He popped the question. There is a stunning rush of feelings from disbelief, ‘Is this really happening?!’. Immediately after, the questions start.
“When is the date?”
“What are your colors?”
“Are you having a big wedding?”
Questions that can not be answered in the first 5 minutes of being a bride-to-be.
It is overwhelming, being engaged in this day and age. Every wedding includes the same main ideas, there are vows, music, food and a lot of posed photos. But there is a certain style that every wedding takes on, a sort of personality, that is commemorated. There is an over-load of content online, from various websites such as The Knot, Pinterest, The Wedding Wire, showing ideas for trendy barn weddings, eclectic and backyard weddings, and ballroom weddings decorating with hydrangea flowers galore, no detail shown is short of being picturesque. Where does a girl even begin to think about what wedding style is fitting for herself and her groom-to-be?
I, like many brides, was once lost in the overflowing sea of pictures from my Pinterest feed. Although a helpful tool in generating clever ideas, it is easy to become confused. I had pinned photos with centerpieces decorated with burlap, bridesmaids wearing flower crowns, and modern lanterns lining the ceremony aisle-way.
Nothing I saved had anything in common. I was drawing ideas from someone else’s wedding style instead of focusing on creating my own. So how do you elect a wedding style? It is best to start with what is most important to you and your fiancé. In the early stages of planning my wedding, I was set on finding a venue that no one I knew had been married at.
I had grown tired of seeing recurring Facebook photos of the same wedding, only subbing out a new bride and groom each time.
My fiancé and I enjoy being around people. We feed off of the energy that comes from a fun crowd, we get excited to discover something new and unique and we love to celebrate. I wanted our wedding style to portray that.
I began my search for style in my closet. I found a lot of tulle, high shoes, black, gold, classic jewelry…all things appropriate to wear to a New Years Eve party.
New Years Eve is one of my favorite holidays; The flowing champagne, glittering dresses, the lights! It is also one of the best nights that my fiancé and I spent together in our first year of dating. Therefore, planning to wed on New Year’s Eve weekend, December 30, 2016, was an easy choice for us. Our wedding style is a sparkling party.
The details are specific, so it would not make sense for me to include mason jars or vintage furniture at my wedding reception. Instead there will be strings of lights, gold sequined tablecloths, and sparklers.
For you, maybe the most important aspect is the location, the type of food that will be served, or maybe it is the dress that you will be wearing. But be specific.
Look around your house for objects that stand out to you, as inspiration when discovering your wedding style. For me, it was a party dress.
When you find YOUR thing, let that be the driving force in planning the rest of your wedding, and stick to it.
If you start cherry-picking ideas from different categories of style, you will lose focus on your theme. On your wedding day all eyes will be on you. Your style on that special day, should represent YOU