Painting the Picture
You are sitting on a velvet fuchsia couch chattering with friends you have not seen in years. Books are stacked on the coffee table before you, and trees have been placed throughout the room. You already signed a puzzle piece that fits into the completed photo of Sarena and Brad, the beautiful couple you are celebrating. The seating chart taught you about their favorite movies because you are assigned to the Star Wars table.
The doors beside the smiling bartenders suddenly open to the reception, and the emcee announces you can either find your seats or visit a food station to grab your dinner, a change from the formal seated dinner you are used to at weddings. The layout consists of two long rows of tables in the middle, adorned with high metal beams of greenery, hanging taper candles, and keys, a subtle nod to their love of Harry Potter. You are able to find your seat because of a photo of Sarena and Brad’s beloved dog, Baxter, wearing a Jedi robe and holding a lightsaber. Beside your olive napkin is your welcome treat, a Ferrero Rocher Snitch.
Some folks sit down when they hear the emcee start introducing the bridal party to the light oak and white checkered dance floor, with crystal globe chandeliers hanging above. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice the sweets table, where golf ball cake balls spill out of a metal driving range basket, and think to yourself, “this is so Sarena and Brad!”
A wedding becomes more meaningful when its design is not simply beautiful, but intentionally translates the couple's story into a guest experience. At Be YOUnique Events, we create timeless and authentic art through wedding and event planning and design. What we celebrate is in our name: YOU. We view event planning as an artistic process that we approach authentically, with designs created to stand the test of time. Storytelling is an art form, and we are passionate about how our design process tells the story of the couples our art is inspired by.
Using the Five Senses to Tell Your Wedding Story
To tell the story behind each wedding, we work alongside the couple to select the perfect vendors for them. We view vendors as artists in their craft, and it is our job to bring them together to create a unified masterpiece that is original, should never be copied and pasted from a previous one, and evokes positive emotions. Be YOUnique Events’ mission shows how we approach our couples’ weddings by supporting local vendors, utilizing sustainable methods, and personalizing each event detail. Our event designers think of how to enliven the five senses and ask the following questions:
What do the guests see?
The welcome sign communicating that they are in the right place, a ceremony riser helping guests see the couple better, or the intentional colors worn by the wedding party.
What do the guests hear?
The music welcoming them into the ceremony, each other during cocktail hour, and the toasts during dinner.
What do the guests taste?
A flavorful welcome drink, a wedding favor treat, the scrumptious bites during cocktail hour, or the mouthwatering main course.
What do the guests touch?
The flowers at the center of the table, the high-quality linen napkins as they prepare for their salad, or the hugs they receive from the couple themselves.
What do the guests smell?
The candles at each table, the floral scents from the centerpieces, or the food as the waiters enter the room.
Each sense tells the story and can even remind people of the event well after the celebration ends!
The Three Perspectives at a Meaningful Wedding
A wedding story comes to life through three important perspectives: the couple, the guests, and the vendors. The overall wedding design should clearly tell the story behind the event. Each perspective engages with this love story differently.
Bride and Groom
With the plan and design in place, the couple should feel like their personality is woven through the details. When the activities they love, the food they enjoy eating, and the flowers that hold a special meaning are aligned with their history, they will naturally enjoy their wedding day more. They will feel excited to have their loved ones attend the celebration because every wedding detail is intentional. The couple will feel more relaxed because they are incorporating elements that they love in their everyday lives. Brides and grooms will feel cherished because their unique love story is being told as it should, intentionally.
The Wedding Guests
The guests, on the other hand, interact with the couple's story as witnesses. When guests attend the wedding, they should learn something new about the couple. Maybe they did not know the couple loved a particular sport or their favorite place until they discover this through a subtle decor element or signage. Attendees will also recognize aspects of the couple’s personality that they already know and love through the design, making them smile because they know the couple so well. Through storytelling, guests understand the ultimate reason they are celebrating on that special day or weekend. They leave feeling like they know the couple on a deeper, more personal level.
Wedding Vendors
Lastly, the vendors bringing the story to life will view the wedding with clarity and purpose. When each vendor customizes their services, meaning they adjust their typical offering to match the couple, they feel differently about the wedding. Their work will not feel mundane when they know they are critical to telling the couple’s love story to their guests. Their art feels fulfilling because it matters and people take notice. The positive emotions people feel at weddings can be life-changing. These emotions can inspire, motivate, and impact couples and guests in such powerful ways. Each story matters. Therefore, each personalized wedding experience and every vendor who brings it to life matters.
Photo Credits: KNK Fotography
How We Create Personalized Wedding Designs
To ensure the design clearly tells the story, we start each couple’s design process with a mood board. Before we create the mood board, we email our couples a thorough wedding questionnaire, which asks them about specific moments in their relationship as well as the components of their everyday lives that reflect their personality as a couple.
One couple at Be YOUnique Events shared three details that immediately stood out to me: enjoying espresso at sunrise, a love of watching sunsets, and the bride’s childhood memories of surfing. I mentioned their apparent love for the sun and recommended they include colors like yellow and orange on their wedding day. The bride told me she felt like I knew them more than they even knew about themselves.
After selecting one of the three mood boards we present, we start creating their room layout. We give them unique floor plan options to choose from so we know whether we are designing centerpieces and tablescapes for rectangular, circular, or serpentine tables. The layout should promote visibility to the dance floor and encourage mingling among guests. Once we lay out the floor plan, we start researching complementary stationery, florals, linens, and rentals that fit the couple’s mood board and inspiration photos. The couple selects their favorite rentals, stationery, and flowers. We then hand-draw their design to ensure we are tying in different inspiration and elements from their love story.
Create a Wedding that is Truly YOUnique
This creative approach and process demonstrate how storytelling is reflected at Be YOUnique Events. Telling a story is a responsibility, and we treat it with intention, respect, and love. We encourage our fellow industry professionals and our clients to create event masterpieces that are truly YOUnique. In the end, the more personal the story is, the more timeless and memorable it becomes.
