Say it with me now "Co-he-sive"

I used to be the girl that displayed every single chachski, from every single family vacation, all over my apartment. You could easily find every color of the rainbow in my bedding and my throw pillows. A skull statue next to an antique blue willow platter, modern wall art from Ikea next to Persian style rugs from goodwill. It was bohemian, meets preppy, meets tres tres… not so chic. Nothing matched. Nothing made sense. But for me it was all my favorite things in one spot. A wise woman dropped some major wisdom on me many moons ago in reference to my home décor- “You HAVE to pick a theme. You can’t have Eiffel towers and African masks in the same room as each other. It’s confusing to your guests and frankly just gives me a headache.” Thank you kind woman. I am forever indebted to you. (This kind woman happens to be my baby sister, for the record. Snaps for her.) Purging the many years of memories and phases was the same pressure I felt sifting through the wedding ideas that had flooded my brain for the last 15-20 years. It seemed nearly impossible. Now before you go home panicking about this daunting assignment, I have to tell you girls- it’s not all about us…. *crickets*

Instead of thinking about everything YOU like, think about you AND your fiancé as a couple. How would you describe the two of you? Are you big city? Maybe super outdoorsy and adventurous? Let your wedding day be a representation of you BOTH. Even though you may be obsessed with Paris, and want to create a magical French affair, that might be a bit one sided. It’s his day too! You want your guests to arrive and say, “This is so them!” For example, my husband and I are very casual. We knew we wanted our day to be relaxed and fun, nothing too fancy. We both grew up in small towns and so having a barn reception was the perfect fit for us. We are goofy and loud and so our colors had to be big and bright. To have simple white bouquets wouldn’t make sense. See where I’m going with this? However you describe your relationship, is how you should describe your wedding day. Those adjectives should line up.

Now that you’ve thought about the feeling of the day, I’m gonna throw another question at you- where do you both like to spend time together? In the mountains adventuring? Drinking wine in the valley? Maybe concerts are your thing. Or dressing up and going into the city! Play off of this. Describing your personalities and describing where you spend most of your time will not only help you choose a location for the backdrop of the day, but also the elements you will need to accent it. Choose 1 or 2 words to describe your theme- one is a place, one is an adjective. Forest, beach, country, whimsical, romantic, etc. When you are shopping for décor, always ask yourself, “Is this __ & __?” That will help you keep things cohesive. Ours were “antique farm.” A little bit of me, a little bit of him. We took 5 or 6 items to decorate with that fell under this category: milk glass cake stands, deer sheds, lace, vintage peach glass, oil lamps, and old windows. Once we knew exactly which items we were on the hunt for, it was sooo much easier, and the guessing game was over.

Describe your relationship. Describe you’re ideal place to spend time together. Pick your 2 magic words. And you’re off and running! Let this day tell no one else’s story but yours.

Clink clink!

-Sophia