Define Your Style

MY favorite part of my wedding almost 17 years ago was the fact that for the most part, I had the majority say in the creative rights to making it the event that it would ultimately become. Looking at that now as an event planner and as someone who loves to bring people and ideas together into a cohesive experience, I thought I’d lay out some knowledge about defining your style and finding your inspiration.

COLOR For me, it was less about a theme and more about the color scheme, which in my case centered around cooler tones. My Watters & Watters bridesmaids’ dresses were a gorgeous shade of periwinkle with layers upon layers of tulle. I had silk roses, and my bridesmaids had hydrangeas all of which looked as close to real as you could get and were multi-tonal with lavender ribbons around their stem bases. Most everything else at my wedding ranged from blues to greens to purples. I created my own palette and ran with it. Coming right out of college, as a print media writer and designer even then, I had no fear mixing and matching what I wanted to create my vision. I also kept a binder of every scrap of magazine idea that I could find. Fortunately for you, Pinterest can do the palette mixing and matching for you. From pre-made color combos to folders that you create yourself, Pinterest can be your best friend to help you find the right mix of colors, tones, shades, or tints for you!

LOOK & FEEL

For others, the style of the wedding can be defined by the look and feel that you’re going for. Whether it’s black tie, and everyone is dressed up, or it’s comfy/casual, and you have kids running around barefoot, you can take that vibe and the feel of what you want your guests to experience and turn that into a concept that drives each aspect of your big day. Ask yourself questions like how dressed up do you want everyone to be? How formal do you plan to make the event? Will kids even be allowed? Use that criteria to lay out what the experience will look like for everyone, most especially you as you observe the fun that each and every guest has enjoying the hard work that you put into that special occasion.

Photo by Goad Photo

Photo by Equinox Photography

Photo by Goad Photo

THEME

Photo by JoElle Elise Design

Some couples share the story of how they met in their wedding day presentation. Other couples work their favorite movie genre into their big day. You might want to have a luau, a western themed event, or even work your favorite literary character or story into the event. Whatever your thing is, own it, share it, make it your own, and above all else, have fun with it! Take that idea, hop on Pinterest, do your research, and find out how you can spin that seed of a concept into a flower of theme that not just you and your spouse will enjoy, though. You want to turn it into something that the entire room of guests and party goers from the youngest to the oldest will be talking about for weeks to come!

TEXTURES From burlap and baby’s breath to linens and lace or cotton and organza, we all have varying opinions on what textures are beautiful versus what we don’t like. So don’t be afraid to hop over to a local fabric store or rental location to look and feel and shop. Educate yourself on the different fabric types, how they feel, and the colors they come in. Then stop by one of our local florists like Zeidler’s, who can create bouquets for you or sell you the materials to create your own arrangements. Talk to their experts about what will be in season at the time of your wedding. Ask yourself if you like thoseflowers. Are there filler florals that you need to consider as well for

your arrangements? Take detailed notes on ideas and combinations so that you can keep track of what you like and what you don’t so that at the end of the day you can also go back and do additional research if you need to. And always snap pics, too, so that you have them on hand for reference later in case you can’t remember what that one flower that you can’t remember its name looks like!

Once you’ve defined your style and picked out your inspiration, then hammer those ideas home. Take the concepts and work those ideas into your invitations and into the little details like your reception décor. If you are creating a website for your guests to follow along with your planning or to provide them more details, carry the look and feel of the style or design into that, too! You don’t have to go overboard, but tying everything together gives a cohesion to your event that will be memorable, makes for better photographs, and will give you a sense of accomplishment that you pulled off what will probably be one of the biggest events/parties of your lifetime!

Photo by Equinox Photography

Photo by Esther Bloom Photography