The Do’s and Don’ts of Wedding Design

Photo: Jason Smelser Photography | Venue + Catering: The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa | Cake: Susie’s Cakes | Florals + Décor: Plants N’ Petals | Registry: Bering’s

From the Archives

DO work with your venue style, not against it

Your wedding design team will guide you on how to do this effectively, both in terms of aesthetics and cost. But you can start by choosing a wedding venue that will work with your theme, or the “feel” you want for your wedding. Dreaming of a lavish, flower-filled affair with hanging elements, overhead (”flown”) floral arrangements and tall centerpieces? Choose a venue with high enough ceilings to allow for decor intrigue, and plenty of space to accommodate towering table arrangements, so that guests can talk around them, and not through a huge explosion of flowers.

Hoping for something more low-key and rustic-chic, to match your boho-elegant vibe? Find a space with exposed brick or wood elements, lower ceilings and plenty of windows to let in natural light. Then let your designer enhance your space with box centerpieces, or a mix of high and low arrangements, along with plenty of candles, which can be lit once daylight gives way to night.

DON’T forget the side spaces.

Whatever venue you choose, don’t overlook oft-neglected areas like bars, cocktail tables, lounges and restrooms. You want your guests to feel both comfortable and delighted, pretty much everywhere they turn at your big event. So talk to your florist about creating smaller arrangements that echo your centerpieces, and place these on beverage stations, coffee tables, bar-high cocktail tables and restroom counters, accompanied by glowing votives and sweet signage, if you’d like.

DO have an understanding of what’s feasible for you.

If you’re like pretty much every single bride on the planet, you’ve saved at least a few inspo photos of wedding floral, decor and furnishing ideas you love. OK, so maybe you have 197 wedding-related Pinterest boards, in every design category, each with multiple themes and color schemes. Whether you’re obsessed with wedding design or willing to let your planner and decorator take the wheel almost entirely, it’s really important to understand what can be duplicated or created within your venue, budget, guest group size…and the bounds of human possibility.

Show your designer your photos, and make sure to tell him or her not just that you love this centerpiece, or that tablescape, or bouquet, but what you love about it. Your floral expert may point out that an overflowing 50-foot-long table runner made completely of fresh peonies A) doesn’t leave room for plates or glasses or anything that people actually need in order to eat and drink, and B) will cost a fortune (and feature blooms that are not at peak season) for your December wedding. If it’s the long, continuous floral and the bouquet table shape you love about the pic you shared, well…it may be entirely possible to fulfill your dream with an arrangement that’s more conducive to dining, and better suited to the surroundings and time of year. Your job is to voice your dream—your design team’s job is to bring it to life. And don’t forget: Demanding that a talented decorator duplicate an image can seriously compromise their creativity. Instead, use your images to share your tastes and then let them do their job: designing and creating something unique, just for you!

DON’T be afraid to ask for something special.

While it’s important to be realistic and practical with your wedding design, it’s also important to dream big and fulfill a few fantasies. This is your wedding after all—the most important, most memorable party of your life. You want it to be an extraordinary experience not just for you and your partner, but also for your parents, extended family and closest friends.

Got a soft spot for hummingbirds, or butterflies or seahorses? Ask your decorator to subtly incorporate these into your design scheme—perhaps through a linen pattern, a whimsical topiary, a “chandelier” or dance-floor decal. Crazy for antique shopping, retro fashion, or historic homes? Ask your designer to source antiqued frames and vessels, mercury glass, Edison bulbs and mixed-pattern china, and work with flowers in soft, sepia-tone shades. Want your entire reception room to change colors over the course of the evening? Chat with your wedding planner about bringing in a specialty lighting company that can wash your ballroom in any color, in any intensity you want, or transform it entirely into a forest of subtly curling leaves and vines, via custom wall projections.

Photo: Vintage Fine Art Photo | Stationery: Penny Paperie | Cake: Cakes by Gina

DO keep up with trending color palettes and design ideas…but DON’T be a slave to them.

We all want to know about trends, some of us want to follow them, and…heck, some of us want to set them. But more than anything, your wedding is a celebration of who you and your partner are as a couple—what you love, what you care about, what you want to express…not a demonstration of what’s trendy right now, in this moment (and destined to look dated 20 or 30 years down the road).

So go ahead, discover those emerging wedding design trends—in colors, themes, props, textures, furniture styles, decor accents—but rework and refine them for your wedding so that they reflect your personality. Your expert design staff, whether it’s an artisan florist with one talented assistant in tow, or an entire team of stylists, builders, arrangers and installers, will help you do this, and, if you’ve chosen wisely, surprise you with a celebration space that’s everything you’ve always dreamed, and so much more than you ever could have imagined.