In a few short days, my fiance and I will tie the knot at our alma mater. The place where we met and fell in love obviously holds an incredibly dear sport in our hearts. In fact, throughout the wedding process, we were brimming with ideas of how we could incorporate personal details, and details inspired by our wedding venue, into our big day. Still, I was cautious—I wanted the day to feel personal, but not like an over the top theme party.
Chances are, you also selected your venue because of the meaning it holds to you – whether it’s where you grew up, fell in love, or lived for a few years. Follow along for a few tips from the experts to create the perfectly personalized wedding day!
Start with your venue for inspiration.
You chose this gorgeous spot for a reason! Spend some time during the planning process taking it all in and looking in unexpected places for inspiration. For example, our chapel has an ornate and unique wood molding around the doors – we ended up using it as a border for our invitation suite! Julie Bunkley, Creative Director of Invision Events, also encourages couples to look for details locally, they can be incorporated as favors, welcome gifts, or decor (in the case of locally grown florals).
Mix it up.
How do you make sure you don’t go overboard with your theme? “Matchy-matchy is always a problem. Take your core design and bring in texture, pattern and colors,” says Julie.
For my fiance and I, we found it helpful to choose several motifs in complementary colors we could mix and match across our day, like dark green ivy and our pale grey monogram. We could play with versions of the images, and shades of the colors, to make each element feel special.
It’s all about the details.
The smallest details can often end up being the most striking, and the most touching. Don’t overlook elements like flowers or stationery—Julie stresses that a bride’s bouquet can end up being one of “the most personal elements of the entire wedding.” In addition to spending the time to research the flowers, “you can add family pieces like a broach, piece of jewelry, rosary, handkerchief, monogrammed ribbon” to bring a photogenic and meaningful detail to life.
We ended up working with an amazingly talented (and affordable) artist on Etsy to design our stationery suite, and she even designed a monogram logo for us that incorporated a pattern of bricks unique to our area of the country!
A family affair.
Your family is sure to be involved in the planning process (some members may even be going overboard here), so why not pick through their attics as well as their brains? What you find could make for a unique addition to your decor, and will be even more fun when there’s a story behind each piece. “I love when family silver collections are used in the table settings or collections of porcelain that are used with the flower arrangements,” says Julie.
Think outside the box
You should absolutely coordinate colors, themes, and decor with the natural backdrop your venue offers (don’t go for beachy boho-chic if you’re working with an overly ornate ballroom), but also don’t be afraid to get creative to highlight unexpected elements of your venue, says Julie. For my fiance and I, our ultimate reception spot wasn’t even a space typically used for weddings, but we loved the natural backdrops, so we asked and they were happy to put a tent there!
Customization doesn’t have to cost you.
Finally, don’t feel like a personalized day has to totally blow your budget. Julie points out that your menu is the “ultimate playground – whether you use food stations that speak to where you are from or places you and your groom traveled to together or even design a seated meal with menus that detail how your food speaks to you as a couple”.
You have to eat, so why not put the thoughts into the menu choices (and don’t forget—look local!) I’ll also add that our custom cocktail napkins were one of my favorite parts of the decor, and they were ultimately no more expensive than renting the linen ones the caterer offered.
Style Me Pretty Contributor – Chloe O’Sullivan is a freelance writer and sales director based in Washington DC (soon relocating to Northern New Hampshire). When she isn’t writing, she can be found trying new restaurants, planning her next trip, or hiking with her soon to be husband.