a blast finding fun props and displaying them in vintage reproduction suitcases I found at Marshall’s. I found most of the props at our local party supply store and dollar store. The rest I made.
To keep the travel theme, we had grass skirts, feather boas, silk leis, cowboy hats, etc.
Wedding Reception: Hula Dance
I’ve been a professional hula dancer for 25 years. It’s traditional for brides to dance a hula for their husbands at their wedding reception.
This was not only a great way to emphasize our travel theme, but it also added a unique element to our wedding reception.
Hawaiian Wedding Cake: Tropical Flowers
Wedding Dress Change: Chinese Cheongsam
Extra Fun: Send Wedding Invitations to White House and Disneyland
When we realized we had some extra wedding invitations, we decided to send one to the White House and one to Disneyland.
We sent them about 2 months before our wedding and we received both greetings back in time to display them at our wedding. It added another travel element, which was fun!
The White House sent us an official greeting from President and First Lady Obama. It’s a lovely feeling to find a letter from the White House addressed to you personally!
Disneyland sent us this congratulatory autographed photo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. They also sent us a couple of celebration buttons, which were a nice touch. We also received a certificate from Cinderella and Prince Charming.
[irp posts=”1717″ name=”Disneyland with Toddlers: Tips + Itinerary”]
Additional Ideas to Add a Travel-Themed Wedding Element
- Table numbers could be destinations rather than numbers (i.e. Paris, London, Venice.)
- Postcards could be used instead of table numbers or in addition to table numbers.
- The menu could consist of food from one region or from many regions. Additionally, the cake could be a traditional wedding cake from another country.
- The music could be from a particular country or a global mix.
- You could have a world map and invite guests to mark where they traveled from to get to the wedding. This is great if your guests are from out-of-town. Additionally, you could have guests mark where they went on their honeymoons.
The list is endless! Have fun planning your travel themed wedding!
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Travel-Themed Wedding Wrap-up
Weddings can be very anxiety-inducing, and there always seems to be a lot on the checklist. But with this guide, I hope you got many ideas from my own wedding to make yours a beautiful one ā or even better!
Don’t forget to choose a color scheme that reflects your favorite destinations, use an Instax camera for instant memories, and find ways to incorporate a unique cake topper. These are just a few ways to make your wedding as memorable as your journeys.
From wedding dƩcor like vintage suitcases and luggage tags to a seating chart with table names inspired by travel locations from around the world, your travel-themed wedding will hopefully leave you swooning over it for years to come.
Such great ideas!! Love the tropical idea most especially! ā¤ļø
I’m always down for anything tropical! I think it makes everyone in a better mood!
I am getting married in 2 years time and will definitely keep this post handy! loved the time capsule idea <3
Congrats! Planning a wedding can be a lot of fun! Yes, the time capsule was one of our favorite parts! We’re hoping to continue the tradition as our family grows!
So many lovely and great tips! I really like the Vintage Hawaii cards, that would have been a fantastic idea for my own wedding since we married a second time on Hawaii as well… Very impressive also to see how much you managed already in your five years of marriage – congrats to that, really nice!
The tropical flower cake looks absolutely delicious, this is actually a good inspiration to our own next anniversary š
You have a lot of great ideas! You carried out your theme beautifully. I was married in a log cabin church in a theme park. Our wedding evening was spent at another area attraction with friends and family riding amusement rides. It’s so important to have your wedding reflect who you are as a couple. This is a great resource for people who like to travel and are planning a wedding!
Oh your wedding sounds like it was a BLAST! And how fun for your guests!
They are such great and inspiring tips. I am looking forward to get married soon. I wish we could do it in Hawaii but maybe we will go there after marriage š Thanks for sharing.
We absolutely like the Traditional Hawaiian music, as we went to a wedding in Hawaii previously. The venus is super nice and original, people must have liked being there! Really a beautiful wedding, we would’ve taken all the vintage Hawaii postcards!!
What an incredibly beautiful post spilling over with so, so many inspirational details! I love Seattle and I love weddings! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post!
Yay! Glad I could help!
pinned!! absolutely loved reading and seeing the photos surrounding your wedding, so unique! Really love the guest book idea, will have to keep this in mind for when I get married.
What a different and inspiring way to celebrate your 5th anniversary wedding plan. I love the idea of replacing the table numbers with countries. We gatto pop that brain to work in various unusual way that makes it look original.
We’re hoping to continue with our time capsule tradition!
Wow. All of that in 5 years. You seem to have done and seen a lot in past 5 years. A travel themed wedding is like a fairytale wedding to me. Loved the invitation cards and the travel stage decor. Thanks for such lovely tips. I so wish to plan my 5th wedding anniversary this way.
We’ve had a great first few years! We’ve added kids to the mix so we’re on a very different adventure now!
I guess this will be a dream come true for many travelers. You should dig more such ideas and make a long epic list of travel wedding plans. I think I will go for something more extreme, like getting married in the middle of a desert, or after a day-long hike.
My Mom is actually a wedding officiant on Kauai and she marries people on long hikes and in uniquely secluded spots. Perfect for adventurous couples with a small guest list.
What a great idea! It looked absolutely lovely. And the vintage airplane ticket as the invite is genius. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! We had a lot of fun with it!
This is absolutely THE coolest wedding I’ve ever seen!!
Oh now you’re making me blush. Thanks!
These are beautiful and you guys thought of every detail! I love the theme and all the little touches, especially the guest book idea!
I’m glad it all worked out! We got a lot of compliments on the theme!
I love the idea of a travel theme- and these are the cutest tips! š
Wow, I love everything about this!! Everything from the simply elegant Hawaiian themed cake and decor to your gorgeous Chinese style dress (I wore one, too and it still hangs in my closet, 17 years later!)… so so pretty. I love how you guys did it theme style. Love the unique, out of the box way you planned everything. Just lovely!!
My cheongsam is hanging in my closet, too! But, I’m thinking of pinning it to my closet wall as decoration since I don’t think I’ll be wearing it anytime soon š
sounds like a unique wedding venue, how cool!
Yes! We had a lot of fun with it!
It’s like a destination wedding without the destination! Cool idea!
That’s amazing that you’re a hula dancer. Your travel themed wedding looked fabulous.
Aww this is such a super fun and fabulous wedding idea!! I absolutely love all of your creative and fun ideas that brides can use!
Thanks so much! Wedding planning can be so overwhelming, so just sharing what we came up with!
What a fantastic creative way to have a wedding Marcie! I’m dreaming of a destination wedding whenever I get married, but you provided some great tips to think about if that doesn’t happen. I loved all of your ideas from the vintage postcards, to the time capsule, the special dance, to the location for the wedding. I pinning this post for future reference and on a group board to share. Thoroughly enjoyed your post – Thanks so much for sharing your special day and creativity.
This is so sweet. I love how this wedding really tells the story of the couple!
Thanks! It was us in a nutshell š
Awww I love this so much! We were supposed to get married two weeks ago, but we’ve had to postpone it. This has really inspired me to start planning it again though. We are mixing a travel theme with things we love like Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. I LOVE the postcard idea, and I just adore how much effort you put in to celebrate both your cultures.
I’m so sorry to hear that! Hopefully your wedding will be even more special once the world is a bit healthier.