The most important thing we can impart to our couples is to make it their own.
You are only going to do this once so your wedding day should tell your story and have relevance to your courtship, your lives, and all the things you are passionate about and enjoy doing together.
Consider what you and your fiancé love and what defines you as a couple (your favorite cocktail, the best meal you ever had, that one song you can’t help but get down to, that one painting that you are both drawn to at the museum, the magazine tears you’ve saved featuring your dream home) and find ways of incorporating those things into your wedding day.
Remember that this is not just the bride’s day.
Or the mother-of-the-bride’s day.
Or the groom’s day… Your wedding day should be a reflection of you and your fiancé – who you are as individuals and who you are as a couple.
Think beyond “your wedding colors.”
Your wedding day is too significant a day to be dumbed down to two complementary colors.
Unless you’re the out-of-the-box client designing something highly conceptual like an “art installation” wedding, I always suggest to our clients to think of hosting their wedding from their vision of their uber-home and letting the design develop from there.
Think more in terms of inspired decor, textiles, accents, patterns, and textures.
Your wedding day is all about you as a couple, so if a unity candle is really important to you, do it!
If you love a living room setting, why not seat all of your guests on love seats and ottomans for the ceremony as opposed to white wooden folding chairs? If you are attracted to chevron prints, think about bringing that in somewhere – perhaps as a backdrop for the altar or in some of your tabletop linens or to upholster your bar.
Take your guests on a journey.
The most successful weddings take guests from one space to another allowing them to have different experiences in every area from the food and cocktails, to the music, lighting and decor, thereby constantly heightening expectations.
Incorporate new traditions that are meaningful and important to you and your family.
Your wedding day is all about you as a couple, so if a unity candle is really important to you, do it! Or if you want to start a new trend where the best man and maid of honor do the first dance, why not? It’s your day.
Never follow tradition just because you feel obligated.
Does the thought of your groom fishing up your dress for your garter make you cringe? Then forget the garter toss.
There is no reason to have a bridal party unless you want one. If you don’t envision yourself in a white dress, wear canary yellow, red, even black.
There are no rules! Dare to abandon trends.
Unless something resonates with who you are as individuals and as a couple, the trend has no place in your wedding.
Not into mason jars? Why have them! Not into crystal chandeliers, photobooths with ironic moustache props, a sea of mismatched vintage decor or paper lanterns? Don’t use them! It’s all about articulating your unique voice as a couple.
