Design Tips for Your Big Day

Crafting your wedding design aesthetic is one of the most exciting parts of the process, but it can quickly become overwhelming without the right organization and guidance. We have a tried and true process that we’ve honed for over a decade, helping brides and their families strike the balance between differing opinions and tastes, all the while taking budget into consideration. Here are some tips to help get you on the right track!

Start with inspiration

Step one is the easiest, and chances are you’ve probably got a head start on it already — gather design inspiration wherever you find it. Our tried and true tool for this is Pinterest, and even if your wedding inspo board is long outdated (hello, junior high!), you’ll have a great place to start collecting ideas. We like to take it a step further and suggest curating your Pinterest by category instead of lumping everything in one big list. That way, your aesthetic can become more specific, and you may have opinions small details you never thought you would! Create four boards — florals, cake, print goods, and room vibes. This creates a complete picture and helps us better deliver on your vision!

Check out our Pinterest page to explore some of our favorite design aesthetics!

Think outside the box

Once you source inspiration from other weddings, it’s time to make it…you! No two couples are the same, so no two weddings should be the same either. Even if you somehow find your dream aesthetic in someone else’s wedding, there’s always more you can do to make it feel even more perfect. Sometimes, this doesn’t manifest in the way you’d expect. You don’t have to have an off-the-wall, kooky design aesthetic to do something completely different. It’s all about using the space to its full potential, leaning into the strengths of your trusted vendors, and making a statement. Don’t be afraid to do something that your friends haven’t done, or that you haven’t even seen before. Some of our favorite design journeys started with a client saying, “we trust you!” and then we are able to pitch ideas to make the design extra special and unique.

The design process: what to expect

We take our design process seriously, and believe that full collaboration — between client, planner, and vendor partners — always yields the best results. We like to err on the side of “too much information” — throw us everything you’ve got, and we’ll help you hone it until it feels perfect.

We always start the process by having our clients fill out a design questionnaire. This includes everything from aesthetic, vibe, colors, florals, and even personal details about your relationship and hobbies. That may not seem related, but those answers often lead to “lightbulb” moments, where we know how we can take it all to the next level. Then, equipped with your answers and your (very detailed, very organized) Pinterest boards, we create an overall mood board. We’ll meet many times to discuss it in detail, and it will be an ever-evolving blueprint for us and for your vendors during the whole process. We’ll work with your chosen decor provider from the beginning, taking a fully collaborative approach to make sure everyone is working towards the same goals, and they will provide you with a full design deck.

From there, we provide rendered concepts and create a physical prototype for you to see up close and in person. We make sure it’s truly a “wow” moment, and many brides are happily surprised to find that they have very few notes. This is where things really start to seem “real,” and we never get tired of seeing our clients’ emotional reactions.

The final result

The day is finally here, and though you’ve chosen every single aspect of the design, there’s nothing like feeling your heart flutter when you finally see your grand vision realized — a beautiful wedding reflective of you, your family, and everything you cherish.

Design is more than just pretty florals and photo-ready tables. It’s a deeply personal representation of your love and who you choose to share it with on this special day. So be open-minded, be bold, and most importantly, be authentically you!

Check out our website and our Instagram for more design inspiration, and stay tuned as we share some BTS on some of our favorite designs!

XO,

Molly and the Poppettes