18 of Our Favorite Over-the-Top Wedding Ideas

It’s like the elegant wedding version of a disco dance floor. Planner and event designer Preston Bailey and his team created this dance floor that lit bright yellow and purple flowers from underneath to create a serious pop in the middle of the room. It’s a complete room transformation like this that makes us love weddings. “My favorite way to wow the guests is to create something they have never seen,” he says. “Ultimately, I always try to push the limit of what’s new and different.”

This modern draped ceiling, by designer and planner Tara Guerard, takes the black-and-white checkerboard dance floor and literally turns it around for a totally unexpected look. For an otherwise classic, formal wedding at Marlsgate Plantation in Scott, Arkansas, this lounge area was the perfect place to let loose a little with the design. The draped ceiling adds a fun twist to the other elegant details, like the navy and white color palette, comfy living-room-style seating and damask print details.

Go big or go home. That’s what wedding planner Marcy Blum did when she and her team created this ultra-dramatic, all-red wedding reception. An added benefit of all that saturated color was that it took a very large space with high ceilings and created a more intimate vibe.

When you think about it, nature really does provide some of the best décor – just take a starry night sky, for example. And event designer Sharon Sacks used nature to her advantage when planning this tented wedding reception. “We left the ceiling open in sections so guests could see the stars while still creating an intimate feel by making a space for the reception,” Sacks says. It also meant guests got a great view of fireworks at the end of the night!

Tons of all-white orchids floating above the tables seem to defy gravity in this hanging centerpiece by floral and event designer Nancy Liu Chin. But beyond its beauty, this design is also pretty practical — elevating the centerpieces above the table leaves space open for guests to mingle! “Over-the-top, but functional,” is a trend that Chin embraces in her modern-yet-elegant designs.

Pretty cool, right? By swapping out colorful paper for white rose petals, celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss gave the confetti cannon a seriously romantic update for a ceremony. “I love the end result, and it reminds me every weekend why I do my job,” Weiss says.

This “Bombay-meets-the-beach” inspired design by destination wedding planner Michelle Rago brought together the couple’s Indian culture with the festive vibe of their wedding destination in Riviera Maya, Mexico. An airy canopy gave the reception a distinct space on the beach while still letting the sunset shine through.

Not that you need a reason to put pretty flowers everywhere, but here’s another one. This hanging flower installation, designed by florist Holly Chapple, created a stunning focal point right above the dance floor. “I love for the flowers to be on different levels, so the eye can move around and always see something beautiful,” Chapple says.

You’re more likely to see mirrors like these on your vanity than at a wedding, but wedding planner Diann Valentine gave them a whole new purpose — as hanging ceremony décor! With a few fresh pink flowers, the silver-framed mirrors added depth to the pinked-out space and made a creative alternative to chandeliers to add sparkle to the ceiling.

This jaw-dropping vessel filled with forsythia branches, created and designed by event producer David Stark, proves that elegant can be fun. “While it is a serious day of great importance, a wedding can also include levity and a wink and a nudge,” Stark says.

As if it were a Broadway play, event and floral designer David Beahm set the tone for a dramatic-yet-elegant ceremony with a stunning all-white curtained entrance. Beyond the curtain, beautiful large white flower arrangements and dramatic lighting gave the room at The Pierre hotel in New York City an intimate glow. “Lighting brings out the drama in everything,” Beahm says.

Every beach is a blank canvas to design something beautiful (and that’s why we love weddings on the water), and event designer Colin Cowie made the most of the scenic Paradise Island, Bahamas, by letting the natural beauty of the ocean take center stage. The low ottomans and winding shape of the aisle worked with, not against, the sandy landscape. “People think these things happen so easily, but I like to make sure that my work always appears effortless and elegant; it should never look contrived,” Cowie says.

It’s one thing to create a beautiful reception, but it’s another to make it look as natural and effortless as this greenery-and-twinkle-light-covered banquette, with birdcage chandeliers, thought up by planner and event designer Todd Fiscus.

Glamorous is the perfect adjective to describe this vignette of flowers, mirrored pedestals and votive candles at this reception designed by event planner and producer Bryan Rafanelli, who says he loves to create surprises a little bit outside of the expected for his clients. The mirror effect creates a warm glow from the candlelight and the illusion of tons of white flower petals.

Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, event designer Jung Lee played with proportions to create this table filled with shapely glass vessels and oversize snail motif plates. This whimsical twist on the garden theme is exactly why it’s on our list of favorites, “I find the couple’s shared passion for one unique element and I creatively weave it throughout the entire wedding,” Lee says.

Talk about a total room transformation! This wisteria-and-chandelier-covered ceiling, created by wedding designer and planner Jeannie Savage, takes the idea of a garden wedding to a whole new level. And it’s the complete transformation — from the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, to an enchanted garden — that’s really amazing. “We created an environment that was unexpected and out of the ordinary,” Savage says.

Height equals high impact in this ceremony entrance at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California, flanked by trees covered in white flowers designed by the team at Mark’s Garden. And floral designers and cofounders Mark Held and Richard David are all about scaling up designs to create a jaw-dropping effect. “Detail is great, but if you want to create the wow, think big,” David says.

Part architecture, part floral arrangement, this archway, created by florist and designer Karen Tran, is the perfect introduction to an all-white reception. It’s a subtle-yet-stunning way to seamlessly connect one space to another.