How do you articulate the best day of your life? I’m sat here thinking whilst aiming to conjure up the beginning of this post. I’m not sure there is a definite way to write this. Our wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime rollercoaster day of feelings and experiences. Every detail and moment was not only emphasised because it was our big day but because we had just come out of a global pandemic and wanting to make memories with our loved ones just felt that bit greater.
I applaud those writers who can describe something so vividly that their readers are transported to an all-encompassing place. However, I’m going to do what I can do and, as unusual as this may seem, talk about our wedding from a brand designers perspective. Our wedding was not a brand design and we definitely didn’t treat it like a business! But you’d be surprised at how many conscious creative decisions related to my brand design process.
Being a brand designer, using my skills, techniques and processes helped me to plan my wedding and now I’m going to tell you how.
The dress
Let’s get straight to it and talking about one of the most thought-about elements of a wedding. THE DRESS. In the beginning, I was going all in, trying on dresses randomly and selecting what I thought I liked. I’m not the kind of girl who’s had her wedding planned since she was 12, so wedding dress hunting was like taking a shot in the dark. It was only when I started trying on the dresses that my ideas became more focused. Surprisingly the final choice came down to considering the whole vision of the wedding and not just my ideals. That was why it felt so right when I found the one and said yes to the dress.
A huge element that helped me make my decision, was that the dress reflected our venue choice. Embellished in a beautiful leaf lace pattern, it went perfectly with the picturesque woodland that became the surrounding for our big day.
Practicalities came into it too. Being an easy going person who loves a boogie on the dance floor I knew I needed to wear something that would allow me to move. Finding a dress that wasn’t too structured and enabled me to move throughout the day was essential.
Also, I wanted to find something that not only looked great aesthetically but also suited my personality. I found a dress that suited my body shape, and also fitted with my ethos and values as a person. I’ve never been a traditionalist so I wanted to make sure my dress had elements that encouraged a non-conforming attitude. The off-white colour choice was perfect for this.
The Bridesmaids’ Dresses
So from the process of choosing my wedding dress I discovered that looking at the bigger picture, considering practicalities, aesthetics and my personality all influenced that choice. But choosing dresses for my bridesmaids was a completely different experience.
I had a clear vision for my bridesmaids’ dresses early on. One thing I knew from the beginning was that I wanted my bridesmaids to wear different dresses. Despite this creating a lot more work to do, I’m so glad I did it. Each one of my bridesmaids is unique and wonderful in their own way and I wanted to celebrate that. A bespoke dress was chosen for each bridesmaid, by listening to them, their style and needs.
For colours, I had this gorgeous bold, intense and luxurious colour palette to play with. However, that soon got scrapped. The more I looked the more I realised we wanted a wedding that was easy going, romantic and gentle. Bold, strong colours just didn’t fit that vision. We were planning a summer wedding and we wanted it to feel airy and light, an event where our guests, especially the bridal party, could relax, celebrate and enjoy themselves.
Colour psychology and the seasons have become a massive part of my creative process as a brand designer, which then influenced my realisation for the bridesmaids’ dresses massively. I’m so glad it did because the pale pink and sage green colour palette we ended up going for felt so lovely and so right.
The Floral Designs
This is the section where I get to talk about our wonderful florist. Fiona at Daisy Works brought so much to this wedding, more than we imagined. What we love so much about Fiona was her mission to create beautiful eco-friendly floral designs. Every part of her process considered the impact she was making on the earth. This fitted perfectly with our personal values and our outdoor venue that was so connected to nature.
Her passion was contagious and her designs were beautiful. Her creativity was inspiring and one of my favourite elements of our table layout were the onion dyed silks that were used for the place names. An eco-friendly way to create a beautiful detail. Originally we were looking at using synthetic material for the arch, top table and table runners but Fiona suggested we use cloth made from natural fibres, that were again dyed with natural materials. We loved these suggestions because the textures and colours felt so soft and connected to nature and fitted in perfectly with our woodland wedding.
Fiona came to visit our venue before the big day and was inspired by the dramatic birch trees that surrounded the glade. So when I ask if we could have foliage draped over certain areas the obvious choice was to stay inkeeping with the venue and use birch. Luckily she had her own supply and again we loved how it tied everything together.
We told Fiona that we wanted the floral designs for the wedding to feel fun, wild, relaxed, romantic and soft, nothing too serious. To quote it had to have a ‘Just-been-picked-out-of-a-wildflower-meadow-feel’. I know how much work Fiona put into this simple-sounding brief. This emphasises and reminds us that a lot of work goes into making something look so simple and beautiful.
The Photographer
So you’ve seen already how much of an impact our venue choice had on the rest of wedding planning. Little did we know that our photographer was going to have a huge impact too. Emma at Emma McNair Photography felt like the photographer for us from the moment we met her. A friendly, relaxed yet professional approach was what we needed.
Aesthetically Emma’s photography has a lot of contrast and depth. Since receiving our photos we have loved the dark and the light in the pictures. The photos make a strong impact with colour and light. The bold contrast in the photos reflects all the ups and downs of life. Emma describes herself as a documentary photographer and I believe she managed to achieve just that. Not only with what she captured but how she captured it. A lot of people have mentioned how our photos feel like a fairytale. And I agree. Just like fairytales have darkness and lightness, so do we, and I love how that is creatively represented in our photos.
Wedding’s can come with a lot of preconceptions, so bringing in authenticity wherever possible was important to us. We loved having Emma as our photographer because of the relaxed documentary style of her work. She managed to capture unexpected moments so easily, not caring if they didn’t look “perfect”.That included having our couples photoshoot barefoot and running around in the woods. It was true to us so why not!
Final Thoughts
I can’t take credit for the whole of our wedding, I did not plan it all myself. Thankfully Bobbie did a very good chunk of the work and my wonderful Mum and Bobbie’s parents also helped us along the way. Thanks Mum for helping me choose the dress and for the homemade oven-baked confetti. Thank you Bob and Jane for sorting out the toilet situation so last minute! Thank you to my Bridemaids for not only looking gorgeous but for being so supportive throughout the whole process in your unique ways. Thank you to the Best Men for taking on all the random jobs we threw at you, supporting Bobbie and making our dream wedding a reality.
Also I need to say, I’m not here to brag about our wedding. I’m here to reflect on what was a beautiful day and maybe shed some insight on how we planned it from a designers perspective. It’s also important to remember nothings perfect. And our wedding was perfectly unperfect, suiting us and our personalities.
It’s strange to witness the similarities between planning a wedding and creating a brand design. As a brand designer I like to say “create your unique wonderful world” and that was exactly what we did for this particular day.
Some other points I’ve mentioned that overlap between the two worlds include: practicalities, making choices based on ethos and values, colours and seasonal personalities, how it takes a lot of work to make something so beautifully simple and being authentic.
Our wedding wasn’t a brand, but as a designer, I couldn’t help but take advantage of those creative tools. I hope you’ve found this post interesting, and maybe it might help you with your planning.
If do like it, say hello on Instagram! Tell which point you found most useful!
Catch up soon! x
Photography by Emma McNair Photography
Florals by Daisy Works
Venue Sherwood Glade
Dress from The Bridal Suite
Hair and Makeup by Monica Montalvo
Drinks by Bob Ratcliffe
Food By Tarboush
Pizza by San Carlo
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