Something Borrowed, Blue, and Truly You

These days, there are countless wedding ideas out there. From Pinterest, to those Facebook groups where EVERYONE seems to have an opinion, it can all be so overwhelming! As a bride, it felt like I was constantly fighting with myself. I would find all of these ideas on Pinterest, that looked great, but I had no idea how to include it into my wedding. The more I searched, the more I found myself planning my wedding around random ideas (like something borrowed, something blue…) and color schemes that matched one another on Pinterest. The problem was, I was not being true to myself.

Dozens of my clients have heard me say this, but Do Not get sucked into the “Pinterest Rabbit Hole”. Once you are in, it will be hard to get out. So use it as a guide. Envision what you want, and then go searching.

Here are some guidelines, from one bride to another, that will help:

1. Know Your Space

There are some cool backdrops you can find online. They are all done up and look spectacular. Even though that backdrop looks great in a hotel banquet room, will it look great in your ballroom? Head table backdrops kept popping up on my news feed, and I have to admit, they tempted me. But I got married in the Cadet West Ballroom, which has such beautiful windows already! It was way better than any back drop I could ever create! This goes with any décor. It might look great on Pinterest, but think about how it looks in your ballroom.

Toledo Ohio Wedding Venue

2. Know Yourself

I personally loved dusty blue! It was a color I instantly became obsessed with, but when I started to search for accent colors, I was at a loss. Most of the schemes I saw were dusty blue and white, and although simplistic and elegant, It did not match my personality at all. I. LOVE. COLOR.

Then I stumbled across cranberry red and dusty blue. And all though not a beautiful blend of colors, I decided, yeah… I guess that would work. The color combination did NOT satisfy me, but I was settling because I could not find anything on Pinterest. I should have known better! Until I picked out my flowers, I fought with myself for months about it! And then I chose red and hot pink roses, purple peonies, with blush and white tulips, and you know what? IT WAS PERFECT. I loved my flowers so much, and it looked great with my dusty blues. Most importantly? I followed my personality, and I loved the outcome!

something borrowed, something blue

3. Know Your Spouse

My husband and I debated unity ceremonies for months. It’s one of those things that there are so many options for, but you only get to pick one! We thought about a sand ceremony, but we had only been to the beach once together. We loved the idea of a tree planting ceremony, but we have the farthest thing from green thumbs.

But you know what we did do together, frequently? Make sandwiches! It’s something simple we do together all the time, and we loved the simplicity of our lives together. So guess what we did as a unity ceremony? That’s right! We made a sandwich. We let our officiant (Atonn from Weddings for the Ages) dress the ceremony up a bit. Bread for trust and a strong foundation, which every strong marriage needs, chipotle sauce to add some spice, and so on. He made it very sentimental sounding, but my family still got to giggle at us, and our unity was delicious!

first look

4. Know Your Story

Favors are great! Because they send your guest home with something to remember your day by. Something that the Bride and Groom usually share together. For example, a common interest, or a hobby, and so on. There are tons of great ideas online about Favors you can do! So after looking at Jam labels, and key chains, and M&M’s with our faces on them we just did not feel connected to anything.

We knew we wanted our wedding to be about sharing love, but didn’t really know how to include that in our big day. Being parents to our beautiful baby girl, we knew no love was greater than that of a family. We had once been told that we had a 1 in 10 million chance of conceiving a child naturally, so we understood how painful it could be to want to have a child, but not be able to.

So in lieu of a favor, we decided to make a donation in honor of our guests, to a family who were raising money for their IVF treatments. The treatments are very expensive, and we knew the donation would be very appreciated. And our guests really enjoyed the sentiment as well! wedding ideas for tables If you follow these tips and tricks, you are sure to have a memorable and beautiful wedding day… I know I sure did!