Your Wedding, Your Style, Your Story

With Rebecca from The Unique Cornish Event Company

theuniquecornishevent.co.uk

Choosing a style for your big day can be daunting and confusing at times but there are some key things to keep in mind to help you stay true to your and your partner’s vision.

Remember that styling a wedding is something larger than just the aesthetics of the day. It can be in the venue you choose, the music you select, the invitations you send, right down to your food choices. All these details come together to create a unifying story, which helps guide the rest of your choices throughout the planning process.

Style Priorities

If you’re at the beginning of your planning process and a bit stumped, then an easy place to start is to write down your top three wedding ‘style’ priorities. Making a list of the things that are important to you and your partner; this will give you direction and get you thinking about your vision for the day. For example: are you into music; do you love nature and want a relaxed vibe; are you a foodie with a penchant for fine cuisine; is history and elegance your thing? These three style priorities can even help you find that venue and then the ball is rolling.

When styling for the editorial shoot for this edition I wanted to reference coming into the spring season and the fact that everything starts to come alive again, hence the working title, “Awakening”.

This theme went through everything when considering the overall look, from the mix of dried, budding and live flowers, created by the super talented Tide Flowers, to the fresh faced, dewy makeup by Sally Orchard and relaxed hair from Anna Ingram.

Set your colour palette range

Colour schemes are helpful to begin bringing together a style; different tones and textures open up far more unique styling choices.

Don’t restrict yourself on your colour range. So long as the colours and tones tie in together. This allows much more flexibility and avoids creating a look that’s ‘one dimensional’.

Choose a base colour which will be the one that is used most prominently throughout your wedding. Once you have your base colour, the next step is to choose a handful of complementary “accent” colours. These accents will round out your wedding palette, adding dimension and variation.

For the “Awakening” shoot, Cat from Tide Flowers, used the basis of spring - whites, toffees and violets accented with other muted pastels - to help build the perfect colour pallet for the floral displays and bouquets. The bouquets were then finished with perfectly imperfect naturally dyed silk ribbons.

Venue guide

Another place to start when considering your overall style for the day is working with your venue, if you have booked it. It doesn’t need to dictate every aspect of your day, but you should let it guide you in some direction. If you choose your venue based on the prospect of having an outdoor ceremony, you can pull inspiration from the surrounding nature; or if the venue has a striking dark wallpaper, pull that into your colour scheme.

It has a sense of grandiose, with the floor to ceiling sash windows bringing in the most beautiful streams of light. It was these light streams and pastel walls that provided the inspiration for the floral colours that then followed through into other areas, such as the stylish menus by RoCha Designs and candles Ester & Erik on the table scape.

Create a style board

An easy way to do this is to create a mood board, either online or in a scrapbook. It’s a brilliant way to get your ideas together and keep you inspired. It also provides a great point of reference for when you need to make visual based decisions. Use everything and anything, don’t just think you have to stick to a bridal magazine. Go to B&Q to pick out the paint swatches from Farrow and Ball. Start to think about the layers of detail such as stationery, favours and food - this again made us think how those would tie in with our style priorities.

Artists

It’s ok to be inspired by things outside of the wedding world! Whilst Enys House has a sense of secrets gone by, its light rooms gave a sense of possibility. I therefore wanted to bring a fresh, youthful vibe to the styling for the shoot, using the fantastic velvet drop banner created by Alice Gabb, an all-time favourite calligrapher and artist of mine.

I also love the beautiful work of ceramist, Michel Francois, who resides in and takes inspiration from the Cornish land. His pieces are timeless in shape and style with changing colours from the oxidation of the kilns. His jars were amazing to work with and allowed us to use large pieces of foliage and blossom to frame a stunning seated area.

Beautiful work of ceramist, Michel Francois

Beautiful work of ceramist, Michel Francois

Spaces

Although this styling is for a shoot, the principles behind how it comes together are the same. I knew I wanted a light, almost serene seated area for the models to be positioned. As with dry hire venues, you can also create different spaces and zones for your guests to be within. Consider relaxed seating areas, outside space, and little nooks and crannies for guests to enjoy one on one conversations.

The divides allowed us to create a space within a space, giving a sense of calm and beauty. The chair is an old battered armchair of Edwardian style, adding to the mix of antique and modern. You can hire in great pieces from a variety of wonderful suppliers, including StarGazey Hire, who can provide decorative items as well as beautiful chairs and tables for your wedding breakfast.

Table décor

The table décor allows you to bring the true sense of the day’s style to the forefront. Think about what you want guests to experience when dining at your wedding breakfast. Is it a relaxed picnic, a sharing feast or a classic but stylish served meal? Your feast will help you determine your table layouts.

I wanted to bring that sense of modern romance, using modern style glassware, stunning low floral displays with the mix of dried and live florals, and grey stone vases, complementing the linen grey cloth and blush pink Ester & Erik candles.

The accents were provided by the beautiful stationary created by RoChaDesigns. When briefing Julie Ann, I sent her the mood board and colour palette and gave her a brief of the romance of calligraphy mixed with modern fonts. Not an easy task, but she completely grasped the concept; it pays to work with talented designers who can bring your vision to life and add so much more. I love simple menus and place names, with the modern effect of the clear overlay. I also love the use of the semi-circle to keep that fresh style without going too far down the trendy geometric design route.

The Cake

The cake should also reflect the overall style and vibe of your day. Maybe you don’t like cake! I had one couple who really weren’t bothered about the cake and had a very relaxed affair overlooking the sea. They ended up having several Collin Caterpillars stacked up, which reflected their humour perfectly, even if it didn’t go with the colour scheme.

For the editorial we worked with the wonderful Sarah from The Cornish Cakery who was able to create the most romantic yet modern three-tiered cake - white and simple in colour, adorned with beautiful dried and live flowers, with the most impressive flourish to create a ‘wow’ statement cake that suited the surroundings perfectly.

So what should influence your style?

Of course use Pinterest, but use it with intention. It offers up so much inspiration and is one of the best places to build your vision, but even I can find myself pinning pretty images that don’t actually tie in with the overall style. When you start thinking about your wedding style, you do need to look at a number of ideas, but eventually you will refine your overall look.

A top tip - edit the caption on the pinned image and write why you’ve chosen it. It might be the tiniest detail or simply the colours within it. This way, when you’re months down the line looking back at the board, you will know exactly why that image was chosen! Then relook at the board and see what is recurring - that’s your style basis! Then create a separate board with your preferred style basis.

By all means have a look at trends, but do things your own way. Trends are great for ideas and seeing what others are doing, but make sure you do things how you want. Otherwise you may be looking back at the pictures and wondering when ever were electric blue bridesmaid dresses ok? I mean, if it’s your style then great, and remember there’s no real right or wrong, but it has to be about you and your preferences as a couple.

Simple……

PRODUCTION/STYLING: The Unique Cornish Event Co theuniquecornishevent.co.uk VENUE: Weddings at Enys House enysgardens.org.uk DESIGNER DRESSES: Katya Katya katyakatya.co.uk DRESSES: St Ives Bridal Boutique (Designers - Made With Love, Marylise, Rembo Styling) thebridalroomstives.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY: Verity Westcott Photography veritywestcottphotography.com BANNER: Alice Gabb alicegabb.com MAKEUP: Orchard Makeup orchardmakeup.com HAIR: Anna Ingram Hairstylist annaingramhairstylist.com FLOWERS: Tide Flowers tideflowers.co.uk CAKE: The Cornish Cakery thecornishcakery.co.uk MODELS: Ali and Olivia STATIONERY: RoCha Designs rochadesigns.co.uk PORCELAIN: Michel Francois Porcelain michelfrancois.com PROPS: Just Delights just-delights.co.uk JEWELLERY: Hannah Batstone Contemporary Jewellery hannahbatstone.com