The word trend should never be used when it comes to your wedding. Do you want to be trendy or timeless? Words like; elegant, stylish, original, inspiring, imaginative, unique, characteristic, and sometimes even traditional should be part of the message in your wedding vocabulary. Other words to capture your vision might be rustic-refined, woodsy-natural, shabby-chic, country-modern, BOHO-beauty, or romantic-revival – and there are so many other genres that will help you communicate your wedding’s persona to the professionals you retain to bring the vision to life.
Here are just a few steps to avoiding trends and improving tradition:
- Inspiration – find it in no more than a dozen photos – not the 222 you have pinned. From the dozen, select the one truest to your vision and your heart, and use it as a guide for all the decisions to follow. Share the most pertinent inspiration photos with your professionals – including your event planner, floral and décor, entertainment, lighting and photography. All will need to understand your personality and the character of your wedding in order to capture its essence.
The wedding vision for Kelly and Ron started with her love of all things pink and his love of the outdoors. Floral and décor elements featured blush and fuchsia roses, pink bouvardia and white hydrangea. Baked goods were made of raspberry mousse for a light pink touch and the Groom’s cake blended in to complete a sweet color scheme of the dessert table. The ceremony was outdoors and the reception continued in a glass building surrounded by verdant gardens and the soft tones of color in the fall leaves. As you can see by this photo montage, Kelly and Ron blended their vision to create a homage to their individual styles.
- Trendless, but Non-Traditional – Some couples choke when they hear the term “traditional wedding” others have lived for the day they will celebrate one. Avoiding trends does not make your wedding traditional. It makes it yours, not a reflection of every other wedding that has had a chocolate fountain, slideshow, photobooth, disco lighting, and so many others trendy elements that are pricey, overdone, and outdated. Choose non-traditional elements befitting your style and your wedding persona. For example, if you’ve envisioned a grand wedding with royal overtones – not Cinderella’s Castle – but your style is a little earthy, then find a venue that marries the two.
- It’s not what’s in Vogue that matters . . . Family and friend all want to see you in every inch, element and petal of your wedding. Your style is in vogue on the day of your wedding, so be bold and flaunt it! Just like this couple did. Their favorite things to do as a couple are woodworking, horse racing, Derby watching, and ketchup eating. Their wedding vision painted their love story . . .
Vintage horseshoes became escort cards, hand-made wooden horses adorned the entrance, Derby hats were distributed to guests for the outdoor cocktail hour, magnums of Champagne were everywhere, there was a ketchup station, ketchup vodka for signature drinks, ketchup chips and a Heinz 57 Groom’s cake. The wedding began with the signing of the engagement photo album filled with their love of horses and each other. It ended with the cutting of the cake pulled by a pair of golden stallions and surrounded by a vintage screen with hand-painted hunting scene owned by the Groom’s grandmother. From beginning to end there were hints and touches of the couple’s shared memories.
4. Last tip for today . . . take a trend and turn in upside down. If cake and coffee isn’t your thing, then celebrate with cookies and milk!
If a served meal is too traditional, then turn it into grazing stations and move about the dining room enjoying sushi stations, noodle buffets, carving boards, or pretzel and beer bars!
Or, make your favorite food dictate the station . . . apples, bourbon, cigars, craft beer, donut bars . . . mac-n-cheese, pickles, pies, PB&J stations . . . ziti, zinfandel, and zeppole tables, a grazing menu is only limited by your imagination!
So, use your imagination and enjoy the excitement of planning a wedding that avoids trends and highlights the things that make you a couple!
Send in your questions and concerns about any and all things wedding to info@stroudsmoor.com – we will respond with answers based on a 36-year career in event planning and the resources that making memories provides.
