Finding your wedding style – Style Tips 101
Finding your wedding style can be a daunting task! With so much inspiration available to us in this digital world it can be hard to know where to start. Whether or not you employ the services of a wedding planner and/or stylist, it is a good idea to put some thought into how you’d like your wedding to ‘look and feel’ so that you can communicate this to your wedding suppliers.
So, how do you go about finding your wedding style?
Your wedding day should be a true reflection of you – your taste, your style, and your story. Over the coming weeks I will be sharing my tips and advice on finding your wedding style and how to incorporate this into your wedding design. It is so easy to get lost down the rabbit hole that is Pinterest! I am just as guilty of this as the next person – but whilst it is a HUGE source of inspiration, it can also be thoroughly confusing with so many different styles of weddings – and they are ALL so beautiful!
Finding your wedding style – Tip #1
Before turning to Pinterest, Instagram, blogs or magazines – turn your attention on YOU!
We don’t often stop to think about what ‘our style’ is, but consciously or not, we all have one!
So, to start to finding your wedding style, look at the things that define your personal style:
Your taste in fashion is a great place to start –
What style of clothing do you tend to go for? Is your wardrobe mainly made up of neutrals, blacks and whites, or is it a rainbow of colour? Do you prefer to dress up or keep a more casual appearance? Really analyse what you are drawn to and think about how your fashion style can be incorporated into your wedding. For example, if your clothes are simple and elegant in design, neutral in colour and formal in style, you may find you lean more towards an elegant country house with neutral decor and grand formal spaces. Your colour palette may be mainly whites and neutrals with just subtle touches of colour in soft, elegant floral displays.
If your fashion style is more casual and colourful, you may be leaning towards a more informal style venue such as a modern industrial warehouse or even a marquee. Your colour palette may be bright and full of different colours which you can incorporate into your design with bright florals, linens and bridal wear.
Your taste in Interior Design …
can be very telling in finding your wedding style. What colours dominate your house – wall colour, soft furnishings, carpets, curtains? Is your house relaxed, cosy and informal or organised, minimal and formal? Do you prefer large open spaces with high ceilings and large windows, or smaller, cosy spaces with beams and wooden floors? Do you like modern architecture or buildings from a certain period in history (not strictly interior design but closely linked!)? What would your ideal home look like – a small country cottage, a modern loft apartment or perhaps a rambling manor house or a converted barn?
The answers to all of these questions will point you towards the type and style of venue you might prefer, the colour palette which is most indicative of your style and the overall feel of your day.
Where and what do you like to eat and drink?
If you are a lover of food, regularly eat out at fine dining restaurants and appreciate good quality ingredients, you are likely to want an impressive, multi-course meal at your wedding. Or, if a quick take-away is your meal of choice, you might consider food trucks and more informal dining choices. If your preferred place to hang out with friends for a drink is a swanky wine bar, your wedding may offer a sophisticated selection of fine wines, or a signature cocktail. But if you prefer a quick pint at your local pub, you may want your wedding bar to offer more classic ‘pub’ choices.
Where do you like to spend time…
when time is not a factor? Are you a country lover at heart or more of a cool, urban dweller? Do you enjoy lazing on the beach or seeking adrenaline fuelled adventure? Your ‘hang-out’ preferences can hugely determine the style of your wedding, type of venue, location, decor choices and ‘feel’ of your wedding.
All of these things help narrow down what is really important to you. Once you have a clearer idea of what your personal style and taste really is, looking for inspiration that ties in with finding your wedding style becomes far less daunting.
Finding your wedding style – Tip #2
Before taking advice from others, talk to each other and prioritise what is important to you as individuals and as a couple.
Everyone has an opinion and ideas about what the ‘perfect’ wedding day should look like. Advice seems to come from every angle when you first announce your engagement and it can feel overwhelming when you haven’t even had a chance to think about what you might like!
Whilst the opinions and advice of others may be important to you and indeed, some ideas may be completely in tune with your own, before taking too much on board, take the time to talk to each other! You know each other better than anyone else and it is YOUR day, so should be reflective of you as a couple.
It may seem obvious – but taking the time to really talk over your ideas for your wedding is a crucial step to finding your wedding style. It can also be quite an eye-opener! Ideas you thought were an absolute no-brainer may be completely off your partner’s radar and vice versa, is it is an interesting exercise to nut out exactly what you both want.
Start by writing down 3 things each that are your ‘must haves’.
These should be the things that you are not prepared to compromise on. The things that are so important to you that you would forgoe other things to be able to have them. The rule here is not to judge the others must-haves, but find a way to make them all work together.
The flip side to this is to write down 3 things each that are absolute ‘no-nos’!
The things you absolutely do NOT want at your wedding. Hopefully there won’t be any ‘must-haves’ that appear on your partner’s list of ‘no-nos’!
The things that could feature on either list could be: a particular colour, type of flower, maximum (or minimum) guest count, a particular style of music, a favourite (or hated) cocktail or type of wine, time of year of the wedding, style of venue etc.
Once you have your ‘must haves’ and your ‘no-nos’ it is easier to piece together the other elements that make up your wedding design.
Make a list of ‘would like to have if budget allows’.
These can be big or small, linked to food, aesthetics, music, entertainment, table decor etc. From here you can start to form a priority list and it will become obvious which areas are important to you both and which are things that can be compromised on.
Once you have a clear idea in your minds about what you both want, then the advice and ideas of others can be slotted in. The end result will be a day that is designed and styled completely around what YOU want, with touches from ideas from your closest friends and family.
Finding your wedding style – Tip #3
Consider your Venue!
Your venue is the backbone of your wedding design and should therefore be at the forefront of your styling choices. Your venue is crucial to finding your wedding style.
Finding your wedding style to compliment your venue
As the largest element in any wedding design, it is vital to consider the type and style of your venue early on in the design process. This choice will establish how the rest of your styling choices come together.
You may have a clear vision for the type of venue you’d like, or you may even have booked the venue of your dreams as you’ve always had one in mind. If that is the case -whether it be a country manor house, a rustic barn, an industrial warehouse, a marquee or even a field – you can take inspiration from your venue and design your wedding to suit it.
For example, if you have booked a country manor with a bold coloured carpet, you should consider this colour as part of your palette as it will be a dominating feature within your space. Your other colours and design elements should compliment it, not work against it! And, if you really don’t like the carpet (or any other dominating feature) at a particular venue, you should probably reconsider the venue!
Consider the spaces available to you at your chosen venue and think about what you could use them for. Do you have separate rooms/spaces for the ceremony and reception? Are there outdoor areas you can utilise if the weather is good and how could you use them? Is there a separate bar area or will you need to incorporate a bar within your main reception space?
The fixed elements of your venue such as the size of the space, height of the ceiling, light sources, wall colours, type of flooring, period of the building, architectural features – all of these play a part in how the space will look and your wedding style should compliment these elements and become part of the design.
Reverse the process!
If you are unsure about what type of venue to have, but have a clearer idea about how you would like your wedding to look and feel, you can reverse the process and search for venues according to your wedding design. Go back to the lists of must haves and no-nos and look at what areas stand out as major design elements. Perhaps you have a large guest count and will therefore need a venue with large open spaces such as a warehouse or large barn. Or perhaps your priority was a grand sweeping staircase to make your entrance from – your search should start with manor houses or grand hotels. Maybe you couldn’t quite picture your wedding in any rentable space so a marquee may be the way to go.
It will soon become apparent from your list of priorities and your key design elements, what type of venue you should be looking for.
As part of our full planning and styling services, we will guide you through this process and help you in finding your wedding style. We will accompany you on venue visits and discuss how we can design your wedding to suit the space, or find you a space to suit your design!
Stay tuned for more tips on finding your wedding style in the coming days. But in the meantime, if you would like to know more about our wedding services you can take a look at what we do here, or join our mailing list for regular updates and wedding styling tips.
