Decorating and Styling your Wedding Venue

One of my favourite parts of the job is coming up with style and design ideas for my client’s wedding days. I love the challenge of taking a space and totally transforming it to reflect their vision, taking inspiration from fashion, music and interiors to name a few.

I recently had my top ten tips on decorating a wedding venue published online at Wedding Ideas – to see the full article click here – however if you missed it, here is a round-up below.

1. Research
It’s tempting to jump in with both feet and buy every little thing that you see straight away, but try not to. Do your research and really consider the look and feel that you are hoping to achieve. Look at wedding and lifestyle magazines, blogs and pinterest to get inspiration and then create a scrapbook or mood board of your finds. Don’t limit yourself to objects but also consider colours and textures. You’ll gradually start to unravel your tastes and your wedding day style.

Winter wedding inspiration

2. Budget
Set yourself a styling budget and then stick to it. It is very easy to get carried away and want to buy and have everything that you see. However often these items will only be used on your wedding day and then you’ll find you have no use for them afterwards. Consider hiring items such as vases, hurricane lanterns and tableware to cut down on costs and also look at websites such as preloved, which acts as a marketplace to buy and sell wedding items which you no longer require.

3. Colours
Work out your colour scheme and then look to incorporate these into your styling. This will help to create a seamless look and finish – from table linens through to flowers – bringing the design to life. You could even consider introducing an accent colour to lift your colour scheme and to complement the look and feel.

Example colour palette

4. Features
Depending on the type of venue you have chosen, consider ways in which you can make use of any existing features to create a design focal point. Perhaps there is a large fireplace or floor to ceiling windows which can be accentuated, or maybe you decide to make use of the poles in your marquee or the tall ceiling heights.

Feature fireplace

5. Flowers
It is amazing what flowers can do to lift a space. Impactful flowers aren’t limited to large floral centrepieces – consider floral archways, floral chandeliers or a large standout display in a prominent location to totally transform your space.

Upside down tulips

6. Blank Canvas
Blank canvases are a stylist’s dream as you can literally make them what you want – however they can also prove to be costly. To keep costs down, think about adding a couple of key elements to transform the space such as draping, modular furniture and lighting which will all add to the look and feel.

7. Lighting
Don’t underestimate the benefits of ambient lighting. Strategically placed up-lighters to frame a floral display or to highlight a feature can transform a venue in an instant. Consider having different lighting in different rooms to separate and distinguish the different spaces – perhaps opt for ceiling washes or coloured up-lighters to create different ambiences in the different spaces.

Mood lighting

8. Walls
You might think that vertical structures aren’t particularly interesting – but use them. Blank walls provide the perfect backdrop to prop up large mirrors or a photomontage, or they can be used to display large paper flowers or butterflies. These small details turn an otherwise plain backdrop into something more interesting and personal.

Floral feature wall

9. Ceilings
Don’t forget what’s above you. While it is tempting to focus on what is at eye level and below, it is amazing what you can do with ceilings and wooden beams when it comes to styling your wedding venue. From hanging vases or teacups, to upside down umbrellas, paper pompoms, bunting and lights…there is so much scope – just make sure that it is all securely fastened!

Hanging ceiling stars

10. Simplicity
Less is more and this is almost always the case when it comes to venue styling. Rather than trying to re-create everything that you see in magazines and blogs, select three key design elements and do these and do them well. A well executed idea is much better received than two or three ideas which have not been thought-through, so stick to your guns and focus on a few ideas which you absolutely love and which reflect the style and design you want your wedding to be remembered for.

Simple and stunning

Credits
Feature fireplace: Sarah K CHen via SMP
Upside down tulips: Our Labor of Love via SMP via Beyond Beyond
Mood lighting: Just Bespoke
Floral feature wall: Cutture
Hanging ceiling stars: Paul Johnson Photography via SMP
Simple and stunning: Jose Villa via SMP