5 Steps for Nailing your Wedding Theme

Happy Wedding Wednesday! Now that my blog busy season is somewhat slowing down a bit with holiday content, I wanted to gear my Wedding Wednesday series back up. I cannot believe it’s been almost thee months since we said “I do”. It seriously feels like last week! Marrying S was the best decision I ever made and I love being his wife. For those that have asked, I have planned a fun wedding themed week for January and will be sharing photos from our wedding day then. Oh and if you’re new around here, you can find some sneak peaks on Instagram here, here and here.

Today we are chatting about nailing your wedding theme!

When embarking on the wedding planning journey, just like every other bride I started with Pinterest. And let’s be real, we all probably have a board dedicated to our future wedding ever since Pinterest launched in 2010. Pinterest is a great area to get your creative ideas flowing! My #1 piece of high level, planning advice is to be original [at least in your own circle of friends]. Don’t go the avenue of taking aspects of a friends wedding and regurgitating it. Don’t copy verbatim her wedding website or give your florist a photo of her table arrangements. Look away from your girlfriend’s ideas, theme and decor and look towards the millions of other ideas on Pinterest and wedding blogs like Style Me Pretty. There are so many ideas out there to make yours, so always take that avenue instead and be unique!

When you first get engaged, pin EVERYTHING that speaks to you. From ballgowns to sheer A-line dresses or oceanside nuptials to rustic barn ceremonies, it’s all fair game because you have a clean slate with 0 decisions made… other than the most important part of course, who you’ll spend forever with 😉 . Get your own unique imagination going.

What you’ll quickly realize is that you’ll more than likely pin similar variations of things like florals, dresses, venues, etc..

Once I understood our vision for certain areas, like florals, I’d delete the pins that weren’t related anymore. When looking at my floral board, it was obvious we wanted loose, lush greenery with pops of white florals. Once this was decided, I removed any images that didn’t speak to that floral style to gut any clutter.

From there, I curated our most useful tool- our wedding theme board.

Nailing your wedding theme/style from the get-go allows you to hit the ground running and make decisions quickly, ditch indecisiveness and create an overall cohesive look from invitations all the way through your cake table. I found that the best way to do this is through was through a wedding theme board.

You’ll also find that this board is leveraged in many ways through planning:
1.The creation process helps you understand your theme. Once I was piecing together images, I had so many AH HA moments.
2. You can supply this to vendors so they can see your vision in a concise manner.
3. It increases alignment between you and your groom, allowing you to be on the same page. Guys haven’t been planning their wedding since they were four years old. They aren’t apt to understand what olive brand boutonnieres or what a naked wedding cake looks like. Communicate to them visually.
4. This is also a great tool to give your bridesmaids and families so they can understand the ‘feel’ of your big day. This is especially true when your have bridesmaids or parents in different states or across the country.

Here is a peek at our overall wedding theme board:

Let’s dive into the five key details to include in your theme board in order to nail your wedding style.

ONE // PRIMARY AND ACCENT COLORS
Probably the #1 question a bride get asked [other than when’s the date!] is, “What your wedding color?”. Mine was hard to answer since we didn’t have a color. Typically this answer comes from your bridesmaids dress hue and my girls were dressed in Adrianna Papell neutral taupe floor length gowns that were beaded from head to toe. While we didn’t really have one specific color, we definitely had a color theme made up of primary and accent colors.

I laid our color scheme before making any decor, formal wear or accessory decisions. Our colors were primarily white/ivory with accents of taupe, gold, and floral greenery. This REALLY helped S and I make decisions SUPER fast through the twelve months of planning. We also had confidence that, by sticking to this color scheme, each room [ceremony, cocktail hour, reception] would look aligned and an cohesive.

For example, when we started designing the Grand Ballroom for our reception, we started with the base of linens, chairs, vases and chargers. These four elements are the receptions main focus.

Even though we had hundreds of linen colors to choose from, we ended up weighing between ivory or a a crisp white and ultimately decided on the latter since we wanted a modern feel. While blush or navy would have been pretty, it wouldn’t have tied into a cohesive theme. We then decided on gold chiavari chairs, gold chargers and gold vases which were all easy decisions since our #1 complimentary color was gold.

Ultimately having your primary and accent colors decided on before making any stationary, decor, floral or formalwear decisions will help nail a cohesive feel for your big day and create less indecisiveness through planning.

TWO // VIBES
The marketer in me knew I needed to add in some description words to lay down the feel for our big day. While this may not be needed for everyone, it helps communicate that type of event and all things that go along with that (attire, accessories etc) which really helps your bridal parties.

While S and I didn’t want black tie, we were getting married in a large gorgeous Cathedral followed by our reception in a Grand Ballroom so the surrounding which called for a formal affair and was what I’d always dreamed of. To get the vibes across, I threw in some description words like romantic, elegant and whimsical. S got a kick out of this part. I’d say if you’re having an outdoor wedding at a barn venue you could use words like rustic, country or casual chic.

THREE // FLORAL FEELS
I’m bias because florals were my favorite part of our decor! I do feel like they really tie in your vibe and bring a self of life to your theme board. Our wedding day was going to be a modern twist on classic traditions and the florals were a huge part of the ‘modern’ accents. Instead of tight traditional bouquet with traditional roses, my florist and I came up with a mix of romantic greenery comprised of Italian ruscus, olive branches & silver dollar eucalyptus with white garden roses, ranunculus & veronicas.

We had a mix of tall and short table arrangements and a long garland on the head table for dimension. Our florist was so sweet and understood our vision from the get-go. Our wedding day was going to be a modern twist on classic traditions and the florals were a huge part of the ‘modern’ accents. We opted for

FOUR // FORMALWEAR
To set the scene early on for your bridal parties, share an idea of what they may be wearing! Do you already know your event is at a barn and more casual and leaning towards short dresses? Are the guys more than likely going to be in suspenders and slacks? You can allude to the formality or casualness for your day through this board.

FIVE // DECOR TOUCHES
Another great pice to include are touches of decor ideas. Maybe you looking to bring in a cozy feel with candle lit lanterns for your rustic wedding or are looking to have pops of Italy with olive branches, figs and wine corks. IF you know some of the little details, add them!

To bring the touch of modern to our decor, we staggered gold terrariums, geometric vases and marble escort cards.

I hope this is blog post helps you nail your wedding style and curate an awesome wedding theme board! Xo Mindy

*main image was found via Pinterest