How to Brand Your Wedding

Increasingly weddings are becoming more and more of an event. Whether you make it a trendy outdoor party or a classic black tie affair, your day is special. As such, couples are looking to keep their theme running throughout the proceedings by branding their wedding as if it were a corporate event or business.

It might sound a little bit odd to begin with, but when you think about it, creating a wedding brand is actually a great way to keep everything cohesive and thematic. From the moment your engagement photos hit social media to the day that your guests receive their thank you cards, everything should feel like it’s all a part of the big day.

So, what goes into creating a brand and how can you brand your wedding in a professional, seamless way? Let’s dive in.

Color Scheme

It’s pretty typical of any wedding to have a set color scheme. Whether that’s the basis of your entire wedding theme or just a facet that highlights a wider concept, color is always a big part of any big day. It can really help to tie different aspects of your wedding together from bridesmaid dresses to flowers to decor and beyond.

Similarly, color schemes are super important when it comes to branding. Certain colors make people feel certain things, so you can give your wedding guests a glimpse of what to expect from your big day. For example, if you’re having a woodland, outdoor wedding, then you might use natural sage greens in your wedding branding. If you’re having more of a lavish and glam affair, then clean white lines and gold highlights might be more suitable.

Colors are a great base to build your brand upon. After all, you don’t want to be looking at a color that you hate throughout your wedding day and all the associated events.

Fonts

Something that’s often overlooked when it comes to wedding design, but is massively important when it comes to building a wedding brand, is your font choice. Now, fonts aren’t just something to consider when you’re thinking about your invitations. You need to figure them into place cards, table plans, or any signs or written aspects of your big day.

For example, if your wedding ceremony and reception are in different areas of the same event space, you might need signs and indications to guide your wedding guests to the next section of your big day. The font should align with everything that your wedding guests have already seen to give a cohesive look and feel across your entire wedding.

Logos & Graphics

Okay, logos and graphics might sound like something that belongs more in a business setting than in a romantic one, but more and more often we’re seeing wedding logos that repeat themselves throughout the wedding events. It makes a lot more sense if you think about them like a monogram, tying the two parties together in a new family with its own sigil.

Similarly, with graphics and motifs, this is an opportunity to be more thematic with your wedding design work. For example, if you’re having a wedding with a lot of art deco references, you might want a Great Gatsby-esque monogram together with some overlapping geometric shapes to match the overall vibe. This can be replicated in the wedding invites, decor, table setting and more.

Mood

Not everything about branding needs to be a visual exercise. One of the most important things about creating a brand is making an experience that evokes a certain feeling. This is something vital that you’re going to want to keep in mind when you’re building your wedding brand. How do you want your wedding guests to feel? What atmosphere are you trying to create?

If you want a more fun, exuberant wedding style, then your branding needs to reflect that. Think about if a fun alcohol brand had the design and look of an accountant’s firm? It wouldn’t feel right, would it? It’s a similar thing with your wedding. Your brand has to accurately represent you and your new spouse as well as the event itself. It might sound like a lot to balance but really your wedding should also reflect the two of you as a couple, so it should all be a cohesive process.

Final tips

Branding your wedding can be a difficult thing to do, especially if you don’t have a background in marketing, so let’s round out this article with a few final tips:

• Bring your wedding vendors in on your plans. If you have a cool idea for a wedding brand or have a rough idea of logos or motifs, show them to your wedding invite designer or to your florist, or even to your wedding cake baker. It’ll help to give them an idea of the avenue you’re wanting to go down, as well as your aesthetic.
• Branding is a multisensory experience so think about the music that you’re playing as well as the food you’re serving. Our senses help to bring an experience to life so if your wedding reception music doesn’t match up to the rest of your wedding branding or theme, it’s going to seem off to your guests.
• Plan using an inspiration board. Whether this is a physical board with different textiles, vendors and reference points, or a digital one like Pinterest, it can be useful to see all your different inspirations and see where they fit together. You can also see which aspects don’t fit with the rest of your ideas, which is arguably a more important benefit to having a wedding inspiration board.
• Think about weddings or events that you’ve been to. What did you like about them? Which parts weren’t really for you? It can be difficult to fully imagine all the different aspects of a wedding without rose-tinted glasses, so by using real-world examples, it can be easier to spot what you actually like. If you haven’t been to many weddings, by all means, use weddings in film and TV as your inspiration.

How to Brand Your Wedding

I’m really excited to announce a whole new category here on Burnett’s Boards – Design & Styling! This feature will run every Wednesday and cover an array of topics geared towards helping you make your wedding as amazing as it can be. For our first post in this series we’re taking a look at how to brand your wedding. Wedding branding is sort of like inspiration boards 2.0 – I’ll explain!

Usually when some asks you to name a brand you, love you immediately think of a company or logo (like Apple). But a brand is SO much more than just a logo! Along with design elements a brand encompasses a feeling, a personality, and values. The elements that make a brand cohesive are things like a logo, fonts, color schemes, textures, and even sounds.

One common misconception: a wedding brand is not a theme. But a themed wedding can be branded!

A lot of parties and events these days are branded – why shouldn’t your wedding be? After all – a wedding is supposed to represent YOU as a couple. Branding your wedding really boils down to paying attention to the details, and we all know that it’s not necessarily the biggest budget weddings that are the most beautiful or Memorable, but the ones that really let the couple shine and personal touches help do this. Brainstorming and working on a ‘brand’ for the two of you is a perfect way to plan your wedding, and the outcome is more likely than not going to be gorgeous, personal, memorable, and all about you two.

Looks & Mood: Determine what you want your wedding to look like. When you close your eyes and picture your big day are you making a grand entrance in a princess gown with heaps of flower petals strewn along the aisle or do you see yourself and you fiancé holding hands at the beach with your closest friends and family? Or Perhaps you picture yourself in a rustic Italian villa with good food, wine, and conversation among guests under the night sky? You can boil this vision down to a phrase for easy communication such as “rustic villa” “intimate beach” or “high-end lavish” etc.

Colors, Patterns, & Textures: Now that you have an idea of what it looks like & have your vision pared down to your keywords you can determine colors, patterns, and textures. (Shameless plug ahead) This is where inspiration boards come into play! Look for color palettes and patterns that really speak to you and work well with your Ideal venue. Colors and patterns can set the mood and tone so choose wisely! Ornate patterns in gold and black scream high-end and if you add some exposed wood and other organic textures you can take it vintage-glam. Bold colors and chevron or geometric patterns are vibrant and playful and with certain color palettes they can also go retro.

Logo & Motifs: Your save-the-dates and wedding invitations are the first thing your guests see, so it’s important to work with your invitation designer in customizing the look of them. Nikkol of Peter Loves Jane blog & Etsy store does this really well – notice the arrow motif in the first invitation below and the beautiful use of branches in the second. Together you can come up with a logo for your wedding (tip: ask for a Copy of your logo or motif that does not include the date of your wedding. Once you are married you can use the design for return address labels, stationary, and other such things. ) Some couples love the monogrammed look, and others prefer custom drawings or a symbol that represents their unity or wedding theme. Whatever you choose to use it throughout your wedding!

Fonts: Fonts are pretty important when branding your wedding. Pick them early, use them for everything, and don’t change your mind three weeks before your wedding. You should choose two or three fonts to use on everything (with your logo or motif) from your save-the-dates, wedding day programs, menus, wedding website, RSVP cards, escort cards, custom bottle labels, favor tags, all the way down to your thank you cards. Using the same (and appropriate fonts) for these elements will help to tie everything together and add personal touches to all the little details that really make your wedding yours.

Here are a few fonts ideas for different wedding styles:

Trendy: 1. Bombshell Pro // 2. Carolina Pro // 3. Jaques & Gilles // 4. Anna Clara

Vintage: 5. California // 6. Bellucia Stylistic

Whimsical: 7. Peoni Pro // 8. Aya Script // 9. Saint Agnes

Hipster: 10. Paris Sherif

Details: Now here is where you work with your wedding vendors on bringing your wedding brand to life. Show them your inspiration board, your fonts, your save-the-dates and invitations and go from there. Your florist will recommend flowers and textural details that will compliment the look you’re going for and your wedding stylist will help pull it all together and make it look fabulous.

Talk to your catering company and bartending service about a signature cocktail in a color from your chosen palette, think about ordering cocktail napkins that include your wedding logo or motif, and choose menu items that reflect your keywords from step 1 like hearty and rustic or elegant and refined, etc.. And of course – the wedding cake is often a centerpiece so don’t forget to make sure that it reflects your brand as well.

Sound is another branding element that shouldn’t be overlooked. This seems pretty basic but don’t forget that your music should complement the environment you’re trying to create. At my wedding we had live jazz and it suited the romantic and upscale feeling we were shooting for. I was at a friend’s wedding in Virginia (this one) this past summer and the bluegrass band was the perfect choice for the outdoor tented reception.

What do you think about ‘branding your wedding’? Let us know!

Credits: All images courtesy of Nikkol from Peter Loves Jane