In our last blog post, “Wedding Budget Tips”, we created the foundation for our entire planning path when we set our financial investment expectations. Now that we have the foundation for our spend, and who is contributing, let’s dive into all things fun! All things Wedding Design, AKA: the PRETTY!
As we begin thinking about our Wedding Design Tips; let’s first understand what wedding design is. Your wedding design plays into almost every element of your event; location, stationary, photography, media, entertainment, catering, specialty rentals, really every element matters when it comes to wedding design. The look, the taste, the touch, the smell, the sound, and the feeling. All of it matters.
At Betty Jane and CO, wedding design is our passion. Wedding design is where the magic happens, and where unforgettable moments are created. Through purposeful collaboration and intentional design, some truly incredible transformations take place between the original sketch and the final space reveal on Wedding Day. Watching couples pick their jaw up from the floor is a pretty good indicator that the vision and the feelings evoked, speak purely about the beautiful couple and their love story to a T.
Without further ado; here are my top five Wedding Design Tips
TIP ONE – DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK WHAT IF
While I do love a good sketchbook and magazine clip vision board (Yes, I d still do pull these out of my toolbelt on occasion), I couldn’t live without my design tools that help provide a collaborative vision for my clients and their vendor partners. Having design tools allow us to create, revise, go back to the drawing board, and then most importantly, help execute flawlessly on Wedding Day. This leads me to the first Design Tip which is to not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. It’s okay to have the “wrong idea” or wrong element and need to pull in a color, a texture, or a feeling from a new idea. The beauty here is that nothing is wrong with your initial idea. It’s a phase, and that phase will develop into several phases before the final product is produced. This phased approach, the mess ups, and the “wrong ideas” are actually how the most beautiful creations are begun, by accident. When I am working on a creative design; I am often questioning “what if”, “why”, or “how can I change or challenge what already exists”? This is how NEW is created. Something that hasn’t ever been done before.
TIP TWO – BRAIN DUMP AND ASK WHY
Wedding Design Tip two is to immerse yourself in a good journaling session, or what some like to call, a brain dump. When you hire a full-service wedding planner to support your wedding design, you are more than likely going to be asked to participate in some form of a ‘design questionnaire’. Questionnaires are essentially a guide, or series of questions, that are intended to spark thoughts in your head, and your homework is to jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. Through quality quiet time and some intentional questions, you will be amazed at the ideas that come to fruition. Asking yourself questions about what your favorite place to shop is, why you like to shop there, how you want your wedding to feel, how you don’t want your wedding to feel…
The idea is to not just have a yes or no answer but to write down the words that come right to you, even if they don’t serve a purpose or make sense right then. What you discover here can be transformed into pictures, phrases, shapes, and patterns. This technique is one of my favorite tools to work through with my clients.
A word for the wise here; this task (and truly all of these tips) are intended to do as a couple not only one individual. It would be such a shame if you did all of this work on a design but on the day itself, the experience only spoke to one of the individuals getting married.
TIP THREE – PULL FROM OUTSIDE INSPIRATION
Wedding Design Tip number three is all about the approach. As you approach your wedding design, your primary focus shouldn’t be only on the wedding industry aesthetics and inspiration. To tailor a design that speaks to you and your relationship, pull inspiration from outside elements that you as a couple are drawn to and weave together for a one-of-a-kind design. Where do you travel? Do you have a favorite artist or piece of art? What do you do for fun? Where do you shop? Where do you enjoy spending your Holidays?
Most times, other industries have a head start to the latest trends, furniture, clothing, prints, and patterns, so pulling from these industries as inspiration or using them as starting points to bring with you to your wedding drawing board…….mmm **Chefs kiss** … let the magic begin!!!
TIP FOUR – TAP INTO THE SENSES
At Betty Jane and CO creating a wedding design does not stop at the “look” of the wedding. Do you want your guests to undergo a complete and total experience when they step out of the shuttle and into an evening of remarkable memories? Do you want to give them a gift of an unforgettable celebration instead of a usual night out? The grand question here is: How do you create and orchestrate such an activity? Wedding Design Tip four encourages you to lean into your senses.
It is about filtering each of the elements of your event that your guests are going to partake in, from their point of view, and then applying the ‘senses filter’ on top.
Did you have your first date walking along the beach or maybe at a 5-star dining restaurant? What if the smell of your reception took you back to that ocean air or your plated dinner brings your taste buds right back to your first amazing dinner experience together?
Do you have a favorite hobby? Are you a puzzle person? What about an interactive escort seating chart full of puzzle pieces for every guest? Your guest could be guided to their table with their puzzle piece where they can then write a special message to you to build your guest book of a complete puzzle.
Are you a foodie with a favorite local spot and want to add that in as a late-night snack?
Taking a walk from the shoes of your guests and intentionally thinking about every sense they will encounter as they celebrate your special day, is without a doubt one of the best Design Tips or design exercises you can do.
TIP FIVE – CONSIDER YOUR LEGACY
Wedding Design Tip number five is related to the heirloom of your Wedding Day itself. What is the legacy you want to leave? What is the value of marriage to you? To your family and the future generations? Taking yourself out of the nitty-gritty of planning the specific day and allowing yourself to transport to the marriage itself is so crucial in design. Your day WILL come and go in the blink of an eye. Do you want something tangible to hold onto after the day? Do you want an experience to look forward to after the big day is behind you? How can you incorporate that legacy into something special and heart-moving for you and your guest to experience on the wedding day?
Design is an imperative part of the wedding planning experience and is one that you can have SO MUCH FUN with! Allow yourself the space and the time to be still and quiet. Allow yourself to be inspired. Allow yourself to think outside of the box. I assure you that creativity will come when you least expect it.
If those ideas are circling in your head and you are just looking forward to being able to relax and trust that your Wedding Day will be a cohesive and exceptional experience – from the moment your invitations are sent out to the final farewell to your guests at the end of the evening, I am happy to help be your guide in having that lightbulb “THIS IS IT” feeling! I want you to feel unstuck and propel forward into a stunning, never seen before, profound wedding experience for you and your guests. To help get those thoughts flowing from head to paper, let’s chat here.
