So this is the part of the wedding that I am super passionate about! I love styling and creating a wedding design!
I'm going to be taking you through how to create your style and build your wedding design when you might be a little be stuck on where to start and how to do it.
I'm going to base this blog on a scenario I had with one of my 2021 couples as they were in this boat and they came to me not knowing what they wanted and we created that 'nothing' into something truly amazing! So all the images you see are the couples final wedding design!
Where to Start
So here at Bluebird Creative, we start the wedding design process with a consultation with the couple. With this couple we were asked to do their full wedding planning so instead of just a wedding design consultation it was a full wedding planning consultation.
During this consultation, whether over zoom, a cup of tea or a glass of wine, we discuss what they like, what they dislike and how they envision their wedding looking. Do they have any idea on themes, colours, how they want it to feel, what they want to evoke... everything really!
This particular couple knew the type of wedding they wanted in terms of entertainment and food but didn't know what they wanted in terms of design and wanted me to help steer them in the right direction. So in their consultation I asked loads of questions, I also delved deeper into them as a couple and found they had just done a house renovation and they loved their interiors of the new house. I could see from this that they were very particular in their details and modern in their choice of interior styling so decided to bring this into their wedding design.
Start a Pinterest Board
My next step once having this consultation is to start creating a Pinterest board. This board needs to be solely for the wedding design aspect so that you can hone in on your design.
So for this particular couple's pinterest board (image below!), I was inspired by their house interiors. They had created an incredible kitchen design that was slightly industrial in style with wooden accents and very modern so I just knew they would like black metal touches.
I also knew that they loved flowers and wanted the florals to be wild and whimsical in style. So as you can see from the board I pinned images that were modern/industrial in design with wooden and black metal accents but then had a wild secret garden vibe.
We knew they also wanted to create something that hung over the tables that's why I have only tried to pin table inspiration images that had pendant lighting or foliage hanging above. So try to be really specific in what images you pin so you're not overwhelmed with too many images.
For the ceremony design, we were highly inspired by one image creating a focal point at the altar and then having wild and whimsical meadows down the aisle which we then repurposed for the wedding tables.
From their board you can see some different table plan ideas, we looked at using clocks to bring in their personality and story as they have done lots of travelling. We looked at creating the pressed flowers and foliage table numbers.
You can also see I started pulling in table design elements such as the crockery, cutlery and glassware to really try and bring a specific aesthetic to life for them.
Build Your Wedding Design Book
Once you have your Pinterest board it's now time to pull all those ideas together into a Wedding Design Book. This is essentially a PDF document that goes through in a bit more detail with images and text about your wedding design for each part of your wedding. This is then extremely useful to send to all your suppliers so they can see exactly how you want your wedding to look.
I have created a Wedding Design Book Template that I use for all my weddings that you can buy on my digital shop so make sure you check that out if you need some help with this part!
So for this particular couple we originally created their wedding design based on a venue which in the end they didn't book, however we used the same wedding design but just tweaked it ever so slightly to match the new venue.
So you'll see from some of their wedding design book pages below that I use images and text to really encapsulate the style and go into more detail about exactly what would be used, where it will be positioned and what atmosphere this will then create. You really want to embody each part of the day so you really get a sense of what it will look like.
For more on how to create your wedding design book, check out these YouTube videos below:
Your initial Wedding Design Book will not have every single detail to start with, this is just something to hone your preferred ideas and build that dream. The design book will then develop and grow once you've spoken with suppliers and looked into what's actually available to hire or buy for the style you want.
Remember the design book is for inspiration so you can create your own unique wedding design that represents you and your partners personalities, you might want to copy some stylistic elements but once you've really got into the design process it should hopefully become more and more your style and tastes.
For example with our particular couple we didn't have ideas about the stationery design until we had developed the tablescape for the wedding breakfast and then we looked at what shape, colour and font would compliment this to really bring the design to life and allow it to follow through.
I hope this gives you an idea of how to start your wedding design and the process you need to go through with yourself or your planner.
Check out Part 2 to see how we then take this wedding design book and work with suppliers to bring it to life. This wedding design for this particular couple was one of my most favourite styles to create and I hope you can see from the images how special it looked!
So if you still need help with your styling and still find this part slightly overwhelming or just need some guidance then we offer a wedding design service, so please do get in touch!
Happy Planning!
Lauren xx
PIN IT
Photos: Mindy Coe Photography
