Decor/defining your Vision

I was actually looking for a gift for my Grandma for her garden and I came across these gorgeous lanterns. I immediately showed my fiance and we both agreed that we would love them to be our centerpieces. From there we just sort of looked at what would match them and ended up having a nice romantic garden type of feel which went really well with our venue which felt very homey.

Everyone else I know says that they started with their venue then their centerpieces and that really helps to narrow it down.

We are embracing the feel of our venue in our decor. We are having ours at an Italian restaurant, and the space has exposed wooden beams, existing twinkly lights, and a really rustic Italian feel. So we are running with that. Our decor is greenery, some soft cream flowers on our gold arbour with white fabric draping. Our colours are gold, cream, and a plum/eggplant purple.

We just kind of let it grow organically, our vision. We are a month away from our wedding, and we've decided to throw in some cute Lord of the Rings quirky bits to just give it a more individual feel. We didn't stress about our decor, because, honestly, I'm just excited to marry a man who celebrates me for being me every single day.

I looked through a lot of pictures online (mainly pinterest) and kind of based my "theme" on my favourites. I really wanted something really simple and when I think simple I think rustic. We picked an amazing venue so we could keep the decor very basic. I still don't really know how to describe it.

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Ooo I like that even more haha

Mine was easy. We are getting married in between Christmas and New Years. So we went with the Christmasy/party/winter theme.

I went with a dark purple and silver/glitter so it’s a little different then a traditional Christmas theme.

View quoted message Thankyou! They look really dark with the lighting but they’re actually navy ☺️

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That's a great idea - actually similar to how I decided on a venue in the first place, through using photography blogs. I'll definitely do the same, but pay attention to the decor now too. Cheers

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Wow that looks beautiful!! Thanks for sharing I love the black table cloths mixed with the gold and light from the candles. Looks really nice!

I looked at a lot photos of previous weddings at the venue we chose and I collected images of elements I felt represented our style (i.e. the lighting in one photo, but the centerpieces in another, the chairs from this one, etc.). If you've already chosen a venue, I'd suggest doing something similar because it's easy to say you love a certain style, look, centerpiece, etc., but you may change your mind once you see it in your venue.

For narrowing down specific ideas, there were just certain things I kept gravitating towards and wouldn't let go of! After months of planning, deliberating, sorting through wedding blogs, instagram, etc., I just got sick of browsing and went with my gut.

View quoted message That's not too bad they're beautiful!!!

View quoted message Thankyou! I got them from this shop off of Etsy, roughly 170$ with shipping for 130 of them! Expensive for paper foils but they added the touch that I needed and I adore them!

View quoted message Where did you get those gold mats for under the napkins/cutlery I absolutely love them!!!

I did a lot of pinteresting and then set a table up in my basement! I think I was happiest with the guest tables but that was my main focus

You've found the feel you're going for, which is a great start!

Pinterest helped me with specifics as I had an idea in my head of what elements I wanted at my wedding, and the colours my fiancé and I intended to use.

Sometimes the best way to start is to consider what you don't want at your wedding! For example, I knew I didn't want our reception to have a banquet hall feeling with the typical white-linen covered chairs and coloured lighting, which caused me to look into the different types of chairs available for rent (and to avoid banquet halls when looking for a wedding venue).

If that doesn't help, look through bridal websites that contain pictures from "real weddings" to get inspiration; you can choose what stands out to you, and later sort through which images could mesh well together before discarding the ones that don't have a similar style.

Pinterest has been a great invention to help with wedding ideas...but i also think it has caused many issues as well! I have seen many brides try to mix and match too many ideas and can look cluttered or overwhelming.

I love your initial thoughts with the candles and vintage! Try to find a small handful of inspirational images that you like and go from there. Floating candles are always a great way to add a romantic vibe.

I also am using a decorator, who understands by vision and is helping me execute the look that i want. If you do plan on using a decorator, find someone who understands your vision and is able to make it happen!

It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you want, you don't necessarily need a title for what you want as long as you have a vision. Pinterest was definitely super helpful, I saved everything i liked then went and picked my favourites to help visualize. I also found going shopping helped in finding things I liked and didn't like, I went to winners and pier one for some inspiration.

I let the venue do much of the deciding. We are getting married at a winery that has beautiful wood beams and stone floors. P interest helped a lot and then i bounce ideas off of my fiance and friends. I think putting a name on your theme isn't always the easiest and doesn't always fit. I went with my gut and asked other peoples opinions when in doubt!

You have a theme and colours set based on your vision. Its all chosen by you and how you look at the day in whole.

I chose modern yet vibrant colours as the concept. Modern referring to black and white with touch of red. Vibrant colours plays in the reception centerpieces of indian culture. Waterbeads with LED lights gave that look for simplicity.

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I opened a discussion today to show off my decor. That can give you an idea of how it sort of all fits together for my wedding?

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Thank you! You're totally right, I was just pinning things like crazy to one general wedding board and then getting overwhelmed. I split it up into categories and that has been really helpful

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Thanks - it helps to break it down by each section that will require decor, and then think about what could tie them all together

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That sounds beautiful I love gold accents - that I know for sure!

My finance and I both like Eiffel Towers so I decided to go with a French Theme, I am also a Disney Fan - so I added some Beauty and the Beast, items as well. The colors I chose were black and gold and Red Roses. So far it is coming together.......

My venue has really been the source of me picking my "theme". It's very clean, white, woody (hard-wood floors with no carpet ), and a little modern. I always found myself liking rustic décor items on Pinterest but I don't want a rustic wedding, so my theme became modern with rustic accents.

I recommend using Pinterest to narrow down your interests and preferences, and from there, you might come across ideas that you never have thought of before. I am still not sure what I want to be exact, so the wedding planner recommended me to do this. Now I have a better idea and what they did was take what I have pinned into my folders and created an inspiration board. From it, I will have a better view and feeling of how it will all come together.

I've had a "vision" for a loooong time so it was easy for us to decide! We're going with a starry night/galaxy theme with looks of rich dark colours and twinkle lights and gold accents!

Much more modern than the usual themes but we love it!

Honestly, I went Pinterest nuts.... saved everything I liked... then went back and thought, okay, what is the overall theme here? And I cut away things that didn't fit, and I was left with a glitzy/elegant yet rustic West Coast vibe...

Putting your inspiration visuals in one area (or multiple boards, I have dresses, cakes, general wedding and bridal party on different boards), it will help you see what colours, textures, looks that are reoccuring, and you will definitely have a good base to make your decisions regarding the decor you go with!

I think you do have an overall vision with the feelings you described, that's how I approaced my overall wants for the day.

What I then did was thought about my venue, its gorgeous and doesn't need a lot of decor.

From there I thought about each main element:

- Centerpieces

- Did I want to do something different for the head table?

- How did I want our alter to look

- Welcome guests to wedding

- Guest table (so seating chart, card box and guest book)

That's pretty much all I did!

That sounds very similar to my own wedding. Great choice! I am still on the way to narrowing ideas down. My advice would be to pick one key element for the reception you want to be the focal (centrepieces, walls, maybe a fireplace or cake or dessert bar, head table, etc) and then start to build your decor around that.
We have a heritage building that has that old world 1930s look and feel so I want to play off of that. I want to let the building speak for itself with just a few larger decor peices and some small touches through the room to tie it all together. I’ll keep other things simple with lots of soft lighting around the room and in the centrepieces.

Our palette started with us serendipitously finding purple varnish clams on the beach during a vacation to BC and both digging and agreeing to shades of purples browns and creams.

After that I did a few fun “what’s your design style” quizes by myself and with my FH.

Now I’m all about (read “obsessed with”) Pinterest.

I have a private board (that only a few ppl gave access to) and categories for various various elements of the celebration, and our planner and I collaborate on a board as well to share and comment on ideas. We’re fortunate to have design/decor included in her fee.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process so far and look forward to seeing/experiencing the final result.

What you’ve described sounds lovely. If you go the Pinterest route - enjoy! Try to stay organized so you’re not overwhelmed by all of the options.

I think you've nailed your vision down with romantic and vintage.

To help narrow down the little things, I chose the colours and a theme (so maybe yours is romantic or vintage) and looked at each piece that way. My theme was travel, so I had a better idea of things I was going to look at (globes, maps, suitcases etc..). If you Pinterest "romantic centrepieces" or use your colours "red and white" (whatever your colours are). It may give you a little inspiration to see what pieces others have used.

For me and my FH we put aside the fact that most people want a theme or style. I love the colour purple. He loves the colour blue. From there we looked up swatches that look good together and added a couple more accent colours (so it won't look like a peacock!). Pick colours that you and your Fiance like and start there as to not get overwhelmed. After that - you should be looking at what those colours look good as. If you were to say love gold and red - elegance looks great! If you go with red and orange - rustic suits those colours. At the end of the day they just have to scream YOU and not necessarily a theme.