How to Plan a Mardi Gras Wedding Theme

Mardi Gras is one of my favorite wedding themes to design, because it is not really a theme at all. It is a tradition with centuries of history, and when a couple has roots in the South, weaving it into a wedding becomes a way of sharing your heritage with everyone you love.

Start with the traditions, not the decorations

The second line. The single best Mardi Gras element for a wedding. After the ceremony, a brass band leads the couple and every guest in a joyful parade, handkerchiefs and parasols waving. It doubles as your grand exit and instantly gets every generation on their feet.

Custom parasols. A parasol for the two of you, or one for every guest, adds Cajun flair to photos and works as a favor people actually keep.

King cake. Serve it alongside the wedding cake or as a groom's cake. Tucking in the traditional trinket for one lucky guest is a built-in moment of fun at dessert.

Keep it elegant, not costume

The trick with Mardi Gras is restraint. Lean into the palette, purple for justice, green for faith, gold for power, but let it live in jewel-toned velvet linens, gold rim glassware and deep floral tones rather than plastic beads on every table. One or two theatrical gestures, a masked photo moment, a feathered centerpiece on the cake table, go much further than twenty.

Menu is half the magic

Fat Tuesday is an eating holiday, and your caterer can carry the theme better than any centerpiece: a gumbo or jambalaya station, shrimp and grits in passed portions, beignets late in the night when the dance floor needs fuel. In Las Vegas we are lucky, our catering partners handle Southern menus beautifully.

Does a Mardi Gras wedding work outside New Orleans?

Absolutely. That is exactly when it works best, because you are bringing your history to your guests instead of asking them to travel to it. A courtyard venue, string lights, a brass band and a confident palette will carry New Orleans anywhere, and yes, that includes the desert.

Planning a themed wedding and want it to feel elevated instead of kitschy? That balance is exactly what we do. Tell us about your vision or explore Scheme weddings to see how far a strong theme can go.

Photography by New Romantix LV.