How To BRAND Your Wedding: Real Advice From A Creative Designer & Groom!

Planning your wedding day is an arduous task. There is so much you have to consider, from big decisions such as the venue, through to tiny aspects such as which chair covers to go with.

When my wife and I were planning our big day, we found that giving our wedding a brand identity allowed us to make more informed choices, helping take some of the stress out of the preparations. What I mean by a ‘brand identity’ is essentially a theme that helps tie the whole day together. In this post I am going to show you the approach we took to branding our wedding and the final result.

Step 1 – The Brand Concept

Think about what you and your partner really want the day to be about. Do you want it to be a relaxed informal event? Or perhaps something more traditional? If you and your partner share common interests these could be included subtly in the day so that your guests get to know you better as a couple.

My wife and I decided we would like a 50s inspired wedding with a hint of dog. We both really love the style and look of the 50s and felt a vintage look would be appropriate for the relaxed ambience we hoped to achieve. We are also major dog fanatics… yes I’m one of those people, so we wanted to add a bit of canine to the occasion ( without making it look like a dog’s dinner).

Don’t worry if your theme is quite bare to start with, as you progress with your research you will come up with loads of ideas to work into your day.

Now it’s time to turn your brand idea into a reality.

Step 2 – Colour Scheme

Being a designer I had a bit of an advantage here, as I could create colour concepts using design software to see if they worked for us. However, if you have no idea about design software you can still research and create mood boards. Pinterest is a great tool for putting a mood board together, you could do more than one board to help work out what colour scheme you think would suit your day best.

For our wedding, to match the 50s theme we decided to go with pastel colours as we wanted a colour palette that would complement the look yet wouldn’t be overpowering.

Step 3 – Invitations

There are loads of places online where you can buy wedding invitations and even customise them so they are personal to you. If you’re feeling particularly creative then why not make them yourself? That’s what we did.

My wife, Yolanda, wanted me to create a unique invite which featured our dogs; Hetty and Rufus holding bunting. We came up with the idea of a folding card which when closed looks like the mutts are just holding a bit of rope, but when pulled apart reveals lots of bunting and the invite.

To make the invitation that little bit more special we had our own seal stamp made. The idea was to add to the excitement of receiving a formal invitation through the post. I had lots of fun using a waxing gun to heat the wax ready for stamping.

In terms of cost I wouldn’t say it was necessarily cheaper than buying already made invites as you have the material and printing costs, but obviously it’s a more personal option if you have the time.

Step 4 – Wedding Materials

The invitations will have hopefully helped influence some of the decisions you make for the look of the wedding. Items you may wish to incorporate into the brand identity of the wedding could include: table covers, chair covers, table names, bridesmaid’s dresses, groomsmen’s outfits and decorations.

For our wedding we carried the brand identity over for all of these items. We also went one step further and created something a bit different to entertain our guests.

When sat at the table for the wedding breakfast, we wanted the guests to have something that would help as a conversation starter. We decided to make some Fortune Teller / Cootie Catcher paper games which had “interesting” facts about our relationship up to that point.

Step 5 – Enjoy it!

If you decide to take this approach for planning your wedding be sure not to take yourself too seriously, don’t worry about what people might think of your ‘brand’. At the end of the day you are your own client, and as long as you like it then this process has been a complete success!

For Yolanda and I we had the most amazing day and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Below is a video I put together using my photographer’s photos of the day. Hopefully it will show you how the whole day just worked, even though it had a rather bizarre criteria of dogs and 50’s vintage.

What a fantastic guest post from Greg Lewis of Good Looking Design! It just goes to show that you don’t have to over complicate things to design a great wedding. Good luck following these How To Brand Your Wedding Steps – I’m sure your wedding will be AMAZE!! Please do let us know your thoughts and ideas on how you will brand your wedding.