Ask a Planner: Where to Start with your Wedding Design
It’s Thursday, so you know what that means! It’s time for us to answer your top wedding planning questions. One of the things we see couples struggling with is how to design their wedding. Of course, as planners and designers, this is something we offer as part of our services. But, even when you’re working with a planner, you need to have some idea of the overall aesthetic you like. For example, on a very high level, do you envision something with a rustic feel or are you more of a ballroom person?
Photo by Stephanie Vegliante
If you have no idea, then welcome to the right place! Today I’m sharing some of my favorite ways to find inspiration for your wedding design. The goal is for you to have a collection of images you like in order to be able to share them with your planner. They can be “all over the place” - your planner will help you make sense of it all and use the images as a diving board for your color palettes and mood boards.
Pinterest: This is where clients tend to start when they get engaged, since Pinterest has a TON of wedding inspiration. It’s helpful for you to pin images you love and you don’t even have to focus on wedding related pins. Remember, your planner doesn’t know you that well yet, so it’s helpful just to get a sense for your general taste. It’s great if you find specific ideas you love, but even broad images are helpful. As great as Pinterest is, I find that it’s a little limiting because my brides tend to be the only ones who use it and it’s important to get input from both our brides and grooms.
Instagram: If you want your groom to be involved, Instagram might be the better platform. Instagram has a great feature, similar to pinning on Pinterest, that lets you save the images you love. Unlike Pinterest, most people (even grooms) spend time on Instagram already, so it’s not a new app. We recommend following hashtags like “#weddingplanning” and “weddinginspiration” so that wedding-related images will show up in your feed. It’s casual wedding work - you will see wedding-related images as part of scrolling that you’re already doing!
Your Home: Believe it or not your home is the perfect spot to find inspiration. It doesn’t even have to be your real home - feel free to use your dream home as inspiration! What kind of furniture do you like? What types of colors are you drawn to? I once designed a whole wedding around a swatch of fabric a client found lying around and it’s one of the most fun palettes I’ve worked with!
What you wear: What colors do you wear? What colors do you tend to stay away from? Do you like bling or do you tend to be pretty simple when it comes to jewelry? What brands do you love? What brands do you actually buy? What does your engagement ring look like? The answers to all of these questions can help your planner start to get a feel for your taste and what you tend to love.
You’ll notice I didn’t mention wedding magazines. Many people still pick up a magazine when they get engaged - it’s fun to flip through and see what’s out there. However, the paper version is harder to share with your vendors than the digital version. Most magazines will place features online, too, so you’re not missing that much content if you’re only looking for inspiration online.
Once you start collecting images, your planner will be able to start looking for patterns and ask you about them, whether they’re intentional or not. Your wedding doesn’t necessarily have to reflect who you are in your everyday life if you want something different, but understanding who you are in your everyday life and what you love gives your planner an excellent base to get started.
See you next week for more planning advice from Chelsea!
xx,
Sarah