When I started planning my big fat Indian wedding over a year ago, I had my heart set on a Midnight in Venice reception theme. I knew I wanted a cobalt and gold lehenga*, dazzling midnight blue/silver/gold florals and decor, and Venetian masks for guests to take fabulous pictures with. I spent hours scouring Pinterest and Indian wedding blogs, but never found pictures of a real wedding with a Midnight in Venice reception theme. Instead, as all brides-to-be do these days, I created a private Pinterest board and collected as many pictures of all things midnight blue & Venetian to guide my decor inspiration for my dream reception.

Here are some of my favorite images that I’ve compiled into a Midnight in Venice Mood Board. 

I highly recommend creating a mood board to figure out what colors and style most speak to you for your big day. For me, I knew I wanted something more glamorous and glitzy for the reception, since the colors for my other wedding events were extremely soft, feminine and romantic.

I mean, just look at that picture of Venice at night. I could just get lost in those colors. The perfect inspiration for a classy reception!

Thanks to my mood board and the amazing work of our decor team, our reception decor/mood/overall vibe was pretty spot on. We didn’t have as much emphasis on the Venetian part of the mood board as I would have liked (turns out Venetian masks are pretty expensive), but everything else was simply perfect. If any of you are struggling to find a color theme for your Indian reception, I really think blue & gold is the perfect choice – classy, timeless and elegant.

*lehenga: the gorgeous Indian outfit these lovely ladies are wearing above!