How to plan for a Vintage Wedding
Published by Becca Jordan Design
Posted on October 15, 2015
Following on from Wednesday’s quiz designed to help you find out which wedding style best represents you, we thought it fitting to assist you in actually planning one, after all wedding planning is what we do.
Now you know the real ‘you’ behind the story, you can start off on the journey to planning what you will look back on as one of the best days of your life. We know from asking you the questions we often ask our clients, that you are a hopeless romantic. Although not all the time, you enjoy the sentimental things and knowing this, we can begin to help you make sure that these show through your wedding day.
‘Vintage Weddings’ doesn’t necessarily mean making everything yourself, vintage describes a collection of lots of little things. Those details are what will make your day so special and unique to you. It is important to not get carried away with yourself. Be sure to sort the big important things first and once they are out of the way you can begin to get creative. We suggest following an order for planning, as it will help you to reach milestones along the way and keep you consistently excited.
Venue
The venue not only decides the date, but also allows you to work out the logistical side of the wedding such as transport and hotels in the local area, not just for you but also for your guests. Countryside barns with secretive outdoor spaces for those lucky enough to get the sun, are the perfect venue style for vintage. The barn at Soho Farmhouse can be beautifully designed & styled, creating both a rustic and chic finish to reach the perfect amount of ‘vintage’. Be careful with venues like the farmhouse barn to make sure the styling is not too bitty, otherwise it could look more jumble sale than vintage cute.
You may already have a large open garden or know a friend that does, in which case a Tee-pee marquee would create an exquisite vintage feel. With a garden you have no limitations with dates or how late you can go on for – unless you have grumpy neighbours – just make sure to require all the correct licensing. The space will then also be slightly more personal and you can use this to your advantage when moving on to the styling. With a garden marquee be careful not to get one that is too big – for a vintage feel you want everyone to be close together and create an aura of cosy gathering.
Stationery
The initial design of the stationery is very important as you will want to carry this style all the way to the wedding day, including your on the day table stationery. Save the Dates are often the most fun part of stationery to experiment with. As soon as the venue/date is secured, the save the dates can be sent straight out and the more creative you get, the more excited you will make your guests in the run up to the big day.
The colour scheme for your stationery should also match with the colour scheme for the wedding. If you think you may go for a barn wedding, stick to brown card invitations printed with a unique font, luggage tags stamped full of information, all tied up with string. This works perfectly with the indoor-outdoor rustic, vintage barn theme. One of our grooms owned more flowery shirts than his bride to be did shoes and so perhaps use something as personal as this and incorporate it into your stationery. Floral postal stamps and envelope inners add the perfect touch and these subtle details can be picked up on the day too.
Flowers
For vintage floral, don’t overdo the size or amount of displays across the venue. For a barn wedding, have two milk churns full of open displays including light, airy freshly picked flowers such as gypsophilia, ranunculus and stocks to add a hit of peach. Little bottles dispersed randomly throughout the space works perfectly for that rustic feel.
Make sure the floral bouquets are elegantly sized, with nothing too big and keeping to a pastel colour scheme. Colours such as mint, peach, gold and white are beautifully subtle and will pair well will rustic wooden floors and beams within a barn. They would also fit in with a garden themed marquee wedding, the mint picking up on subtle textures of green within the surrounding location.
The Little Bits
The personal detailed touches are what make a vintage wedding vintage. These could be shown through the table plan, which could perhaps become part of the floral display with an array of hanging flowers holding guest’s names and table location at the entrance to the space.
Wedding favours are also becoming increasingly popular and something creative and personal is often more appreciated than something irrelevant to the wedding styling and design. If you are avid sweet eaters, then a pesonalised bag of your favourites could be doubled up as both as favour and as a dessert station. As nice as it is to give your guests a favour, it is also nice to receive something from your guests. Taking from your stationery theming, place jars full of tags on the centre of each table and ask your guests to provide you with date ideas. This will also give you something to keep from the day and remember just how special everything was.
Planning a wedding is by no means easy, and to create the perfect day it takes lots of hard work. Be sure to create a beautiful journey throughout the day and keep consistency throughout your styling and you will have a day to remember for a lifetime.
Keep an eye out on the blog, as over the next few days we will help you with how to start the planning process for both traditional and contemporary weddings, following the results created by our quiz inspired by stylist.
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Interior Designer & Stylist
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