1. Embrace Color
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Photo Credit: iboy_daniel
Everyone loves a splash of color and no better way to use color at wedding than by clearly dividing your space. Approach designing a wedding as if you were designing rooms in a home. From the ceremony to cocktails to dinner to the after-party, each space has its own personal identity, so no two rooms need to have the same colors, same linens and same flowers.
Instead, put together extraordinary and unexpected color combinations… be daring! Here are some palettes to ponder:
- Turquoise with Amparo Blue (a bright, energetic blue) and a shot of Orange
- Coral paired with a Aurora Yellow and Dover Silver
- Honeysuckle (Pantone’s Color of the Year) with fuchsia and purples
- A pale, cool palette of Violet, Lavender and Deeper Hues of Purple, paired with vibrant Gold accessories
- Turquoise with Copper and a splash of Seafoam Mint and Spray Whites
Photo courtesy of Branch Out Floral Design and Napa Valley Linens
Reinvent the color wheel and glam it up!
2. Sensational Ceremonies
Not all couples marry in a house of worship, so there are ways to make the ceremony aisle unique and personal other than the traditional church pews for seating. You can create seating in the “round” or “square” with the wedding couple and officiant in the center.
Photo: Kevin Chin
There are so many options in various colors and sizes of chairs, cushions, chair caps and liners to chose from. Create an aisle border with all lemons as we did for our Citrus theme wedding or use another fruit or vegetable. For a beach theme wedding, use benches with cushions. If you have a lush lawn, my most favorite is the spiral circle of ottomans…
Photo: Kevin Chin
Oh so zen!
3. Sweet Dreams
Cutting the wedding cake will always remain a nuptial tradition, but other imaginative ways abound for giving guests their just desserts. Melons Catering creates a fabulous “All Things Chocolate Station” which includes every imaginable form of chocolate – ice cream, truffles, mousse parfait, hot chocolate shots, macaroons, paired with dark chocolate martinis – even the tabletop surface is made of chocolate!
Photo: Grace Image
At a wedding we designed that was catered by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering, I felt like there was so much food throughout the wedding. Instead of serving all hors d’oeuvres at cocktails and all the dessert at a dessert buffet, I suggested we butler-pass “Good Night Treats”, memorable parting edible eats to guests as they exited the wedding and waited for their valet cars. Everyone loved the idea, so we severed miniature burgers on slider rolls with balsamic onions, ketchup and mustard (originally on the cocktail menu), and waffle ice cream cones filled with raspberry sorbet, rich chocolate gelato and vanilla bean ice cream. Bottled waters to go were placed in each car by the valet parking attendants.
Overall, you can be sure that imaginative new ideas will continue to make wedding celebrations fascinating and joyful in 2011.