It takes a lot to decorate

Brides and grooms, you know that decor is one aspect of your wedding that add the touches of beauty, class, spiciness and wonder to your wedding reception and wedding hall. The reaction that you crave from your guests are “wow, it so beautiful!” or “I never thought this place can look like this”.  Décor does not only involve placing accent pieces on a table or changing curtains in the room to match the colour and theme of your wedding party. Wedding décor involves something more complex, its interior decorating; where you transform a space using the combination of creativity, technical skills and functionality to achieve a desired effect.

There are many such wedding decoration businesses within Trinidad and Tobago that design you venue to reach this desired effect. The interior decoration of a wedding space needs a commitment from the bride, the groom, the wedding planner and the interior designer for deliverability of the desired effect. As such, the bride and groom will communicate their vision and the designer would understand what can and needs be done, what will be difficult to achieve, what can be added to enhance the aesthetics and how capitalize on them to prepare for you wedding day.

The design stage is one that requires a lot of work and preparation. The fact of the matter is, this is not a simple process, the details of, colours and matching hues must be worked out. From this, you would graduate to textures and how they would work together. When using the linens or lighting considerations must be put in place for photographic effects and illumination and the current fads and fashions.

After these considerations are put in place, then you can add cutlery, flowers, seating, the wedding procession, the space to create the maximum effect for the visual aspect and props for wall, floor and ceiling decorations.

From all these details it is understood that Interior design is an all-encompassing function that you put in place for your wedding. It would involve the invitations, table numbers, and ribbons for chairs, type of chairs for the bride and groom, chairs for guests, the tables for the bridal party and the tables for guests. To the minutest detail, interior décor for a wedding sets the mood for your soiree. It is true that the aesthetic/ visual aspect that you create for your wedding is a reflection of the personal style of the bride and the groom.

The best advice that I have ever gotten for wedding décor was to ask yourself to describe what you want in three succinct adjectives. Some may be “Fun, flirty, breezy”, “dark, dramatic, and modern” or it may be “traditional, modest, and classic”. With these three words it may be enough to give yourself and your decorator the inspiration to start filtering ideas into your planning process.

The decoration in a wedding is not simple like flipping a switch but is achieved with hard work and endurance. The fortitude that you put in place, if channelled to the right avenue, would transfer every wedding from drab to stunning, from good to better and from basic to extra.  

'DIY' Wedding Centerpieces

Many a brides that I have spoken with have expressed to me that the décor for their wedding have been done through the method of ‘DIY’. Do it yourself! Not only do they play a part in decorations, they also design their dresses or modify their veils to suit themselves.

We know, for your wedding, that you may hire a professional interior decorator and you express to them your vision and they work towards creating and emulating the visual masterpiece you had in your mind to reality. This décor reality is part and parcel with the theme of your wedding, if you are having a theme based wedding.

But, with decorations, you can have you input, you may work alongside your decorator or you may lead your family and friends to work towards this goal and in every wedding there are little accent pieces you can fashion to enhance the characteristic within the atmosphere. These are DIY projects I was talking about earlier.

One great 'DIY' centerpiece is the “Glittered Tea Light Holder”. Stunningly you can achieve it in three simple steps and a minimum of four supplies.

The things you will need are:

•     Tea light holders (glass or plastic)
•          Coloured glitter dust
•       Spray on adhesive/ bonding glue
•       Tea light candles (real or LED)

Step 1: Cleanse and dry your tea light holders. Make sure they are free of dust, dirt spots or water.

Step 2: Apply adhesive/ bond glue around the rim and 1 or two inches below the rim of the holder. If you are using bond glue ensure that you distribute it evenly for fast drying and to eliminate excess gunk.

Step 3: Lightly dust dip or roll the adhesive end of the holder while it is still wet.

When dry, place tea lights in the glass holders light them up and Voila! Glittered Tea Light Holders.

N.B The glitter can be swapped for or you can also add feathers, flower petals, kite paper, ribbons or anything you want to enhance the look of your Tea Light Decorations.

These tea light holders could be used for daylight or night time weddings. And not only are they cost effective they are gorgeous, artsy and add to the romantic vibe.

So remember not everything about your wedding has to be complicated and stressful. You can make this into a fun project and enjoy the days leading up to your wedding by getting involved in something to take your mind away from the wedding jitters i.e. if you are having any.

Night Weddings! The Preparation

Night weddings add a different character that is out of the norm when you want a different experience from the morning or afternoon weddings. It holds the mysticism and romanticism of getting married under the stars, cute flirty cocktail dresses and debonair tuxedos, ties and laid back suits that adds an element of magic to the aesthetics of the occasion.

If managed right, your night wedding can be one for the books and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

 Some helpful tips to remember are:

1: Schedule a site visit to your venue for roughly the same time of night that you are expecting to conduct your wedding. This will give you an estimate of where things should be in terms of lighting and  illumination, guest seating, parking, signage and also a feel of the situation of night time bugs to be managed on the night of your event.

2: Confirm the weather conditions and what they may be like for the time of your event. This encompasses wind, chilliness etc. Here, you can make adjustment to ensure that you and your guests are warned and they dress suitably and comfortably. Weather conditions will also affect props, decorations and outdoor furnishing. Knowing beforehand what would need to be steadfastly secured would eliminate any last minute oversights to ensure for adequate preparations and accounting. 

3: You should expect the unexpected. Night time is usually a time when accidents happen, with low lighting, or candle light there may be disasters that may occur. There it is best to have first aid kits available or standby emergency guys who can make vehicular runs if such an event happens.

4: Capitalize on the lighting. Dark nights are a perfect opportunity to hold a fireworks display that would create the right bang to begin your first day together. But be mindful of the fact that most venues do not allow for fireworks so it is good to know this and another helpful tip is professional fireworks are spectacular to behold and fully insured to help mitigate risks. Sparklers are a nice touch for the walk up the aisle. Flower girls and bridesmaid can hold this instead of throwing flower petals, the petals works better in the day but don’t have the same effect in the dark and the magical moment may be lost against the darkness in the background.

5: Appreciate friend and family. These people are the ones you depend most upon to help get you to your wedding day so it is always good to mention them in your thanks you speech and in the event that you are having speeches for your wedding it is best that you communicate this to your maid of honour or the best man so they would have time to prepare and not be an embarrassment to you on the day.

6: Confer with photographer for the effect that would be used for shooting on the night, the venue manager for space limits, emergency exits and other venue rules and the pastor for the use of camera flashes as they may hamper his vision in the administering of his duties.