PLANNING A WEDDING CONCEPT
Updated: Jun 20, 2021
Moving to the next stage of the wedding planning guide which would ultimately make your celebration unique and personalised – is a wedding concept.
Elaborated wedding concept is still barely recognised and widely misunderstood as wedding style & decoration in Malaysia when planning a wedding. Meanwhile, it has been worldwide proven by wedding professionals to be the key factor of WOW and one kind of celebration.
The wedding concept is first and foremost a genuine reflection of a bridal couple, their characters, love story, lifestyle, personal experience, preferences and favouring. It’s a unity of the wedding components where nothing is knocking out of the preferred idea frame and all elements are seamlessly blending one with another.
“Search for concept starting from YOURSELF. Meaning: refer to your love story, personal experience, your preferences and favouring. Your wedding will be truly personalised, not appealing to any other couple, but TO YOU and ONLY YOU” Midsummer Events
Creating key concept and translating it through all wedding details:
invitations
bridal and groom’s look
photo session
style & décor
wedding day itinerary and scenario
venue
menu
show
cake
the most important wed aspects and yet most mere way making wedding coherent.
But how to create or define your wedding concept? That’s not always an easy task but definitely a breath-taking adventure. Must remember that it is paramount to choose a concept prior to choosing details and never verse-versa! Do not try creating a concept of default details. It is out of common sense to choose an authentic Asian cuisine restaurant and try to fit in courtyard rustic style in it.
Instead, follow our step by step wedding concept guide:
1. Consider wedding format
The wedding format is mainly to understand the scale and the setup of the celebration. That can be one or multiple days wholesome wedding, intimate wedding or classic large ceremony and reception, elopement for two or casual interpretation through informal buffet or party-like occasion with closest family and friends. Any of the formats would predetermine further the wedding planning process.
2. Consider wedding idea – a portrait of yours
The idea - an authentic content of the wedding celebration which is primarily retrieved from couple’s character, personality and individual nature. The idea is fundamental for the wedding concept and must speak only about the couple. He is an adventurous and life of the party-loving hang out in shisha bar and grasping for Australia for holidays; she is a romantic at heart normally seduced by a new brand shoe collection who dreams to have a big family and one cat and one dog. These key characteristics are start points for your personal idea design but not extraneous packaged offers.
To make it easier for you here is the endmost list of questions you may ask yourself to brainstorm your couple nature which would form the basis of your wedding concept idea.
3. Considering wedding style
We are getting closer to the decoration and styling but still not right there yet.
Yes, the wedding style is in a way a visual representation of the wedding concept but not only. The definition is style is broader than just design and decoration.
Wedding style covers all from the overall atmosphere to the smallest details that personalise the celebration and leave a special experience for the couple and guests.
Today “style” is closer to stylish meaning aesthetically complete and meaningful. Many claim the number styles which have already become obsolete and lost their relevance as we move to create unique wedding style ideas.
So remember that wedding theme like Province, retro, Bollywood, shabby chic, rustic, Gatsby and similar were good that is gone.
Nowadays, wedding stylists base only on neutral and very general definitions of styles which are:
TRENDING WEDDING STYLES
Classic – official manner and traditions, very solemn atmosphere, calm palette in light tint, live music for the ceremony and fluffy bridal gown and black-tie for guests. It’s a timeless classic movie wedding. Suits for different age guest.
Urban – a youth and informal style for couples living in a big city rhythm; a better location for this kind of wedding are lofts or venues in modern style; the colour palette would be bold or contrasting with, often dark and moody tones. The bridal is often very brave – mini, jumpsuit, crop-top or shiny fabrics. Décor plays a special role and underlined with minimalism, geometric and linear, a few contrasting colours in the palette.
Modern elegance – a new interpretation of classic; this style declines fancifulness, bright details, a glut of decoration. Modern elegance is gravitating to minimalism, delicate details, discreet palette in soft and neutral colours. A perfect venue could be an ancient chateau, country villa or restaurant with subtle interior in light hues. The bridal look is a modern cut, light and flowing dress in beige or ivory tones, the groom may opt for a light-colour suit. The distinctive elements are calligraphy, tall candles, graceful table setting, calm and intimate dinner atmosphere, handmade accessories…
Boho/Moho – a spirit of freedom! The foundation of the style is bright colours and exotic floristry, a lot of ethnic motives, feathers, tapestry and rugs, tinted glass. The main condition for the wedding – outdoor location. Ceremony settings are simple lines and natural materials, decoration goes to a more chaotic aesthetic when you mix flowers, grasses, garlands, dream catchers and macramé. The bridal gown should be bohemian style, very simple cut, no corsage or off your movements. Long sleeves, embroidery, fridge, beige and latte hues. Freestyle of hair-do with light curls or braids and weave.
Romance – this wedding setting features tender and airy décor, ceremony drawn in flowers, the colour palette in blush and soft blue tones, flying bridal dress and fairy tale atmosphere. The best location is an out-of-city resort or lush courtyard or garden. Grand blooms or flowers just plucked a-like would suit best for styling. The style may vary from more restrained English with a prevalence of elegance and simplicity to more lavish French interpretation at opulent arrangements and statements with a slight fuzz in styling.
Cosy & comfort – it’s a family celebration, homely and warm feel, intimate dinner with closest and dearest ones steering away from formality, solemn and pathos. Think of a relaxed and calm surrounding. Alfresco cottage or small private café with casual standing buffet and guests interactive would be the right choice. This is a celebration where each one knows the other and darling pets are welcomed to the ceremony. This style is a manifestation of comfort, hence you may easily skip a strict dress code for guests and a couple’s look allows act freely and feel yourself. The decoration is required light garlands and candles. Although, don’t overdo with activities but rather prioritise really delicious food and long sweet talks over the table.
ECO & Organic – the main idea is a demonstration of the entire unit with nature and evolve the harmony. The base of styling natural elements, a lot of greenery and live plants, outdoor location, simple forms, organic materials: wood, bamboo, rattan and jute, cane, stones, clay and ceramic. The Colour palette would certainly seek natural, botanical and muted tones: green is a moss, grass, leaves hues; all-sky tones in grey-blue hues; also brownish and beige colours – stones, branches, soil, wood hues. The ceremony can be arranged on a forest lawn, on mountains or lakeside.
You do not have to be forced or limited by the aforementioned styles as you can create your own style just by analysing your likes and preferences and prioritising your personal story and vision of your wedding day. Dream on and almost any idea can be fulfilled. The most important is to translate your ideas in a relevant, tasteful and non-ordinary way.
4. Considering guests’ impression
If you have a large number of guests wedding, you have to care for the guest experience and make everyone feel special, treated, welcomed and cared for. Some add on to your wedding format and style would be the understanding of how you would like your guests to feel at your wedding.
What atmosphere do you want to create for them?
What do you want then remember and say after your wedding?
What would you like them to recall about the day many years later?
Answering these questions you will probably finally envision sharply your wedding celebration concept.
5. Creating an inspirational mood board
The final step is to recap your vision and ideas by words and visuals. We are going to creating a mood board.
A wedding mood board is a visual presentation of the wedding overall mood/atmosphere, concept (think story/idea & style) and palette.
You have probably heard many times about wedding mood board but most likely find it a bit difficult to stay away from collecting a number of references and finding it hard to sort out the right one. Do not underestimate the value of a mood board as a properly designed and brushed one is a universal tool to communicate your vision and drive your wedding stylist creativity in order to design your unique wedding concept.
I use Pinterest to collect the ideas of styling, ceremony, bridal dress and accessories, bridal and groom looks, floristry as wedding arrangements and bridal bouquets and reception menu items. Besides quite direct references, I also source a lot of design and styling references from the neighbouring industries like design, graphic, fashion and art.
You can find my easy instruction on how to create a wedding inspiration board here.
The main rules of creating a wedding mood board:
Keep it organised: split all references to relevant (dress, menu, ceremony, reception etc) groups;
Narrow it to a maximum of 20 images – yes, you have to do your clean up;
Do not keep doubling references, leave only one. For example, you like both ceremony arches just only the second one has more pretty pink roses. Choose the arch that you like most and better attach a certain rose flower if it’s that important to be used in an arrangement.
Try to mix wedding references with details and objects from other spheres but that might be inspiring you. For example, you love an interior of a certain brand boutique – just add it to the board. You never know your designer may get a flash of inspiration of that and offer to add some details to your wedding setting. So search everywhere!
Stay relevant and abreast. Google search result giving you the most viewed results in top which actually gained with time and they are definitely not something modern or trendy or even fresh. The same happens with Pinterest which may give you the most liked pins through the ages and they are not something actual for nowadays. As more complex and unique search request you do as more interesting results, you may get. Or ask your wedding planner where to find the most updated inspirations.
Top questions to reveal your wedding style
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