What’s Your Vibe?: Tips and tricks on developing you design aesthetic

Ok, you're ready to dive into making your day…your day. You have the logistical stuff like the budget and guest count, and now it's time to work out what you want everything to look like, and you have no idea where to start. So let's work through tips and tricks to create a day that looks like you. 

Now, some of this will vary based on where you are in the process. Like you might not have a venue yet and you don’t know if you want indoor or outdoor, or you have an industrial indoor venue, and the exposed brick wall might change how you look at your decor. 

The Feelings: Most couples start with a color palette, but I would encourage you to examine your feelings first. The best aesthetics are rooted in emotions. Ask yourself 2 questions, what do you want to feel on your day and what do you want your guests to feel? Do you want romance, fun and high energy, or like you stepped into a fantasy. This is a good place to start. 

Personally, I’m a big fan of Pinterest. You can pin different ideas and even create a mood board based on your Pinterest boards. Type in that feeling you want to have for your day and see what catches your eye, and as you look, see what’s trending in your mind. Like you see wine bottles turned into candles, and every time you see it you like it more and more. That is your sign to add it to your board. It’s the same with colors. What colors do you gravitate towards?

Your day to day life: Speaking of what you gravitate towards, this is also another great question to ask yourself if “how do I want to feel?” doesn’t do it for you, and isn’t sparking the inspiration you need it to. Ask “what do I gravitate towards in my day to day life?” Look at your home, your favorite places away from home, and even look at your work space. What do you surround yourself with, what’s the most dominant color in your closet, what’s your perfect day off? All of these questions can flip that switch in your mind. When I got married, our best days off were movie or show marathons while we put a puzzle together, and a puzzle with all of its pieces fitting together perfectly once you found where it fit was a great metaphor for how our life came together, and that became our theme. We built the day around our day off of comfort.

So, are you outdoorsy and go hiking or do you prefer the beach? Are you all about the social scene and going clubbing and dancing? Are you a homebody and prefer a comfy space with a good book? This is a good example of your day to day influencing your feelings which can help your event feel more like you. 

The List: If you are a list maker, you can try using a list to find your vibe. Ask google, or your favorite AI assistant for a list of wedding themes and design ideas. Read through that list and see words that jump out at you. You can do this with colors too. Find a few words and colors that appeal to you and go from there. 

The Hero Piece: This trick is to base, or at least have a jumping off point for your design around a “Hero” piece.  Imagine that you have crystal goblets that every wedding in the family has used for their toasts. They are vintage and very elegant. You can build a design around them with ivory lace table linens, and mixed vintage china. You can pull the colors from the china into your centerpieces. There you have it, a stunning design because of a beautiful old glass. 

The hero piece can apply to more than an item. It can apply to the venue, your proposal, or even your favorite color. It is that one thing you have to have incorporated in your day. If you’ve always dreamt about getting married in front of a fountain, and you found a venue with a stunning one. Use the vibe of the venue to build the rest of the day. The fountain became your hero piece.  

TV, Movies, and Games, Oh My: All the other inspiration generators have failed and now you're left with no ideas on how to make this work. Now it’s time to look for inspiration from your favorite things, like your go to TV show (insert Bridgerton here), book (lord of the rings), hobby (music themed because of your record collection), holiday (christmas or halloween), or game (D&D). I coordinated a wedding a couple years ago that themed their wedding as Nerd-Core. They based each table off a different video game world they liked to play, and put together a D&D dice game for their guests to play throughout the event. They even 3D printed themselves riding a dragon for their cake topper. It was 100% a reflection of them as people and a couple. 

Hopefully this blog got your creative juices going, but if you are still stuck, ask the people closest to you to describe you or walk through these tricks and tips with you. Sometimes an outside perspective can help the plan click into place, as always there isn’t anything wrong with traditional, or what’s trending. If you have always liked the idea of a traditional wedding with the ideas and design that feels timeless, then use it. They are timeless for a reason. 

If this blog inspired you, and helped something click in your mind, or if you have an idea you want to share let me know in the comments. 

Tune in next month, where I dive into surviving expos and open houses.