Photos: Strokes Photography Flowers: Parsonage Events
So many couples struggle with the idea of the design of your wedding, so i figured it's a perfect time to get into how you find your wedding design inspirarion! When we talk about your wedding design, we’re referring to the tangible or visible elements that create a cohesive look or feel to the event. This is how your wedding will stand apart from others, and will ideally reflect the two of you as a couple. While most refer to it as “design”, you may also have people refer to it as your wedding theme, style, vibe, or vision.
Before we get too far into it, I want to stress that it’s ok not to care about your wedding design! While it is important to some, remember your priorities from previous posts. If flowers and décor are super low on your priority list, it may not make sense to dedicate a lot of time or money to the elements we’re going to discuss here. If that’s the case for you, use the items that are included in your venue, and focus on the details that are most important to you.
Wedding Design vs. Interior Design
When it comes to wedding design, many compare it to interior design, which I think can be easier for some to understand. We’ve all likely attempted to make a house or apartment feel like YOUR home, not that of whoever was there before you.
You start with the actual building structure as a base, and add in the functional items you need like furniture, appliances, and fixtures. Next, you add in some practical things that you want, but maybe don’t NEED, like TV’s, shelving, and a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Finally, you can bring in things that might not serve any other purpose than making you smile and feel more at home, like family pictures, artwork, and area rugs.
Whether it serves a functional purpose, or is there purely for looks, each of these items you choose to bring into your home contributes to the visions, vibe, or design of your home, and the same is true for your wedding!
Wedding Design Inspiration Categories
The place that I like to start is by asking couples what 3 words they would want guests to use to describe their wedding after the fact? Maybe it’s more than 3, but start listing some inspirational descriptors that you’d like your guests to feel from your wedding. Some examples could include elegant, fun, unique, classic, creative, whimsical, casual, or trendy. We’re going to use these words as we move on, to see how it all comes together.
While the design of your wedding can be incorporated into every detail along the way, most couples focus on flowers, linen and other rental items that you may need. When it comes to all of the design elements, I like to break them down into 3 categories.
The first category will include the items that you need for functional reasons, but can also play a huge role in the design of the event. These items include chairs, linens, china/flatware, invitations, and seating charts or place cards, we’ll refer to them as your “functional design elements”.
The second category we’ll call “design essentials”, and these are going to be the items that may not have a functional purpose, but are present in just about every wedding, and therefore something most couples will include in their design. These items include all of your floral items (bouquets, centerpieces, ceremony décor, etc.), specialty linens, and table numbers. While you may not NEED these items, combined with the functional design elements, these details are essential when creating a cohesive wedding design.
The third and final category will be your “optional design elements”, which include the things that might be common at weddings, but their absence will most likely not be noticed. However, incorporating them into your wedding design can make a huge difference should you decide to include them. These items include charger plates, lounge furniture, lighting, and signage for various areas of the wedding.
When you think of your wedding design, you can think of it as a process of layering the different elements. The base will be your venue or venues, and this is why it’s important to remember this while looking into your different venue options. As you’re looking at different spaces, ask yourself if it work with or against your design or theme?
Once you have the venue(s) locked in, you can work on adding in the next layer with the functional design elements, followed by the design essentials and optional design elements.
You can find a comprehensive list of all of the design elements you may want to consider at below. Remember though, there are very few couples that will incorporate EVERYTHING into their wedding, so don’t feel like you NEED something just because it’s on the list. If you’re on a tight budget, make the functional design elements that you must have work for you, and you’ll be off to a great start!
Creating a Wedding Mood Board
Now that we’ve reviewed the components of the wedding design, creating a mood board is the best way to visualize the details that you would like to use for your wedding. This is a way to collect all of your inspirational images in one place, to help you see how it will all come together.
The original mood board method was to collect wedding magazines, rip out the inspirational images you like, and glue them onto a posterboard. While I’m sure there are some that still use this method, thankfully computers and the internet have made this process much easier! The most common way that couples create a mood board these days is via Pinterest, but you can use a blank document and insert images, or if you’re a Planning Collective client, you’ll have access to the Design Studio in Aisle Planner.
Whatever method you prefer, the components of a mood board are going to be the same. You’ll want to start by defining your color palette , which can be as simple as 2 colors, or more commonly now, a series of 4 or 5 colors that complement each other.
If you’re unsure where to start with this, you can go back to those descriptive words you listed out, and head over to Google Images or Pinterest for help. For example, input “whimsical wedding color palette”, or “elegant green wedding color palette”. This will give you a TON of images to start with, and hopefully help you find the perfect combination for your wedding.
Once you have your color palette, it’s time to start finding images that inspire the other design components. I recommend you organize your mood board into a few main categories to help keep you organized, but not so many categories that it becomes difficult to keep track of things. For example, rather than having a separate boards for chairs, centerpieces, and linens, I would suggest keeping these together in a “reception décor” board.
Here’s a list of the different main boards I recommend, and some items you’ll most likely include in them:
- Venues – this one is pretty straight forward!
- Vendors – don’t forget to follow potential vendors on Pinterest so you can see more examples of their work
- Attire – Gowns, suits/tuxes, bridesmaids dresses, outfits for shower and rehearsal dinner
- Beauty – Possible hair & makeup styles, nail designs, skin care routines
- Ceremony – décor, vows
- Reception – décor, entertainment ideas
- Stationery products
- Food/cake
- Honeymoon ideas
Pulling it All Together
Now that you know what you want your wedding to look like, how do you make it all come together? If this leaves you feeling lost, don’t stress! Many couples struggle with how this all happens, but I’ll walk you through it here!
Once you have your venue locked in, you’ll need to take inventory of what décor items they have available for you, and what you’ll need to bring in. If you’re at a backyard or unique space, you’re most likely going to need to supply all of the items you’ll need, so you’ll be able to choose the look of each along the way. If you’re at a more traditional venue, you’ll probably have the option to use what we call their “house items”, meaning chairs, tables, linens etc that they already have onsite.
We discussed this a bit when we talked through traditional venues, but let me share some more details on why asking to see their house items is important. If you’re at a venue where you need to bring everything in, you need to budget for the hard functional items like the tables and chairs. While picking a nicer chair or linen will still have an associated cost to it, a portion of that cost is a necessity anyway.
At a traditional venue that includes these hard items, you’re already paying for them in the cost of the space, whether you use them or not. If you want the nicer chair or linen, it’s all technically an unnecessary cost. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to rent chairs when the venue provides them, I just want to make sure you have room in your budget if this is going to be a deal breaker.
Taking it back to the interior design comparison, if you’re building a house from scratch, you’ll get to pick each appliance along the way. If you’re purchasing a house, chances are many of the appliances will come with the house. If you hate the look of the functional almond refrigerator that comes with it, you’ll need to take the cost of replacing it into consideration before you buy the house. For some, the added cost of a new fridge can be wiggled into the budget, and for others, it would be too much of a stretch.
Ok, back to weddings! You have your inventory list of what you’re going to need, now where do they come from? Backyard or unique venues, your next step is going to be to connect with caterers and rental companies. Catering and rentals are most likely going to be your biggest costs, so get those set before working on the rest of your vendors.
Some full service catering companies can take care of many, if not all of, your rental items. You can share with them what you’re looking for, and they can help source it for you. Alternatively, you could reach out to tent and rental companies separately, which will help you avoid any upcharges that might be applied from the caterer.
Traditional and unique venue couples, if you’re looking to bring in some bigger rental items like table, chairs, draping, ect., ask if they have required or preferred vendors that you need to use. It’s not uncommon for historical sites, or venues that have challenging logistics, to require you to work with companies from their list. They want to make sure that they have a reputable company coming in that is familiar with their space, and won’t cause damage during the load in/out process.
Once you have your main rental items figured out, the next step in your design journey is going to be to find a florist. Outside of rental items, the florist will most likely be providing a majority of the décor details. Definitely share your mood board with them, and they can help guide you to how to make it work with your venue. If you’re still on the fence about some rental items, you can definitely talk to your florist to get their thoughts. Many can also provide these items, which could help you save on delivery and pick up charges.
Alright, that was a lot of info! But now I want to hear from you! Head over to the Wedding Planning Collective Facebook Community, and share your mood board with us there!
