Planning a wedding takes time, thought and effort. Here’s how to plan the best day ever and make it completely your style.
Think About the Big Picture
Don’t start with the details – although if you have certain details in mind, they can certainly inform the bigger picture. Stick with a general idea of what you want your event to feel like. Are you hoping for a big, all-inclusive bash? Or is an intimate event where you can have personal conversations with every attendee more your thing?
Decide What Matters Most
This admittedly has something to do with your budget. Most couples will ultimately have to develop their own wedding day and budget balancing act, but knowing what your day-of priorities are will help. Is food your focus? Or are you more into really great photos?
Settle on a Season
This may be pretty self-explanatory, but the season of your event will have a big impact on its style. It’s tough to plan an outdoor wedding on a snowy January day in Minnesota, for example. Choose a season that feels most like the wedding day you want to have and go from there.
Save Inspiration
Whether you’re all about Pinterest or more into our exclusively wedding-centered Ideas section, it’s important to save the ideas you like. You don’t have to go overboard with images while you’re planning a wedding (Pinterest overwhelm is real), but being able to show your florist a photo of the kind of bouquet you want, or which flowers you like best, is going to make planning so much simpler.
Figure Out Your Formality
Is your preferred celebration all about black ties and glammed up décor? Cowboy boots and extra lace? Beachy dresses and sandy feet? The level of formality that accompanies your event is a big style-changer. A super formal event where all the guests are dressed to the nines will feel totally different from a laid-back celebration where blue jeans are welcome.
Choose Your Words
This is less about advice and more about an exercise. Do some thinking, big picture-ing and brainstorming and come up with three words to describe your ideal wedding day. Then, use them as your guidelines for every décor decision. Modern, rustic, summery, fresh, trendy, classic…the options go on and on.
Pick a Palette
We’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t have to have a specific color palette. But, much like choosing three guiding words, picking a palette will give your décor direction and make it feel cohesive. Aim for three complementary colors, but feel free to add a few additional hues if necessary.
Focus on the Details
But we were just talking about big pictures! Right? It’s true – but now that you have the main idea down, your details are what will really bring your chosen style to life. Whether that’s personalized escort cards or your favorite signature drinks, the smallest additions can make the biggest impact for your guests.
Think About Your Theme
Like a color palette, a theme isn’t essential for pulling of the perfect wedding. But it can definitely help define the one you’re planning. Rustic, vintage, modern and whimsical are all popular themes for celebrations.
Make a First Impression
Just as important as pulling together all the details that define your wedding style is how you go about sharing them with your guests. Picking the right save the date, wedding invitations and wedding website is a perfect way to make just the first impression you’re hoping for.
Have you picked a free wedding website theme to match your wedding yet? Find dozens of ideas right here.
