Helping you decide how and when and who should decorate your wedding venue to minimise your stress and maximise your enjoyment on your special day.
As venue stylists, when exhibiting at wedding fairs we often chat to couples about their wedding decor plans. It’s normal that an engaged couple just like who you are planning their wedding will imagine that decorating the venue will either be a task undertaken by the team at the venue or by themselves.
In this post we’re asking you to consider the financial and emotional cost of decorating your venue yourself and urging you to double check with your venue what exactly is included in terms of styling before you go ahead and book.
Will your Venue decorate the ceremony area, dining room and outside areas for your big day?
Before you start putting your own plans in place it’s important to check with your venue what exactly will be included from their side. Some venues will have chair covers and sashes and so this may save you a little but check that the colours match your theme and that the style of the sashes are what you’re looking for. Centrepieces are occasionally provided by the venue but this is not the norm. Even if they are you’ll still have to think about florals for the centrepieces and perhaps consider other decorations for your tables and stationery to pull the style and theme together.
If your venue tell you that they do not provide wedding styling you’ll need to drill down on what exactly you can do decor wise in the areas you’re hiring and when. What will the access be like on the days before your wedding? In a time when back to back weddings are not unheard of it is likely that you will only have access to the rooms on the morning of your wedding. You’ll need to find out when items can be delivered and if there’s storage for these overnight. You may need to keep them in your room if you are providing your own. If you’re using a wedding stylist then they’ll want to know the access arrangements too and any restrictions that the venue may place on where backdrops and props can be placed and if anything can be fixed to walls or ceilings. We often decorate venues in the early hours of the morning once the previous day’s wedding has finished. This means you’ll wake up to pictures of your venue decorated just as you hoped for before you’ve even got out of bed! Don’t forget to consider the break down of the decorations at the end of the evening. Your celebrations are likely to finish at around midnight. Who will be prepared to clear the tables and disassemble any props, packing them away into storage/rooms for the night or taking them away in their cars if you will be leaving your venue that evening? If you’re using a wedding stylist you can cross this off your list.
Are you going to have enough time, energy and budget to decorate your wedding venue yourself?
Before you answer this question take a moment to stop and think about how you would like the morning of your wedding to be … or if you’re able to get into the venue the night before, what would you like Wedding Eve to look like?
Time
Time is a commodity that none of us have enough of. Never is this more true than on a wedding day or during the run up to it. Time flies when you’re having fun, but it also flies when you’re stressed! You need to consider how many hours you have available and if it’s actually practical to DIY your styling. Do you want to spend your precious time in this way or would you rather relax knowing that it’s all taken care of and spend it making some memories with your loved ones instead?
Energy
Putting on 100 chair covers and tying 100 bows or hoods sounds fairly straightforward but it’s hot and sweaty, time consuming and back breaking work if it’s not something you do day to day – much more than the average work out at a gym! On one recent venue styling job we walked 24,000 steps! You don’t want to wake up on the morning of your wedding feeling achy and you certainly don’t want to arrive at your hair and make up appointment, hot and flustered.
Budget
There is a misconception amongst many couples that it will be cheaper to buy decorations and style the venue themselves. It takes a huge budget to actually purchase the items and then add to this the time element and the cost impact that might weigh down on other areas – such as maybe needing to hire the venue for two days not one – and all of a sudden the pounds are trickling extremely speedily out of your wedding pot! Many decorative or interactive items would be a lot more expensive to buy outright for a single use, compared to simply hiring them from a venue stylist who will then include the delivery, set up and removal of the items in their cost.
Why should I book a wedding stylist for my wedding?
We would always advise to remove as much stress from your wedding day as you can and a large amount can vanish if you hire a wedding stylist and it isn’t as expensive as you might think. This will really take the weight off your shoulders and help you enjoy the run up to your dream wedding rather than be constantly juggling and then working hard right up to the hours before you put your dress on! What do you want your guests’ last memories of your big day to be? Would you like them to remember the hugs, kisses, smiles and laughter or scurrying around with cardboard boxes and sacks quickly trying to break down the decorations of your big day. We know what we would like and we think you do too! This is another massive benefit of bringing a wedding stylist like us on board. We will organise the all of the break down for you which will leave you and your guests able to enjoy the evening and then rest up after all those champagne toasts!
Diamond Circle Weddings Ltd is an experienced decorative hire and planning company specialising in weddings and other milestone events. We are a team of professionals that take great pride in our unique ideas and ability to transform spaces to reflect the vision of our clients. Please feel free to browse some of our past real weddings and also get in touch via our contact page.
All you need to know about how to decorate a blank canvas wedding venue in Kent, and making it look fabulous by Diamond Circle Weddings Stylists.
